Herschel Grammar School 11 Plus Tuition

Herschel Grammar School 11+ tuition prepares a child for the Slough Consortium test that decides eligibility for Herschel's 150 Year 7 places (September 2027 entry). A standardised score of 111 makes a child eligible; for September 2026 entry the Consortium records all eligible timely applications within 4 miles, then the remaining places on rank score down to 115. Quest Assessments is the provider for the September 2027 sitting, GL Assessment for September 2026. All our lessons are delivered online.

What score fills Herschel's places?

Herschel's determined admission arrangements for September 2027 entry set a planned admission number of 150 and say that a standardised score of 111 or above “means that an applicant is eligible for consideration for admission to the School”. Eligibility is the first gate, not the place. Children whose Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan names the school are admitted; where eligible applicants outnumber the places, the order is: looked-after children; pupils living within 4 miles of the school, measured in a straight line from the front door to the main entrance gate, closest first; up to a further 10 places for eligible Pupil Premium applicants living within 10 miles; children of permanent staff employed continuously for at least 2 years; then the remaining places, up to 150, in rank order of performance in the examination, with equal scores ranked by proximity. Our full guide to Herschel's admissions covers those groups and the school's results; this page is about what the score has to be.

The Consortium publishes what the rules produced. Its summary for September 2026 entry (test sat September 2025) lists Herschel with 150 places, 1,068 applications and 794 eligible applications, and gives the outcome in one line: “All eligible timely applications within a 4 miles radius. Remaining places on rank score down to 115.” An application is any form naming the school, whatever the score, and “eligible” means 111 or above. The figures are as of 2nd March 2026, and the Consortium says further movement may follow in later rounds. The summary for September 2025 entry (test sat September 2024) has the same wording with the rank score down to 116, as of 3rd March 2025.

Source: Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools, Information on 2025 Allocations (as of 3rd March 2025) and Information on 2026 Allocations (as of 2nd March 2026). Both rows read “All eligible timely applications within a 4 miles radius” before the rank-score line.

For September 2026 entry that is 794 eligible applications for 150 places, about 5.3 for each place (794 ÷ 150 = 5.29).

A second Consortium document gives the context. For the sitting on 20th September 2025 it published a list of standardised scores with the names redacted, over 91 pages. We counted 4,348 rows in it: 1,520 scores are 111 or above (34.96%), in line with the Consortium's statement that 35% of those taking the test score 111 or above, and 1,098 are 115 or above (25.25%, about one in four). These are our counts from the Consortium's list, which is not limited to Herschel's applicants. The Consortium's FAQ for the same sitting says approximately 4,814 sat the test. That is the Consortium's figure; the 4,348 is our count of the list's rows.

A target therefore depends on the address. In both rounds the summary records that every eligible timely application within the 4-mile radius was offered a place, and the remaining places then went on rank score. Outside the radius, those rank-score places ran down to 116 (September 2025 entry) and 115 (September 2026 entry). In the 20th September 2025 list, the sitting behind the 115 line, about one candidate in four scored 115 or above. The Consortium says 111 is “not a ‘pass mark’ but an eligibility score”, and neither line is a forecast: the September 2027 sitting is a different cohort sitting a different provider's papers.

Which test will a child sit: GL Assessment in September 2026, Quest Assessments in September 2027?

Herschel's own pages name a different provider for each sitting. Its Year 7 Admissions 2027 page says the Consortium “has contracted with GL Assessment as the test provider for the 11+ examination to be held in September 2026”. Its Year 7 Admissions 2028 page, under the heading “11+ test provider for September 2028 entry (exam in September 2027)”, says it “has contracted with Quest Assessments”: a child who sits in September 2027 is applying for September 2028 entry. St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School and Upton Court Grammar School carry the same announcement on their St Bernard's and Upton Court pages.

The September 2026 sitting (September 2027 entry)

The Consortium's guide for September 2027 entry says its examination is provided by GL Assessment and consists of two separate papers, each of approximately 60-65 minutes, with questions that test verbal, numerical and non-verbal ability. Children answer on a separate sheet that a computer marks. The question booklet is not marked, and answers cannot be copied across afterwards if a child wrote them in the booklet by mistake. The sitting was on Saturday 19 September 2026 and results were available from 4pm on 15 October 2026. The Consortium's FAQ on test results puts the number who sat at approximately 4,757, with average standardised scores ranging from 70 to 140.

How the Consortium describes what is in each paper

Its documents describe the split in more than one way. The guide says each paper contains a variety of questions testing verbal, numerical and non-verbal ability. The April 2026 Q&A summary says in one answer that “One paper contains questions covering Maths and Non-verbal Reasoning and the other paper covers Verbal skills” and, in another, that “Each paper consists of a mixture of the three elements”. It adds that “We do not publish the weighting of the different elements of the paper” and that the number of questions may vary from year to year. The safer plan is to practise all three strands in full-length timed blocks without assuming which arrives when.

The September 2027 sitting (September 2028 entry)

For the Quest sitting, Herschel's page says: “The structure and format of the 11+ examination with Quest will be similar to those used under the previous provider. Pupils will sit two test papers, with questions covering a combination of verbal and non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics.” The eligibility score “will continue to be set at 111 on a standardised scale”, with pupils who score 111 or above “in the top 35% of the cohort sitting the examination”, and “The Slough Consortium has its own contract with Quest and 11+ scores will not be shared with any other schools.” Read with Herschel's other pages, that sentence concerns schools outside the Consortium: the Consortium's briefing slides say it does not share scores with any other grammar schools around the UK, while a child scoring 111 or above is eligible at any of the four schools named on the Common Application Form. Families should watch Herschel's Year 7 Admissions 2028 page for the lengths, date and registration window of the September 2027 sitting.

Herschel's pages name the same strands for both sittings: verbal and non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics (the Consortium's guide for the first describes verbal, numerical and non-verbal ability). The foundation work carries across the change, while the timed, paper-specific practice should follow the Quest format as the Consortium publishes it. Quest's own parent guidance says the grammar school “decides on the subjects, timings and number of questions in the assessment”, which is why a plan for Herschel is built from Herschel's pages rather than from a generic Quest pack.

What does one score hide, and what does preparation for it involve?

The Consortium gives a family one number. The result notified is “the standardised score across both papers”, and the briefing slides say the final score is the average across both papers. The guide says raw scores are not supplied to the Consortium by GL Assessment and so are not available to parents, the Q&A summary adds that “No breakdown of the score is provided”, and the Consortium does not offer a re-mark service. A score of 100 is the middle of the range, and standardisation means “it is possible for children to score high marks whilst getting some questions wrong or failing to complete all questions”. Our explainer on 11+ standardised scores shows how a raw mark becomes a standardised score.

Three things follow for how a child prepares.

1. Strand evidence has to come from practice. Because the result carries no breakdown, the practical way to learn whether English, maths, verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning is costing marks is to sit timed papers and record the errors by strand. Leading Tuition's 11+ page describes the job as tracking progress against the standardised score the target school actually needs. For a Herschel applicant, that preparation starts with 111 as the floor and, for a family outside the 4-mile radius, includes a margin toward the 115 and 116 rank-score lines.
2. Timing is practised in the Consortium's own units. For the September 2026 sitting that meant two papers of approximately 60-65 minutes with a short break between them, and the Q&A summary says “There is no negative marking”, so a child learns to answer every question before time runs out. For the September 2027 sitting, the lengths come from Herschel's pages as they are published.
3. The answer sheet is part of the test. In the September 2026 sitting a computer read the sheet and the booklet was not marked. Quest's parent guidance says most 11+ papers use OMR answer sheets, where a child draws a line through the box beside the chosen answer. Rehearsing on a sheet of that kind reduces marks lost to the format rather than to the question.

All our lessons are delivered online. Our one-to-one lessons are usually an hour long and, for most students, we recommend at least one session per week. Preparation for Herschel starts from the provider, the strands and the 111 threshold, and from the child's own timed papers.

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What practice material does Herschel point to, and where does it stop?

Herschel's Free 11+ Familiarisation page says the Consortium grammar schools are “partnering with Atom Learning, a leading platform for learning for ages 7-11”. A child who has been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years is entitled to free access to Atom Home. The page is direct about its limits: the resources “are not designed specifically to prepare candidates for the Slough Consortium 11+ entrance test”, and their “primary focus is on developing knowledge and skills helpful to all pupils”.

For pupils intending to sit the Consortium test, the same page lists familiarisation materials for the tests GL Assessment produced: a parent's guide for each of English, Maths, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Verbal Reasoning, a first test booklet for each, and a matching answer sheet. The Consortium's guide says such material “will give some examples of the question-and-answer formats”. The booklets are GL's, so this page describes them and sends you to Herschel's page instead of reproducing them.

Practice papers are a separate matter. The Consortium's Q&A summary says there are no mock tests or official practice papers for the Slough test, and that GL Assessment's practice papers are “not specifically for the Slough examination”. For the Quest sitting, Quest's parent guidance page states that “Every school will use different papers and follow different structures for their assessments” and points families to the school's website for specifics. It also offers sample questions and a practice answer sheet.

What none of this supplies is a measurement. A familiarisation booklet shows what a question looks like; it does not tell a family how a particular child stands against 111, or against the 115 and 116 lines. That comes from timed papers that are marked and analysed by strand, which is the part of preparation a tutor does. Our guide to using 11+ past papers effectively sets out how to review a paper once it has been sat.

Which registration and test-day rules can cost a place?

These are the Consortium's rules for the September 2027 entry cycle, whose test was sat on 19 September 2026. They show how the Consortium runs a cycle; each cycle's guide is the authority for that cycle's dates.

Registration. It opened at 10.00am on Friday 1st May 2026 and closed at 10.00am on Friday 5th June 2026; late applications were not to be accepted “unless there are exceptional circumstances”. It is done once only, online, and needs a recent digital photograph of the child, without which “your registration cannot be completed”. The user ID and password created then give access to the results. Registering “is NOT an application for a place at a particular school”, and the Q&A summary says “You do not need to pay for the 11+ test.”

The test day. On Saturday 19 September 2026 children sat at one of four test centres, one at each grammar school. A preference could be stated but was not guaranteed, and the morning or afternoon session allocated “cannot be changed”; the same papers were used in both sessions. Children needed a pencil and a rubber, and the briefing slides rule out calculators and dictionaries because “These are tests of mental ability”. An analogue watch was allowed and smartwatches were not, and rough work went in the booklet's white space or on the spare paper provided, not on the answer sheet.

Extra time, absence and clashes. Up to 25% extra time for each paper could be requested for recognised special educational needs, with professionally supported evidence due by 3.00pm on Friday 12th June 2026. A single alternative test date was available for religious or medical reasons, but the guide says there are no opportunities to take the test at a later date because of clashes. A child unable to sit through sickness, parental sickness or transport failure had to be reported to Herschel by email before 8:30am on the day, with medical evidence where the child was ill.

Address and application. Herschel's arrangements use the home address given at registration for admissions and distance, and require applicants to be living at the address on the Common Application Form by 31 October 2026 and to have lived there continuously since 1 May 2026. Results were available from 4pm on 15 October 2026. Herschel's page sets 31 October 2026 as the Common Application Form deadline for September 2027 entry and says Herschel does not require a supplementary form at this point in time.

When does preparation start, and what do the months involve?

The sitting is in September of Year 6. Herschel's arrangements say the entrance examinations “are targeted at the expected age range for Year 6 children”, and the September 2026 sitting was for children born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016.

Quest's guidance for parents says: “The best preparation is steady, meaningful learning over time — not last-minute cramming or excessive tutoring.” Steady is the shape of a sensible Herschel plan. Our 11+ specialists work with children from Year 4 onwards, and our 11+ tuition page says consistency matters far more than volume. See also our year-by-year guide to when to start 11+ preparation.

Before timed papers. The work is the strands themselves: wide reading and vocabulary for English and verbal reasoning, automatic number facts with fractions, ratio and early algebra for maths, and shape-and-pattern puzzles for non-verbal reasoning. Timed pressure is introduced gradually.

Through Year 5. Mixed-strand papers at the Consortium's published length, with an error log kept by strand, because the result will not show one. Answer-sheet practice begins here, using Herschel's familiarisation booklets for the September 2026 format and Quest's sample questions for the Quest format.

The summer before the sitting. A full two-paper rehearsal with a short break between papers, as the Consortium describes, and rough work kept off the answer sheet. For a family outside the 4-mile radius, this is also where the gap between a practice score and the 115 and 116 rank-score lines is reviewed.

Entry to Herschel's sixth form is a separate route with its own requirements, covered on our Herschel sixth form entry page. Herschel shares its test with Langley Grammar School, St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School and Upton Court Grammar School, and our Slough grammar schools page covers the four.

Reviewed October 2026 against Herschel Grammar School's Year 7 admissions pages, determined admission arrangements, and the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' guide, Q&A summary, allocation summaries and published score list.

Frequently asked questions about the Herschel 11+