Herschel Grammar School 11 Plus Guide 2026

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5. Herschel Grammar School 11 Plus Guide 2026

Herschel Grammar School in Slough offers 150 places in Year 7 for September 2027 entry, filled through the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' shared 11+ examination and a strict priority order that starts with looked-after children and a 4-mile catchment area. This guide sets out the test format, the qualifying score, the full September 2027 entry timetable, how Year 7 places were filled for 2025 and 2026 entry, and Herschel's published exam results and Ofsted grading.

How Many Places Does Herschel Grammar School Offer for September 2027 Entry?

Herschel Grammar School's Determined Admission Arrangements for September 2027 entry set the Year 7 Planned Admission Number (PAN) at 150 places. Places are not allocated purely by test score. Instead, the school works through five priority categories in order, filling as many places as possible from each category before moving to the next: looked-after and previously looked-after children (Children Act 1989, sections 20, 31 and 38); children living within the 4-mile catchment area, with those closest to the school receiving the higher priority; up to 10 places for Pupil Premium-eligible children living within a wider 10-mile radius; children of permanent school staff who have been employed continuously for 2 or more years; and, finally, any places remaining after those categories are filled, allocated in rank order of examination performance, with applicants on the same score ranked by proximity to the school. A tie for a final place within the catchment, Pupil Premium or rank-order categories is decided by proximity to the school, and if distances are also equal, by random allocation supervised by someone independent of the school.

The school also runs a separate Sixth Form (Year 12) intake with a PAN of 160, with the number admitted from outside the school set at a minimum of 10 — students who did not attend Herschel for Years 7-11 and are joining for A-levels. Entry to the Sixth Form depends on GCSE average points score and subject-specific grade requirements published annually in the school's Sixth Form Course Information Booklet, with applications made online from November of the year before entry; students must accept the conditional offer, meet the stated GCSE requirements and enrol on GCSE Results Day.

What Format Is the Herschel Grammar School 11+ Exam?

The 11+ entrance examination that determines eligibility for Herschel Grammar School is set and administered by the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools, the group of four grammar schools — Herschel, Langley, St Bernard's Catholic and Upton Court — that coordinate Year 7 entry through a common 11+ examination. Every child registering for consideration at Herschel sits the same single examination, and the same standardised score is shared with any other Slough Consortium school named on the application, so families do not sit separate tests for each school.

The test is delivered as two papers, each approximately 60-65 minutes long, with a short break between them. The questions test verbal, numerical and non-verbal ability, and all questions are multiple-choice. The examination is paper based, with answers entered on a separate answer sheet that is marked by computer. The Consortium contracted GL Assessment as the test provider for the September 2026 sitting and has contracted Quest Assessments for the September 2027 sitting, the test for September 2028 entry. Scores are converted to an age-standardised score to account for the spread of birth dates within a Year 6 cohort, and a standardised score of 111 or above is required for a child to be eligible for consideration at any Slough Consortium school, including Herschel.

For the 19 September 2026 sitting, an applicant unable to attend because of sickness, parental sickness or transport failure had to tell the school before 8:30am on the day, with medical evidence required for the applicant's own sickness, while other circumstances such as religious observance had to be notified to the Consortium by the registration deadline. A single alternative test date was available for applicants who could not attend for religious or medical reasons, and there was no later date for clashes with other tests. Extra time of up to 25% for each paper could be requested for pupils with recognised special educational needs, with professionally supported evidence due by 3.00pm on Friday 12 June 2026.

Does Herschel Grammar School Have a Catchment Area?

Yes. After looked-after children, the second admission priority category is the school's 4-mile catchment area. This is measured as a straight-line ("as the crow flies") distance from a child's home address to the school's main entrance gate, using a Geographical Information System (GIS), with those closest to the school receiving the higher priority — not driving distance or walking route. A separate, wider catchment applies to Pupil Premium-eligible children: up to 10 additional places are made available to Pupil Premium applicants living within a 10-mile radius, where they are eligible for the Pupil Premium at the closing date for the Common Application Form.

Residency matters as much as distance. For September 2027 entry, applicants had to be living at the address stated on the Common Application Form by 31 October 2026 and to have lived continuously at that address since 1 May 2026. If the home address changed between registering for the 11+ and the 31 October 2026 closing date, the family had to inform the school and provide a reason, and the school checks the authenticity of the home address stated.

Key Dates for September 2027 Entry at Herschel Grammar School

For children applying for a Year 7 place starting September 2027 (born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016), the Slough Consortium's timetable runs across roughly ten months from registration to National Offer Day. Registration through the Consortium portal ran for six weeks, from 1 May 2026 to 5 June 2026, and the Common Application Form closing date was Saturday 31 October 2026: Slough Borough Council says any application submitted after that date will only be reviewed from 1 March 2027, once all on-time applications have been reviewed and the first round of offers has been made.

The Common Application Form is submitted to your home local authority (Slough Borough Council for Slough residents) rather than directly to Herschel Grammar School, and it is where families rank their preferred schools — including any combination of the four Slough Consortium schools and out-of-area preferences. Results were released online from 4pm on 15 October 2026, so families had until 31 October 2026 to review their order of preference in light of their child's standardised score; after that date, families with exceptional circumstances that mean they wish to change their preferences must contact the local authority. Eligible applicants (scoring 111 or above) who are not offered a place initially go on the waiting list, which operates until 31 December 2027, and each time an applicant joins or leaves it the rank order of the remaining applicants is reassessed.

How Competitive Is Entry to Herschel Grammar School?

Herschel Grammar School is oversubscribed: for September 2026 entry it received 1,068 applications, 794 of them from applicants scoring 111 or above, for 150 places (1,182 and 862 for September 2025 entry). A standardised score of 111 makes a child eligible for consideration, but eligibility is not the same as a place: places go first to looked-after children, then to eligible children living within 4 miles (closest first), then to up to 10 eligible Pupil Premium applicants within 10 miles and to children of staff, with the remaining places awarded in rank order of examination performance, so where a family lives relative to the 4-mile boundary matters. In both the September 2025 and September 2026 allocations, all eligible timely applications from within the 4-mile radius were offered places, and the remaining places were filled on rank score down to 116 for 2025 entry and 115 for 2026 entry, as recorded in the Consortium's March allocation statistics (which note that further movement is possible in later allocation rounds).

Herschel is a selective, co-educational secondary school serving Slough and its surrounding areas. It is part of The Schelwood Trust alongside Beechwood School, another secondary school in the town, and its headteacher is Ms Joanne Rockall.

What GCSE and A-Level Results Does Herschel Grammar School Achieve?

Just as important for families choosing between the four Slough Consortium schools is what happens after a child is admitted. Herschel's own exam results page reports its 2026 GCSE and A-level results.

In its 2026 results, Herschel reported that half of all GCSE grades were awarded at grades 9-8 and nearly three-quarters at grades 9-7. Herschel directs families to the Department for Education's school performance tables for further breakdowns.

At A level, Herschel reports that the average grade across A level and EPQ in 2026 is B+. Ofsted rated Herschel Outstanding in every one of its five inspection categories — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth form provision — following its inspection on 21 May 2024, repeating the Outstanding grading the school also received at its previous full inspection on 18 September 2012.

For families weighing Herschel against the other three Slough Consortium schools, our Slough Grammar Schools 11+ hub compares admissions routes across the Slough grammar schools, and our 11+ Tuition in Slough guide covers borough-wide preparation timelines. If you're mapping out the wider exam calendar alongside other consortiums and independent schools, our 11+ Exam Dates 2026-2027 timetable is a useful cross-check, and our Slough tuition page covers local support options beyond 11+ preparation. For the school's own admissions documentation, the official Herschel Grammar School Year 7 Admissions 2027 page is the primary source for the admissions figures in this guide.

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.

Herschel 11+ 2027 test: September 2028 entry (Year 5 now)

Children now in Year 5 sit the 11+ examination in September 2027 for September 2028 entry. The stages below follow the Consortium's September 2027 entry timetable (2026 test), alongside what Herschel's pages say about the Quest sitting.

Registration

For September 2027 entry (2026 test), registration opened online at 10am on Friday 1 May 2026 and closed at 10am on Friday 5 June 2026. Registration is a request to sit the test and is not an application to any school.

The examination

For September 2027 entry (2026 test), all children sat the 11+ entrance examination at one of the four grammar schools on Saturday 19 September 2026. For September 2028 entry, Quest Assessments is the provider for the examination in September 2027, with two papers covering verbal and non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics.

Results

For September 2027 entry (2026 test), results went online on the Consortium portal from 4pm on Thursday 15 October 2026. For September 2028 entry, the eligibility score continues to be set at 111.

Application

For September 2027 entry (2026 test), the Common Application Form closing date was Saturday 31 October 2026 and offers are made on Monday 1 March 2027. The September 2028 entry dates sit on Herschel's Year 7 Admissions 2028 page.

Dates for September 2028 entry sit on Herschel's Year 7 Admissions 2028 page.

Reviewed October 2026: eligibility score, rank-score lines, test provider and key dates checked against the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' key dates, allocation summaries, results portal and guide, and the Herschel, St Bernard's and Upton Court admissions pages.

Frequently Asked Questions