Bexley Grammar School 11 Plus 2026: Entry Guide

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Bexley Grammar School is a co-educational selective state school located in Welling, South East London, and one of four grammar schools in the Bexley Grammar Schools Consortium. For September 2027 entry, the school offers 210 places in Year 7. Children gain entry by sitting the Bexley Selection Test — now administered by Quest Assessments — during the first two weeks of September 2026, with test results released to parents in early October. The 2026 registration window ran from 1 to 31 March 2026, making it one of the earliest grammar school registration deadlines in England. This guide covers what makes Bexley Grammar distinctive, exactly what the Quest test involves, how places are allocated, and how to structure your child's preparation for the 11+ 2026 cycle.

What Is Bexley Grammar School?

Bexley Grammar School sits on Danson Road in Welling, in the London Borough of Bexley. It is an Academy converter grammar school that selects pupils entirely on academic ability via the Bexley Selection Test. The school is co-educational from Year 7 — admitting both boys and girls at secondary entry — which distinguishes it from Beths Grammar School (boys only) and Townley Grammar School for Girls within the same consortium. Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School is the other mixed-entry school in the consortium.

Bexley Grammar operates as part of the Bexley Grammar Schools Consortium, which means that a child sits the Bexley Selection Test only once, and the result can be used to apply for any of the four consortium schools: Bexley Grammar, Beths Grammar, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar, and Townley Grammar. This shared test structure simplifies the admissions process for families — there is no need to sit separate tests for each school. Parents name their preferred schools on their child's Common Application Form after receiving test results.

Across all four consortium schools, approximately 800 Year 7 places are available each year. Demand is intense: around 6,000 children sit the Bexley Selection Test annually, making the Bexley consortium one of the most competitive grammar school groupings in London. Bexley Grammar's 210 places represent the largest single allocation in the consortium. The school's co-educational status, combined with its position in South East London and strong academic reputation, makes it a sought-after option for families across Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, and beyond.

The school has an active sixth form and a strong tradition of academic achievement at GCSE and A-level. For families considering which grammar school to target within the Bexley consortium, the co-educational environment at Bexley Grammar is the defining characteristic that distinguishes it from the single-sex schools in the group. Full details of the school's admissions policy and familiarisation materials are available on the official Bexley Grammar School website.

What Does the Bexley Selection Test Involve?

From the 2026 cycle onwards, the Bexley Selection Test is administered by Quest Assessments, replacing the GL Assessment paper that had been used in previous years. For a detailed breakdown of what changed in the move from GL Assessment to Quest and how the two formats compare, see our dedicated Quest Assessment guide for Bexley Grammar Schools.

The test consists of two timed multiple-choice papers, which together cover three subject areas:

Verbal ability and English comprehension — This element tests vocabulary knowledge, reading comprehension, and verbal reasoning skills. Children are expected to understand written passages, infer meaning, identify relationships between words, and reason logically from written information. This section carries the heaviest weighting in the final score calculation.

Numerical reasoning — Mathematical problem-solving questions using content up to the end of Year 5 curriculum. Questions test number sense, arithmetic, word problems, and data interpretation rather than curriculum recall. Year 6 topics covered in school are not required knowledge for the test.

Non-verbal reasoning — Questions that assess the ability to recognise patterns, identify relationships between shapes, and draw conclusions from visual information such as sequences and diagrams. Non-verbal reasoning does not depend on literacy or numeracy skills and is often described as measuring raw problem-solving ability.

The full test session typically lasts between two and a half and three hours, including a short break between the two papers. An invigilator guides children through the session and signals when to move from one section to the next. All questions are multiple choice, and children record their answers on a separate answer sheet. There is no written element to the Bexley Selection Test.

Each child receives a standardised age score (SAS) for each of the three subject areas. The overall score is then calculated using the weighted formula above: verbal ability contributes 50% of the total weighted score, while numerical and non-verbal reasoning each contribute 25%. Age standardisation adjusts scores to allow fair comparison between children born at different points in the school year — a child born in August is not disadvantaged against one born in September. The Bexley Selection Test is age-standardised by Quest Assessments as part of the scoring process.

There is no fixed pass mark for the Bexley Selection Test. The selective standard — the threshold a child must reach to be considered for grammar school admission — is calculated each year after all scores are in. Approximately one third of all children who sit the test achieve the selective standard. Meeting the selective standard does not guarantee a place at any specific school; it qualifies a child to be considered in the admissions process for the school of their choice.

How Are 210 Places Allocated at Bexley Grammar School?

Bexley Grammar School offers 210 places in Year 7 for September 2027 entry. Allocation of these places follows the school's oversubscription criteria, which apply once the selective standard has been met. Simply achieving the selective standard does not guarantee a place — in a typical year, more children meet the standard than there are places available across the consortium, and each school has its own priority order for allocating places among qualifying applicants.

The admissions process works as follows. After the September 2026 test, parents receive their child's results in early October 2026. These results confirm whether the child has met the selective standard. If the selective standard is met, parents must name Bexley Grammar School (or any other consortium school) on their child's Common Application Form (CAF) submitted to their home local authority by 31 October 2026. Naming the school on the CAF is mandatory — meeting the selective standard alone is not sufficient. Children who meet the standard but are not named on a CAF will not receive consideration for consortium schools.

Among children who meet the standard and have named Bexley Grammar School on their CAF, places are allocated in priority order according to the school's published oversubscription criteria. Priority is typically given first to looked-after children, then to children with a sibling already at the school, and then to children based on their standardised test score (highest scores first) or distance from the school, depending on the school's specific criteria. Families applying from outside the London Borough of Bexley should read Bexley Grammar School's admissions policy carefully, as some consortium schools give priority to in-borough applicants before distance is considered.

If your child narrowly misses a place, you can be added to a waiting list. Places do become available after offer day in March 2027 as families decline offers. Waiting list positions are typically held in the same priority order as the oversubscription criteria rather than by the date you joined the list.

Key Dates for the Bexley 11+ 2026

The 2026 Bexley Selection Test cycle covers children aiming to start Year 7 in September 2027. The key dates below apply to this cycle. For children aiming for September 2026 entry, those tests were held in September 2025 and offers were made on National Offer Day in March 2026.

A critical note on registration: the 2026 registration window (1–31 March 2026) ran nearly two months earlier than had been the norm in previous years. The window for the 2025 cycle opened in May 2025. Families planning for the 2027 cycle — for children currently in Year 5 who will sit the test in September 2027 — should watch for the registration announcement from the London Borough of Bexley from late 2026 and expect the window to open around the same time in early 2027. Late registrations are not accepted under any circumstances. For the complete 11+ test calendar across grammar schools and independent schools, see our 11+ exam dates guide.

Does Bexley Grammar School Have a Catchment Area?

Bexley Grammar School does not operate a geographic catchment area. Any child who achieves the selective standard on the Bexley Selection Test is eligible to apply for a place, regardless of where they live. Children from other London boroughs, from Kent, or from anywhere in England can sit the test and apply if they pass. This open admissions approach means that the school draws children from a wide geographic area and is not restricted to local residents of the Borough of Bexley.

However, where places are oversubscribed among children who have all met the selective standard, distance from the school does become relevant. If demand for places at Bexley Grammar exceeds the 210 available, the school's oversubscription criteria determine which qualifying children receive offers. Distance is one of the criteria used to resolve competition between equally-scored or similarly-positioned applicants. In practical terms, children living closer to the school who meet the selective standard are more likely to receive an offer than those living further away, if the school is heavily oversubscribed.

For families living outside the Borough of Bexley, the process is slightly different at the point of sitting the test. Out-of-borough children do not sit at their primary school during the main 2–10 September 2026 window; instead, they sit at one of the Bexley grammar school sites during the 7–10 September 2026 window. If you are applying from outside the borough, contact the Bexley schools admissions team at selectiontests@bexley.gov.uk to confirm arrangements. Out-of-borough applicants must still register during the same March window using the Bexley Borough Council online registration system.

There is a useful practical consideration for families living some distance from Welling: if your child passes and receives an offer, they will be making a daily journey to South East London for up to seven years including sixth form. It is worth assessing journey time realistically — Bexley Grammar is located near Bexleyheath station on the Hayes line from London Bridge, and bus routes also serve the school from nearby areas. A one-way journey of more than an hour each way is worth factoring into your decision-making, particularly for younger children at the start of secondary school.

How Should Your Child Prepare for Bexley Grammar 11+?

Preparation for the Bexley Selection Test needs to be structured, consistent, and focused on all three tested areas. Given that the test moved to Quest Assessments in 2026, families should seek practice materials and tutors who are familiar with the Quest format specifically rather than GL Assessment materials from earlier years, as the question style differs. Some aspects of preparation are format-independent, but others depend on knowing exactly how Quest Assessments structures its verbal and non-verbal reasoning questions.

Start early — Year 4 or early Year 5 is the recommended starting point for dedicated preparation. This does not mean intensive drilling from age 8, but it does mean introducing your child to reasoning question types during Year 4 and beginning structured practice by the start of Year 5. Children who begin in January of Year 6 with little prior exposure to reasoning questions face a steep curve in the time available before the September test. The Bexley test window in September comes only a few weeks after children return from summer holidays, leaving minimal buffer time if preparation has been left late.

For the verbal ability section — which carries 50% of the weighted score and is therefore the highest priority — the two most effective preparation strategies are daily reading and targeted vocabulary building. Regular reading across genres, both fiction and non-fiction, builds the comprehension and inference skills that the verbal section requires. Vocabulary work should go beyond school expectations: children sitting the Bexley test are competing against children from schools and home preparation environments where vocabulary development has been deliberately accelerated. Practice comprehension passages at increasing difficulty, and work specifically on understanding tone, purpose, and implicit meaning.

For numerical reasoning, the test does not extend beyond Year 5 curriculum content, but it does require fluency and speed rather than just procedural knowledge. Children who can solve Year 5 maths problems accurately but slowly will struggle with the time pressure of the test format. Timed practice with a focus on mental arithmetic, problem recognition, and question technique is more productive than curriculum review. Data interpretation — reading tables, bar charts, and line graphs to extract specific information — is a commonly tested skill that responds well to focused practice.

For non-verbal reasoning, many children find this the most unfamiliar section simply because it is rarely covered in primary school. Non-verbal reasoning does not require content knowledge — it requires pattern-recognition speed and accuracy. Practice with actual non-verbal reasoning question banks is the most direct preparation approach. Children who practise these question types regularly for a few months before the test typically see significant improvement, as the patterns and question types become familiar.

Across all three areas, regular timed practice under test conditions is essential. Children should experience sitting for the full test duration before the actual September date — the two-and-a-half to three-hour session is long for a ten- or eleven-year-old, and test stamina matters. Book sessions at a test centre or use full-length mock papers at home to build this endurance in the months before September. For specialist support covering all three Quest Assessment subject areas, see our 11+ tuition service. Our tutors work with children from all starting points and build preparation programmes around the specific demands of the Bexley Selection Test.

Frequently Asked Questions