Torquay Girls' Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026

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5. Torquay Girls' Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026

Torquay Girls' Grammar School (TGGS) has a Published Admission Number of 192 for Year 7 entry in September 2027, and entry is decided by the Torbay Selective Schools tests in English and Maths, with papers designed by GL, an external assessment authority, held on Saturday 19 September 2026. Opened in April 1915 at Barton Road and on Shiphay Lane since 1939, TGGS is a selective girls' school at 30 Shiphay Lane in Torquay. Entry is selective: candidates take tests in English and Maths, with scores adjusted for age so that younger children in the year group are not at a disadvantage. This guide covers the test format, key 2026 dates, admissions criteria, and what effective preparation looks like for the TGGS 11+.

What Is the Torbay Selective Schools 11+ Test?

Torbay Council's secondary application timetable lists 19 September 2026 as the selective testing day for all grammar schools and The Spires selective places in Torbay. The Torbay grammar schools — Torquay Girls' Grammar School, Torquay Boys' Grammar School and Churston Ferrers Grammar School — test on that same day, and The Spires has selective places on it too. If your daughter is applying to more than one Torbay selective school, she registers with just one school, the one where she will sit the test, and TGGS's guidance covers each of the selective schools in Torbay. This is a significant practical advantage for families considering multiple applications.

The English and Maths papers are designed by GL, an external assessment authority. Raw scores are age-standardised, so that girls born in September and August are compared on equal terms. TGGS's Admissions Panel determines the eligible score for the school, and girls who reach it join the eligible list, ranked by test score. To understand how GL Assessment standardised scores work in detail, see our guide to 11+ standardised scores.

How Competitive Is Entry to Torquay Girls' Grammar School?

Entry to TGGS is competitive: for September 2026 entry, Torbay Council's allocations page for TGGS shows 248 first preferences considered against an admission number of 192. With a Published Admission Number of 192 for Year 7 and places decided by test performance, achieving a strong score on both papers is essential.

TGGS's policy says parents receive a guidance letter saying Yes or No to whether their daughter met the eligible score, not the scores themselves, and that scores for successful candidates are not disclosed even when places are offered. What this means in practice is that preparation cannot be benchmarked to a fixed target — instead, girls need to demonstrate consistent strength across both the English and Maths papers. TGGS says girls achieving in the top 25% of their age group at primary school should be able to cope with the tests; the question is whether that ability has been developed for the format of the GL Assessment papers.

In the 2025 GCSEs, 58.4% of the grades awarded to TGGS's Year 11 candidates were grades 7 to 9 (the A/A* equivalent), against 21.9% nationally.

What Do GL Assessment's English and Maths Practice Papers Cover?

TGGS uses papers in English and Maths designed by GL, an external assessment authority, and the school's admissions policy lists the 11+ test on Saturday 19 September 2026 as an AM and PM session. The school's selection tests page links to GL's familiarisation material, which it says tells you what you need to know about the test and gives you some sample questions. GL says 11+ tests vary from area to area.

English paper

GL Assessment's English practice papers cover comprehension exercises, capital letters and punctuation, spelling (spotting mistakes), and word choice and grammar. In GL's comprehension exercises, children read a passage of text and answer questions on it. Girls who read regularly across a range of genres — fiction, non-fiction, newspaper articles, longer stories — develop the vocabulary breadth and comprehension range that comprehension and word-choice questions draw on. Reading habit cannot be built in the final weeks before the test.

Mathematics paper

GL Assessment's Maths practice papers cover times tables, quick mental arithmetic, shapes, space and measures, and applying the four basic operations. Practice with GL Assessment-style questions is one way to prepare.

Scores themselves are not sent: TGGS's admissions policy says guidance letters, a Yes or No to whether the eligible score was met, are issued on or as soon as possible after Monday 12 October 2026, and Torbay Council's timetable says parents are notified of outcomes on 13 October 2026 or as soon as possible after. For a full breakdown of how GL Assessment tests are structured compared to other 11+ formats, see our GL Assessment 11+ complete parent guide.

What Are the Key Dates for the 2026 Torbay 11+?

For September 2027 Year 7 entry, the following dates apply to the Torbay Selective Schools 11+ at TGGS. These dates come from the TGGS admissions policy for September 2027 entry, the TGGS selection tests page and Torbay Council's secondary application timetable.

Registration was through TGGS directly, using the school's test registration form, returned to the one school where the child would sit the test by midday on Wednesday 15 July 2026 (preferred date) or the final date of midday on Friday 4 September 2026. Registrations received after midday on 4 September 2026, with no exceptional circumstances, are considered for testing in March 2027, after the initial round of allocations, and TGGS says such testing is likely to be for a place on the waiting list. TGGS's policy adds that requests to test after that schedule are considered only where parents can demonstrate a genuine reason, with evidence, and that such testing takes place in December. Candidates must be in Year 6 at the time of the test: for September 2027 entry, girls born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016. After the test, guidance letters are emailed on or as soon as possible after 12 October 2026 (to be confirmed). Parents then complete a common application form listing their preferred secondary schools (in order of preference) and submit it to their home local authority by 31 October 2026. Places are offered nationally on 1 March 2027. Torbay Council's timetable lists midday on 2 September 2026 as the closing date for receipt of registration forms for selective schools; TGGS's policy and selection tests page give midday on Friday 4 September 2026 as the final date for registration with TGGS.

What Are the TGGS Admissions Criteria and Oversubscription Rules?

TGGS ranks candidates by test performance rather than by catchment area: entry is determined by performance in the selection tests. Girls who achieve an eligible score are ranked on their test scores and are eligible to be admitted, and a girl who lives in another local authority applies through her own local authority even though she is requesting a place at TGGS. When there are more eligible candidates than places, the school prioritises all applicants with an eligible score using the following oversubscription criteria and tie-breaks:

1. Looked-after children and previously looked-after children (including those adopted)
2. Children on the eligible list who are entitled to Pupil Premium, including the Service Premium
3. Rank order based on the total score achieved in the tests by children on the eligible list
4. Tie-break for the last available place: proximity to the school, measured as a straight line from the main school reception front door to the applicant's home address
5. For applicants who live equidistant from the school, random allocation supervised by an independent person

Distance is a tie-break only: in the event of a tied ranking for the last available place, proximity to the school is used. If you know that you are going to move into the area during Year 6, TGGS says you can apply from where you are, providing your child has sat the 11+, and provide evidence of the new address where possible. The full admissions policy for September 2027 entry is available on the TGGS website.

What Makes Torquay Girls' Grammar School Distinctive?

TGGS opened in April 1915 as Torquay Girls' Secondary School and became Torquay Grammar School in 1928; the school says it has been educating students for over one hundred years. It achieved Specialist Humanities School status in 2004 and became an academy in February 2011. Its mixed sixth form is called TG6.

The school has 1,058 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,200, and Torquay Boys' Grammar School has also been on a Shiphay site since 1983.

Extracurricular life at TGGS includes a public speaking team, a Performing Shakespeare group, drama and dance clubs, and sport. Ofsted's inspection on 1 November 2023 judged the school Outstanding overall.

How Should Your Daughter Prepare for the Torbay 11+?

Effective preparation for the Torbay 11+ begins early and follows a structured approach built around the English and Maths papers. The English and Maths components require different skills and different preparation strategies.

For the English paper, the most important foundation is a consistent wide reading habit established before Year 5. Girls who read regularly across fiction and non-fiction — different genres, different authors, news articles, longer novels — develop the vocabulary range, reading speed, and comprehension accuracy that comprehension and word-choice questions draw on. Reading alone is not sufficient preparation, however. From around the start of Year 5 (or September of Year 5 at the latest), targeted practice with GL Assessment-style comprehension passages, vocabulary exercises, and grammar and punctuation questions builds the specific test-taking skills and time management needed on the day. Completing full English practice papers under test conditions — rather than only doing individual question types — is a useful habit in the months before the test.

For the Maths paper, systematic review of primary-school Maths is the starting point. This means confirming that all four operations with whole numbers and fractions are secure, that percentages and decimals are comfortable, and that geometry and data handling topics are well-covered. More importantly, a girl who knows the procedure but cannot read and interpret a problem statement carefully will lose marks on content she understands. Targeted practice with GL Assessment-style Maths papers in the months before the test builds question-reading accuracy and confidence.

For the best outcomes, structured tuition from a specialist 11+ tuition provider familiar with the Torbay selective-school format helps ensure no topic gaps remain unaddressed and that timed practice is well matched to the test. Our specialist tutors at Leading Tuition work specifically with the GL Assessment format used in Torbay and support girls from Year 4 through to the September test day, which for September 2027 entry was Saturday 19 September 2026.

Related guides: Torquay Boys' 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 TGGS admissions policy for September 2027 entry, TGGS selection tests, history and GCSE results pages, Torbay Council's secondary application timetable, Get Information about Schools and Ofsted.

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