Torbay Grammar Schools 11+ Guide 2026

Torbay is one of England's distinctive grammar school areas: four selective schools share a single GL Assessment 11+ test in English and Maths taken on Saturday 19 September 2026, and none of them sets a fixed pass mark. Instead, every child's raw scores are age-standardised and ranked, with places offered in order until each school's admission number is filled. Torquay Boys' Grammar School offers 168 Year 7 places; Torquay Girls' Grammar School offers 188 selective places; The Spires College reserves up to 60 places in its selective stream; and Churston Ferrers Grammar School adds approximately 150 further mixed places. If your child is in Year 6 starting September 2026 and you are aiming for September 2027 entry, the registration deadline is midday on 4 September 2026 — with a preferred early deadline of 15 July 2026.

What Are the Key Facts About Torbay Grammar Schools for 2026?

The table below sets out the key details for each school in the Torbay consortium, verified from official admissions pages published for 2026 and 2027 entry.

All four schools use the same consortium test, meaning a child sits the examination once and that single score is used by any school the family names on their Common Application Form. Registration must be completed separately with the school at which the child will sit the test, but the score transfers automatically. The test is administered by GL Assessment and uses two papers — one English, one Maths — each lasting approximately 50 to 60 minutes. Crucially for families new to the process: Torbay uses English and Maths only. Verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning are not part of the Torbay 11+ — unlike many other GL Assessment areas in England where all four components appear.

Why Is There No Fixed Pass Mark? How Torbay's Standardised Score System Works

This is the question most families in Torbay struggle to find a clear answer to, and most competitor guides online either skip it or address it only superficially. Understanding it properly is essential to making good decisions about preparation and school choice.

The Torbay consortium uses GL Assessment's age-standardised scoring system. This works in two stages. First, raw scores from the English and Maths papers are combined into a total raw mark. Then GL Assessment applies an age adjustment: because children in the same school year can differ by up to eleven months in age, a child born in August 2016 sitting the September 2026 test is only ten years and one month old, while a child born in September 2015 is nearly eleven. The raw score is adjusted upward or downward using GL Assessment's age-correction tables to produce a standardised score that places children on a common scale regardless of when in the school year they were born.

The critical consequence is this: there is no score a child can reach and be guaranteed a place. There is no published qualifying threshold. Each year, the schools rank all candidates by their standardised score and offer places from the top down until each school's published admission number is reached. The effective cut-off — the lowest standardised score among children who received an offer — depends entirely on how many children applied and how the whole cohort performed that year. A score that secured a place in 2024 might not do so in 2026 if the cohort was stronger, and vice versa.

For families, this means two things. First, preparation strategy should aim to maximise performance on both papers, not reach any particular target number. Second, because no threshold is published, the guidance letter families receive from schools on or after 12 October 2026 becomes an essential decision-making tool: it indicates, based on the child's actual standardised score and the previous year's patterns, whether a place at each school is likely, possible, or unlikely. That letter arrives before the 31 October 2026 CAF deadline, giving families time to adjust which schools they list on their application.

Torquay Girls' Grammar School states publicly that girls achieving in the top 25% of their age group at primary school should be able to cope with the tests — a useful starting point for families assessing readiness, though it is not a pass mark. The Spires College confirms on its official admissions page that "there is no threshold score that has to be achieved in each skill tested as the overall score will be used to rank the results." Both statements confirm the same mechanism: rank order, not threshold.

What Does the GL Assessment Test Involve in Torbay?

The Torbay consortium 11+ consists of two multiple-choice papers set by GL Assessment. Both papers are taken on the same day — Saturday 19 September 2026 — with children arriving at 8.45 am, completing Paper 1, taking a short break, and then completing Paper 2 before being collected late morning. Both papers are externally marked by GL Assessment.

The test content is set to reflect what children have been taught in primary school by the end of Year 5 according to the National Curriculum. Families do not need to teach material beyond this. What makes a significant difference, however, is familiarity with the GL Assessment question format. The multiple-choice structure, timing pressure, and specific question styles used in GL Assessment English and Maths papers are quite different from SATs or typical classroom tests. GL Assessment provides free familiarisation materials at 11plus.gl-assessment.co.uk/free-materials/ that show exactly what the papers look like — schools in the consortium actively direct families to these.

For the English paper, the most important skill areas are reading comprehension (identifying meaning, inference, deduction from a passage), vocabulary in context, and understanding of grammar and language use. For the Maths paper, multi-step problem solving, number fluency (fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio at a Year 5 level), measurement and data interpretation are the core areas. Because there is no verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning component, families can focus preparation entirely on these two subjects without the additional workload of VR and NVR preparation that many other 11+ programmes require.

What Are the Registration Deadlines and Key Dates for the Torbay 11+ in 2026?

The timeline below covers every key date from registration through to offer day for September 2027 entry, verified from official admissions pages at TGGS, TBGS and The Spires College as of 2026.

The registration process is sequential: a child must register with the school at which they will sit the test, and this registration is separate from the Common Application Form submitted to the local authority. Missing the 4 September 2026 final registration deadline means the child cannot sit the test in September 2026 and will likely be considered only for a waiting list place following late testing in March 2027. Families should register as early as possible — ideally by 15 July 2026 — to ensure arrangements are confirmed before the summer.

If a child is registered at one consortium school (for example, Torquay Boys' Grammar School) but wishes to also apply to Torquay Girls' Grammar School or The Spires College, they only need to take the test once. The schools will share the test result. However, if a child wants to take the test at a different school's site, they must register at that school. In practice, most families in the Torquay area register at whichever of TBGS or TGGS is most convenient.

How Are Places Allocated at Each Torbay Grammar School?

While the test is shared, the admissions criteria and the way each school ranks candidates differ in important respects. Understanding these differences matters when families are deciding which schools to name on their CAF.

Torquay Boys' Grammar School operates super-selective admissions with 168 Year 7 places. This means that the highest-ranking boys — after age standardisation — are offered places in rank order until the admission number is reached. There is no separate qualifying threshold. The only oversubscription criteria (used when the pool of eligible applicants exceeds 168) are: first, looked-after children and previously looked-after children; second, children eligible for Pupil Premium (Free School Meals); third, all other qualifying applicants in order of distance from the school's main entrance measured in a straight line. There is no catchment area — distance is used only as a tie-breaker at the very end of the ranking. TBGS was established in 1904 and received a Good Ofsted rating at its inspection of 22 and 23 September 2021.

Torquay Girls' Grammar School uses the same GL Assessment English and Maths test and fills its 188 selective Year 7 places in rank order of standardised score. The school states on its official admissions page that girls achieving in the top 25% of their age group at primary school should be able to cope with the tests. TGGS is located at 30 Shiphay Lane, Torquay, TQ2 7DY (telephone 01803 613 215). Like TBGS, there is no fixed pass mark — the 188th-highest-scoring girl who is offered a place defines the effective cut-off for that year's cohort.

The Spires College is a bilateral school — unusual in England — combining a non-selective general intake with a selective stream for up to 60 pupils who have reached a designated score in the 11+ test. Children admitted to the selective stream access a more academically challenging curriculum. The school is located in Torquay approximately one mile from TBGS and participates fully in the consortium's shared test. Families who wish their child to be considered for the selective stream at The Spires College as well as at a grammar school can do so with the same single test sitting.

Churston Ferrers Grammar School is located in Brixham, approximately 4.8 miles from TBGS, and admits mixed-sex pupils. It uses the same consortium test but has its own admissions criteria and admission number of approximately 150 places. Families based south or east of Torquay — particularly in Paignton, Brixham and surrounding areas — often consider Churston Ferrers alongside the Torquay schools.

Across all four schools, the key practical point is that the guidance letter received on or after 12 October 2026 gives families their child's standardised score result and a school-by-school indication of whether a place is likely. This letter arrives before the 31 October 2026 CAF deadline, so families have time to make an informed decision about which selective schools to name and in what preference order. Appeals against non-offers are handled by the Torbay Independent Appeals Panel (Governance Support, Town Hall, Castle Circus, Torquay, Devon, TQ1 3DR; email: governance.support@torbay.gov.uk; telephone: 01803 207087).

How Should My Child Prepare for the Torbay 11+ in 2026?

Effective preparation for the Torbay consortium 11+ focuses exclusively on GL Assessment English and Maths — a significant advantage for families compared to those preparing for areas that also include verbal and non-verbal reasoning. The two papers test comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and mathematical problem solving and numerical fluency. Both can be meaningfully improved with structured, progressive practice over time.

The test content is pegged to the National Curriculum for Year 5. This means that conceptually, no material taught in Year 6 onwards is tested. What the 11+ adds is the pressure of timed multiple-choice format, the specific GL Assessment question styles, and the need for accuracy and fluency at speed. These are skills that come from practice and familiarity, not just curriculum knowledge.

Year 4 (Optional Early Start): For families who want maximum preparation time, Year 4 is an excellent foundation-building period. The goal is not exam practice but skills development. Encourage daily reading across a wide range of genres — vocabulary depth is the single most predictive factor in English paper performance. Build mental maths fluency through games, puzzles and number challenges. Introduce your child to GL Assessment familiarisation materials very lightly to build awareness of the format, but without pressure.

Year 5, September onwards: This is the recommended entry point for most families. Begin systematic weekly practice on both English and Maths using GL Assessment-style question banks. For English, focus on comprehension skills — practising how to find evidence in a passage, infer from context, and identify meaning and tone. For Maths, work systematically through the KS2 content areas tested: number (fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio), geometry (area, perimeter, angles, coordinates), measurement and data handling (charts, tables, averages). Begin timed sections but not yet full papers.

Year 5, January onwards: Increase the challenge level of practice material progressively. Begin GL Assessment-style practice papers at section level. Track where your child is losing marks and weight preparation accordingly — most children have either English or Maths as a weaker subject, and understanding this early allows targeted work. Introduce the experience of sitting under exam conditions: no prompts, timed, full attention. Continue widening vocabulary actively through reading and word-study activities.

Year 6, September to test day (19 September 2026): In the short window between Year 6 starting and the 19 September test, the focus shifts entirely to exam-readiness. Run full timed mock papers at least every two weeks. The experience of sitting two consecutive 50- to 60-minute papers with only a short break between them is genuinely tiring for ten-year-olds, and children who have not practised this are often caught out by fatigue rather than ability. Ensure your child knows the strategies for managing time per question, for skipping and returning to difficult items, and for checking answers if time allows. Avoid cramming in the final week — light maintenance practice only.

For families preparing for both a Torbay grammar school and a Devon selective school simultaneously, note that the Devon consortium and the Torbay consortium use different test dates and different content profiles. The Torbay test is English and Maths only; some Devon consortium schools include additional components. Check each school's admissions requirements individually if your child is applying across both authorities. For more on 11+ preparation strategies see also our guides to Kent 11+ schools and Sutton grammar schools, and our general 11+ Tuition hub for an overview of how our specialist tutors approach selective school preparation across all formats.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Torbay Grammar Schools 11+