Ermysted's Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026

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Ermysted's Grammar School in Skipton, North Yorkshire, is a selective state boys' grammar school with a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 128 places in Year 7. For boys sitting the test in September 2026 for September 2027 entry, the school uses the FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise) entrance test. The FSCE test took place on Saturday 26 September 2026; registration closed at noon on Monday 31 August 2026, and results are released in the week commencing 12 October 2026. This guide covers what the FSCE test involves, how places are allocated, the catchment area, and how to prepare your son effectively for entry to Ermysted's Grammar School.

What Is the Ermysted's Grammar School 11+ Exam in 2026?

For Year 7 entry in September 2027, Ermysted's Grammar School uses the FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise Ltd) entrance test, with papers provided by FSCE. The school says the test has been designed with the child in mind, with familiar test layouts and accessible wording, and it includes only Key Stage 2 curriculum content taught up to and including the end of Year 5. The school works with Atom Learning to provide students who are eligible for Pupil Premium with free online learning and exam preparation.

The test consists of two papers, both covering English and mathematics:

• Paper 1 (Multiple Choice): English and mathematics questions with multiple-choice answer options, answered on a separate answer sheet. The school says the mathematics and English responses in both papers are scanned and marked automatically using Optical Mark Recognition technology.
• Paper 2 (Free Response): English and mathematics questions where the candidate responds with short written answers.

Notably, non-verbal reasoning is not included in the Ermysted's FSCE, and there is no creative writing component. Raw scores from both papers are standardised and age-weighted to ensure candidates of different ages within the eligible year group are assessed on a level playing field. The two standardised scores are then combined to produce each candidate's overall score, which is compared against the qualifying standard set that year.

The FSCE is a set of test papers used by some grammar schools to evaluate candidates for entry into Year 7. For a full overview of how the FSCE works, see our dedicated FSCE 11+ guide.

What Are the Key Dates for the Ermysted's Grammar School 11+ in 2026?

Every family applying for Ermysted's Grammar School must register separately for the entrance test — there is no automatic registration, even for boys who live in the catchment area. Registration is completed online via the school's website or by submitting a hard copy to the school office. The following dates apply to Year 7 entry in September 2027 (boys born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016).

An important note on process: passing the entrance test does not automatically secure a place, and it is not the same as applying for a school place. Even if your son meets the qualifying standard, you must still name Ermysted's Grammar School on your Common Application Form (submitted to your home local authority; the school says the closing date is usually 31 October 2026, so check it with your authority) to be considered for one of the 128 places. Registration closed on 31 August 2026 and the main test was held on 26 September 2026; late registrations are not considered in the first round of offers and are only reviewed after March 2027, when initial offers are made. The exception is a late application received before Friday 27 November 2026: if the Admissions Committee accepts that there are exceptional circumstances for the delay, it is treated as being in time.

For a comprehensive overview of 11+ exam dates across grammar and independent schools, see our 11+ exam dates guide for 2026–2027.

What Does the FSCE 11+ Exam Test at Ermysted's Grammar School?

The FSCE entrance test is designed around the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum content taught up to the end of Year 5 — meaning all content should already be familiar to your son from his primary school lessons.

English: The school describes the English questions as assessing understanding of texts and appropriate use of language, and the FSCE Parents' Guide lists the skills tested, which include grammar and punctuation as well as vocabulary and reading. The practice questions in the children's guide include a reading passage followed by comprehension questions, such as which of several statements can be inferred from the text. The Parents' Guide lists the skills tested, including the correct choice and consistent use of present and past tense; identifying similar or opposite word families; recognition of how inverted commas and punctuation help to interpret meaning, emphasis, tone and speaker intention; identifying the difference between apostrophes used to mark plural and possession; identification of commas after fronted adverbials; appreciation of the use of paragraphs to organise ideas; and distinguishing between homophones and near-homophones. The children's guide also includes questions in which a child fills in missing letters to complete words so that each sentence makes sense. The school advises reading widely and regularly, with a focus on meaning.

Mathematics: Maths questions include only Key Stage 2 content taught up to and including the end of Year 5. Key topic areas include: number and place value (reading, writing, ordering, rounding and comparing numbers, including negative numbers, up to and over 1,000,000); calculations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, factors, primes, square numbers, cube numbers); fractions, decimals and percentages (converting, ordering, rounding, adding, subtracting and multiplying equivalent fractions, proper and improper fractions, mixed numbers, decimal numbers and percentages); measurement (units, perimeter, area, volume); geometry (2D shapes, 3D shapes and angles); and statistics (tables, line graphs, and data interpretation). The maths questions reward children who can apply their arithmetic fluency to multi-step problem-solving scenarios — not just recall procedures.

The school's own guidance is that there is no need for intensive tutoring and no need for spending hours on past papers or mock exams. There are no commercial books endorsed by FSCE. The school provides official Familiarisation Guides on its website (via the test familiarisation page), and these are the authoritative materials for understanding what the papers look like. Each paper typically lasts 45–60 minutes with a break scheduled between the two, and stationery is provided by the school on the day.

How Are Places Allocated at Ermysted's Grammar School?

Ermysted's Grammar School has a Published Admission Number (PAN) of 128 places in Year 7. The qualifying standard is not a fixed score announced in advance — it is determined each year by the Admissions Committee based on the overall performance of candidates in the main entrance test cohort.

Reaching the qualifying standard does not automatically secure a place. If more than 128 candidates who have met the standard apply to the school on their Common Application Form, the school applies its oversubscription criteria in the following order:

1. Looked-after and previously looked-after children who meet the qualifying standard are given first priority.
2. Catchment area applicants who meet the qualifying standard are given second priority.
3. Out-of-catchment applicants who meet the qualifying standard are given third priority.

Within each of the second and third priority groups, sub-priorities apply in this order: first to children registered for Pupil Premium at the time of application (for the first round, the date of registering to sit the Entrance Test); then to children who have a sibling at the school in September of the year of entry (the Policy counts half-brothers, adopted or fostered brothers, step-brothers, and the son of a parent's partner where the applicant lives in the same family unit at the same address); then to children who live closest to the school (measured in straight-line distance). If two applicants are equidistant, the final tie-break is a random draw conducted in the presence of an independent witness. To have looked-after status, Pupil Premium, a sibling at the school or a catchment address taken into account, parents submit the Supplementary Information Form with supporting evidence by 12:00 noon on Friday 27 November 2026; an applicant who does not is ranked from the distance criterion.

The waiting list for places is maintained until 31 December 2027. Families who receive an offer should confirm their acceptance within the timeframe specified in the offer letter, as failure to respond may result in the offer being withdrawn.

What Is the Catchment Area for Ermysted's Grammar School?

Ermysted's Grammar School has a defined catchment area that covers the areas served by the primary schools in Beamsley, Bradley, Burnsall, Carleton, Cracoe, Embsay, Gargrave, Grassington, Kettlewell, Kirkby-in-Malhamdale, Skipton, Thornton-in-Craven, and Threshfield. The oversubscription criteria use the applicant's home address at the time of application. For the first round of Year 7 offers, that is the address where the boy is living when registered for the Entrance Test or, if the family moves after that, where he is living at the Supplementary Information Form deadline of 12:00 noon on Friday 27 November 2026. Where parental responsibility is equally shared, it is where he spends most school nights (Sunday to Thursday), and the address must be his principal permanent residence (owner occupancy or a tenancy of at least six months). Boys who reach the required standard and live in the catchment area come ahead of those who live outside it, and a family whose principal permanent residence is outside the catchment area is deemed to live outside it, whether or not it owns a property inside it.

However, being in the catchment area does not guarantee a place — your son must still register for the test, sit the test, and meet the qualifying standard. If more than 128 applicants who reach the required standard apply, Pupil Premium registration is considered first within the catchment area group, then having a sibling at the school, and then distance from home to the school. Registration is mandatory for everyone; there is no automatic entry for catchment area boys.

Out-of-catchment families applying to Ermysted's should be realistic about the competition for places: applicants who live outside the catchment area and reach the required standard are third priority, after looked-after and previously looked-after children and catchment area applicants. The key variable for out-of-catchment families is how many catchment area boys pass and apply in any given year.

If you are unsure whether your home address falls within the catchment area, the admissions policy (linked from the Ermysted's Year 7 admissions page) points to a fine level map of the school's catchment area on the Local Authority website, and you can contact the school directly, including via admissions@ermysteds.uk.

How Should My Son Prepare for the Ermysted's FSCE 11+ Exam?

Preparation for the FSCE at Ermysted's is most effective when it focuses on genuine academic development rather than test-specific drilling. The school explicitly states that no commercial 11+ books or past papers are endorsed by FSCE, and that there is no need for intensive tutoring or for spending hours on past papers or mock exams. It is worth understanding this before starting preparation.

English preparation: The most valuable long-term preparation is a strong daily reading habit. Children who read widely — fiction, non-fiction, newspapers, different genres and authors — naturally develop the vocabulary range, comprehension depth, and ability to infer meaning that the FSCE English papers reward. Start building or reinforcing a reading routine well before the test. Reading regularly across different text types is more valuable than intensive short-term cramming. For the vocabulary components specifically, word games (crosswords, word puzzles, etymology discussions) help build breadth without pressure. The Ermysted's familiarisation guide should be used to understand the format of questions — the multiple-choice and short written answer question types — so your son is familiar with what to expect on test day.

Mathematics preparation: The maths content tested is the Year 5 KS2 curriculum. The school says its tests include only Key Stage 2 curriculum content taught up to and including the end of Year 5, so a boy who is keeping up with his maths schoolwork should already know most of it, or will cover it at school before the test. The preparation emphasis should be on confidence and fluency: mental arithmetic speed, applying maths knowledge to multi-step word problems, and working accurately under gentle time pressure. Practising maths problems in the areas the test covers up to the end of Year 5 (fractions, percentages, area and perimeter, statistics, angles) helps to close any content gap. There is no non-verbal reasoning component to prepare for: the school states that non-verbal reasoning is not included in its test.

Timing and overall approach: The school recommends engagement with school life, regular reading, and practising mental arithmetic in real-life scenarios as the foundation of preparation. The official familiarisation guides, available on the school's website, show the style and format of the questions. Our specialist tutors at Leading Tuition design FSCE preparation programmes that work with these principles, building the English and maths skills that the test is designed to assess.

For a broader introduction to the 11+ process and what parents should know, our guide on what the 11+ exam is provides the full context.

Why Is Ermysted's Grammar School Worth Applying For?

Ermysted's Grammar School was established circa 1492, making it over 530 years old; its own website describes it as one of England's oldest schools. The school stands on Gargrave Road in Skipton, and has 836 pupils on roll, for boys aged 11 to 18.

Ofsted's most recent inspection of the school, on 28 September 2022, rated it Good overall, with Outstanding for behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth form provision. From September 2024, Ofsted no longer makes an overall effectiveness judgement in inspections of state-funded schools. For comparison with other grammar schools, see our 2026 grammar school league tables.

Beyond academic performance, the school's website lists 59 weekly enrichment activities, and its Extracurricular menu has pages for Duke of Edinburgh Award, The Ermysted's Award, Bar Mock Trial, music, sport, The Reason and Support for Medics.

The school says the test uses a mix of multiple-choice and constrained-response tasks that will be familiar to children from their primary school work. The school says all children should be able to give the test a go based on their commitment to working hard at primary school.

Related guides: Ripon Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026.

Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 59 reviews, read on 3 October 2026, and 91% of our students achieve their desired grades.

Reviewed September 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against Ermysted's Grammar School's Year 7 (September 2027) admissions page, its 2027-28 Admissions Policy, Parents' Guide and FSCE familiarisation guides, GOV.UK Get information about schools and Ofsted.

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