Torquay Boys' Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026

1. Home
2. ›
3. Blog
4. ›
5. Torquay Boys' Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026

Torquay Boys' Grammar School (TBGS) has a published admission number of 168 for Year 7, and ranks candidates by standardised score in its entrance tests. The tests took place on Saturday 19 September 2026; the preferred registration deadline was Wednesday 15 July 2026 and the final deadline was midday on Friday 4 September 2026. TBGS's admission policy describes two selection tests, one in English and one in Mathematics, and its Apply to Join Us page puts each at approximately 50 minutes, so there is no verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning paper to prepare for. This guide explains what the tests cover, the registration dates that applied for the 2026 sitting, how competitive entry is, and how to structure preparation for a future sitting.

What Is Torquay Boys' Grammar School?

Torquay Boys' Grammar School can trace its roots back to 1904 and is located at Shiphay Manor Drive in Torquay, Devon. It is a selective academy for boys aged 11 to 18, with a sixth form for boys and girls. The Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register lists 1,087 pupils on roll, and the sixth form also admits external candidates, with a published admission number of 40 for Year 12.

TBGS's About Us page says the school was given Specialist Status in 1996 and High Performing Specialist Status in 2006. The sixth form is mixed sex and takes external candidates, so boys who join in the main school may study alongside girls and students from other schools in the sixth form.

TBGS's 2027-8 admission policy says the school gives no priority to children living within a defined catchment area or attending a named feeder school. Parents apply through the Common Application Form of the local authority where the child lives, whether that is Torbay, Devon or another area. For families who live at some distance, the absence of catchment and feeder-school priority is worth noting.

Torquay Boys' Grammar School says on its Apply to Join Us page that it works in partnership with an online 11+ preparation platform to give pupils who are eligible for Pupil Premium free online learning and 11+ exam preparation. Families whose child has been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years can fill in the form on that page; free access is given once the primary school has verified the child's Pupil Premium status. The school says it is proud to be open to pupils from all backgrounds and wants to encourage even greater representation of children at the school.

Which Torbay Schools Share the Test?

A distinctive and important feature of 11+ entry in Torbay is that the selective schools use the same test results, so children sit the test once: Torquay Boys' Grammar School, Torquay Girls' Grammar School (TGGS), Churston Ferrers Grammar School and the selective stream at The Spires College. Torbay Council's timetable gives 19 September 2026 as the selective testing day for all grammar schools and The Spires selective places. Torbay Council says families who live in Torbay can name up to three schools in order of preference on the Common Application Form.

For families with sons considering both TBGS and Churston Ferrers, the practical implication is straightforward: your son sat the test once, on the 19 September 2026 testing day, and Torbay Council says all selective schools in Torbay use the same test results. Each school applies its own admission policy, and TBGS's Yes or No relates to TBGS's own required standard. The difference between the schools lies in their character, location, and the composition of their intake. Churston Ferrers is a mixed school with a Brixham address. TBGS is a boys-only school with a co-educational sixth form within Torquay itself. Families may wish to visit both schools before naming a preference on the Common Application Form, which is due by 31 October 2026.

The fact that the test is shared also means that the effective competition for a TBGS place is concentrated among boys who have passed the threshold. Our general 11+ tuition page explains how we approach preparation across shared-test and single-school formats, and how the shared-test structure affects preparation decisions.

What Does the TBGS 11+ Exam Cover? The Two-Paper Format Explained

The TBGS entrance tests consist of two papers, one in English and one in Mathematics, according to its admission policy. Torbay Council says all selective schools in Torbay use the same test results, and Torquay Girls' Grammar School says it uses papers designed by "an external assessment authority (GL)" in English and Maths. There is no verbal reasoning paper and no non-verbal reasoning paper: the policy lists only English and Mathematics, and Torquay Girls' Grammar School's page says these are the only two elements children are tested on.

English paper: GL Assessment describes its English 11+ practice papers as covering comprehension exercises on a passage of text, capital letters and punctuation, spotting spelling mistakes, and word choice and grammar. TBGS's Apply to Join Us page puts each test at approximately 50 minutes.

Maths paper: GL Assessment describes its Maths 11+ practice papers as covering knowledge of times tables, quick mental arithmetic, and understanding of shapes, space and measures. TBGS's Apply to Join Us page puts each test at approximately 50 minutes, so both accuracy and pace matter.

One common mistake in 11+ preparation is to buy practice papers built for a different area's test: GL Assessment sells practice papers in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and maths, and says 11+ tests vary from area to area. Verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers do not match the two tests TBGS describes, so they are not the best use of preparation time. Every preparation hour spent on VR or NVR for TBGS is an hour not spent improving English comprehension accuracy or Maths problem-solving speed. For an overview of how preparation varies across different 11+ formats, see our guide to what the 11+ exam is.

What Were the Registration Deadlines for the TBGS 11+ in 2026?

The Torbay selective-schools test for 2027 entry followed a firm sequence of dates, and missing the registration deadline meant no first-round test unless exceptional circumstances were evidenced. TBGS operates "Testing before Preference": candidates sit the tests and receive the outcome before the closing date for applications, so that parents can judge whether an application for a selective place would be successful.

Torbay Council's pages give slightly different dates: midday on Wednesday 2 September 2026 as the very latest return date for test registration forms, and 13 October 2026 or as soon as possible after for notification of selective-test outcomes. TBGS's own Apply page and admission policy give 4 September 2026 and 12 October 2026. The notification parents receive on or after 12 October 2026 is a Yes or No, not a score. TBGS will not tell parents their child's actual scores, and its policy says the score will not be disclosed at any point, including when places are formally offered in March. The letter states simply whether performance was of the required standard for the school -- yes or no. A "yes" notification does not guarantee a place: you must still name TBGS on your CAF by 31 October 2026. Parents who believe exceptional circumstances affected their son's performance can ask the school for a Selection Review by contacting it within 14 days of the test. A "yes" that is not followed by a CAF submission means your son will not be considered for a place, regardless of his test performance. Registering for the test is not the same as applying for a school place. These are two distinct steps.

Registrations received after the midday 4 September 2026 deadline, where there are no evidenced exceptional circumstances (the school gives a bereavement of an immediate family member or a move to the area from outside Torbay or Devon as examples), will be considered for testing in March 2027, after the initial round of allocations. Late testing is likely to be for a place on the waiting list rather than a first-round place. Families who live outside the Torbay local authority area submit their CAF to their own local authority -- not to Torbay Council. For a full breakdown of 11+ timelines across England, see our 11+ exam dates guide.

How Competitive Is Entry to TBGS?

Torquay Boys' Grammar School is selective, and Torbay Council's allocations page for the September 2026 intake lists 305 preferences, 216 of them first preferences, for its 168 places. The school has a published admission number of 168 for Year 7, is selective in the main school, and gives no priority for living in a defined catchment area. Of the 168 places offered for 2026, 2 went to children whose Education, Health and Care Plan names the school and the other 166 went to boys eligible for admission, with none left available on national offer day.

That is about 1.3 first preferences per place (216 for 168 places) and about 1.8 preferences of any rank per place (305 for 168 places); these are preferences named on Common Application Forms, not a count of the boys who sat the test. Structured preparation can begin at the start of Year 5 or the summer before Year 6, depending on how secure a boy's English and Maths already are. Families who begin in September of Year 6 are starting late but not impossibly so, particularly if their son has a strong natural aptitude in English and Maths.

The selection process is age-standardised, which corrects for the well-documented disadvantage faced by children born later in the academic year. This means an August-born boy and a September-born boy are compared on an equal adjusted basis, not on raw scores. The admission policy says every candidate's score is standardised for age before the pass threshold is set, so parents do not need to apply for it separately. Places are allocated from the highest to the lowest standardised score until the places within the admission number are used or the pass threshold is reached. Where candidates have the same score, the last places go first to looked-after and previously looked-after candidates, then to candidates eligible for the Pupil Premium (parents must complete the school's Supplementary Information Form to be identified as eligible), then to all others, with straight-line distance from home to school as the tie-breaker; where the distance is equal, the policy provides for random allocation in the presence of someone independent of the School.

How Should You Prepare? Maths and English Subject Breakdown

Because TBGS tests only English and Maths, preparation can be genuinely focused. This is both an advantage and a potential trap: the focus means you can invest more time per subject, but with only English and Maths tested there is no other subject paper to fall back on.

English -- Comprehension: Comprehension questions on a passage of text reward pupils who read widely and actively. A child who reads across a range of genres -- fiction, narrative non-fiction, journalism, biography, persuasive writing -- will be better placed to handle an unfamiliar passage. Active reading means asking questions of a text while reading: what is the writer trying to achieve? What is the tone? What can I infer from this phrase? Passive reading does not build the skill of answering questions on a passage. For preparation, our specialist tutors use timed comprehension passages followed by detailed question-by-question review of why each answer is correct. The key skill is locating textual evidence and then choosing the answer the text supports most precisely, rather than relying on prior knowledge or general impression.

English -- Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar: GL Assessment's English practice papers include capital letters and punctuation, spotting spelling mistakes, and word choice and grammar, so these areas need explicit practice. Reading widely builds vocabulary and an implicit feel for correct grammar, but it does not reliably teach children to identify a fronted adverbial, distinguish a subordinate clause from a main clause, or know whether a comma or a semicolon is required in a given sentence. These are explicit grammatical rules that need to be taught and practised. For Year 6 pupils preparing for TBGS, a structured programme of grammar revision -- working through each part of speech, clause types, punctuation rules, and common spelling patterns -- is a sensible way to build accuracy.

Mathematics: Secure arithmetic and times tables are a sound base for Maths preparation. As general preparation advice rather than a list of test content, the key skills to develop are: speed and accuracy on core arithmetic (aiming for no errors on four-operations questions, fractions, and percentage calculations) and efficient word problem decoding (identifying what the question is actually asking before calculating). Our specialist tutors run timed Maths sessions from practice papers, focusing on both content accuracy and time management.

One important consideration: mock exams matter for TBGS preparation. The experience of sitting two timed papers under exam conditions is qualitatively different from practising individual questions at home. Children who have not sat a timed mock before the test often find the pacing more difficult than expected, even when their underlying knowledge is strong. We recommend at least two to three full mock sittings before the test, with the final mock no more than two to three weeks before test day.

When Should You Start? A Preparation Timeline Counted Back From Test Day

The following timeline counts back from test day, using the 19 September 2026 sitting as its example. Register early: for the 2026 sitting registration opened on 1 March 2026, and the preferred deadline was 15 July 2026. Adjust the starting point to reflect your son's current preparation status.

8 weeks before the test: Begin with a diagnostic assessment -- sit one timed English practice paper and one timed Maths practice paper under exam conditions, then mark and analyse the results. Do not start teaching from the beginning before understanding where the gaps actually are. If comprehension accuracy is already strong but SPaG is weak, the first month of preparation should focus disproportionately on grammar rules. If Maths shows weakness in data handling or fractions, direct attention there.

4-7 weeks before the test: This is the core preparation window for most families. Structure sessions so that both English and Maths are practised every week. A practical approach is three to four focused sessions per week, alternating between English comprehension, SPaG revision, and Maths. Use English and Maths practice papers, such as GL Assessment's practice packs in both subjects. Around the middle of this window, sit a full mock -- both papers timed back to back -- to test stamina, pacing, and performance under realistic conditions. Review every error carefully. Pattern-identification in mistakes is more valuable than raw volume of practice.

Final 3 weeks before the test: Consolidation, not new content. Sit one more full mock at the start of this period, ideally on a Saturday, as the 2026 test was held on Saturday 19 September 2026. Focus remaining sessions on the specific question types where errors are still appearing. In the week before the test, reduce the volume of formal practice and ensure your son is well-rested and confident. Review the test-day logistics: the venue (the admission policy says the tests are held at the school or another selective school in the area), arrival time, what to bring, and what to expect on the morning. Children who arrive knowing exactly what to expect are calmer, and calmer children perform better.

After the 19 September 2026 test: Wait for the outcome notification, which TBGS says will arrive on, or as soon as possible after, 12 October 2026. If your son receives a "yes" notification, submit the Common Application Form immediately -- do not wait until close to the 31 October deadline. If you live outside Torbay, confirm with your home local authority how to name TBGS on your CAF. Places are offered on National Offers Day, 1 March 2027.

Related guides: Torquay Girls' Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026 and Churston Ferrers 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 TBGS's 2027-8 admission policy and Apply to Join Us page, Torbay Council's secondary application, timetable and TBGS allocation pages, TGGS's selection-tests page, the DfE's Get Information About Schools register and GL Assessment's 11+ practice-paper pages.

Frequently Asked Questions