13+ Tutors in Birmingham: Which Schools Actually Have a Year 9 Entry Route

Birmingham's “13 plus” search splits into two genuinely different routes, and it matters which one applies to your child. The city's eight state grammar schools — including Bishop Vesey's Grammar School and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls — do not run a scheduled 13+ exam at all: a Year 9 place opens only when a current pupil leaves, and only then does a waiting-list applicant sit a test set by that individual school. Two independent schools, Solihull School and Edgbaston High School, run genuine scheduled Year 9 entrance exams instead, each with its own subjects and its own 2026/2027 date. King Edward's High School for Girls occasionally takes Year 8 or Year 9 applicants if space allows. And King Edward's School Birmingham, which appears throughout 13+ tutor search results, has no 13+ route whatsoever — its own admissions page states its entry points are 11+ and 16+ only. This guide sets out exactly which route applies to which school, and what each one actually involves.

Do Birmingham's Grammar Schools Run a Scheduled 13+ Test?

Two of the five pages currently ranking for “13 plus tutors Birmingham” describe the city's grammar schools as running a “late transfer test” for Year 8 or 9 places — the same language used for the scheduled, dated exams that exist in some other parts of the country. Buckinghamshire is a genuine example of that model: the council runs a dated, county-branded late transfer test every year. Birmingham does not work like Buckinghamshire, and it does not work like a county with no branded test either — it runs a third model that none of the ranking pages describe: no scheduled test day exists anywhere in the city's state grammar system, run by neither the council nor the schools.

The King Edward VI Foundation, which arranges the shared entrance test on behalf of Birmingham's grammar schools, states its in-year policy in one sentence: “In-year vacancies normally only become available if a current pupil is leaving the school. If a vacancy arises, applicants on the waiting list will be invited to take a test at the school.” That single mechanism — wait for a leaver, then sit a test the school itself sets — governs Year 9 admission at all eight schools the Foundation covers: Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, King Edward VI Aston School, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, King Edward VI Five Ways School, King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls, King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. (Our separate King Edward VI Birmingham 11+ guide covers the Foundation's main Year 7 entrance test in full — this page is about what happens after that point.)

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School spells out the mechanism most fully of any school in the Foundation. Its general admissions page states: “There are two main points of entry to the school – at Year 7 and Year 12. Vacancies occasionally arise in other years. Admission in these cases is by means of a test at the school. Parents are required to contact the school for a Change of School (In-Year) Application Form.” Its dedicated in-year admissions page then confirms what happens once that form is submitted: “We will add you to the waiting list and then, should a place become available, you will be invited to sit an Entrance Exam here at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School. This date will be set by the School. The place will be offered to the pupil with the highest score.” The school also names its assessment tools directly: “The examination board for KS3 exams is MidYIS and the examination board for KS4 exams is Yellis” — a level of detail no directory or marketplace page currently ranking for this search names.

Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls runs the identical waiting-list model. Its own admissions page states: “Occasionally, vacancies arise for entry after the age of 11 years. Should you wish your daughter to be considered for a place in Year 8 - 11, please contact the school directly and ask to be added to the waiting list.” As with Bishop Vesey's, there is no published exam date to prepare for — only a waiting list, and a test if and when a place opens.

The practical upshot: a family targeting a Birmingham grammar school for Year 9 is not preparing for a fixed exam on a fixed date. They are registering interest, joining a waiting list, and waiting for a leaver to create a vacancy — at which point the individual school, not a shared county process, decides the format and the date.

Which Independent Schools Have a Genuine Year 9 Entry Point?

Two schools in the wider Birmingham area run a scheduled 13+ exam in the way most families searching this term expect — a fixed date, a published syllabus, and a result you either pass or don't. A third takes Year 8/9 applicants only occasionally, through a direct enquiry rather than a published exam day.

Solihull School, which sits in the separate metropolitan borough of Solihull rather than in Birmingham itself, publishes the most complete 13+ syllabus of any school covered here. Its entrance exam page states: “In the 13+ age group candidates sit English, Mathematics, Science and a Modern Language paper.” Its Key Dates page lists the sitting itself as “Entrance Examination Saturday 7 November 2026”, with a separate, later closing date on the same page for candidates to confirm their reply — the school treats the exam day and the reply deadline as two distinct milestones a family needs to track. This is the only school in this guide with both a full four-subject 13+ syllabus and a confirmed 2026/2027 exam date.

Edgbaston High School takes a different but equally scheduled approach. Its senior school admissions page explains that girls can join outside the main Year 7 round: “Girls can apply to join us elsewhere in our Senior School, as long as we have places available. Your daughter could join us in any year group – apart from Year 11, and if she joins Year 10, we would prefer her to do this by the half term of the Autumn Term.” The entry test itself is narrower than Solihull's: “She would need to take an entry test, appropriate to her age, in English, Maths and French (or her main modern foreign language). She would also come to an interview with the Headmistress.” Unlike a strict waiting-list model, the school also runs a second sitting each year specifically for candidates joining outside September: “Occasionally, we also run a supplementary entrance exam around Easter time. Please contact us if you'd like your daughter to be added to the waiting list.”

King Edward's High School for Girls (KEHS) sits between the two models. Its admissions page states: “Our usual entry points are at the start of Year 7 and the start of Year 12, but we will sometimes consider applicants for entry into Year 8 or Year 9, if space is available.” Unlike Solihull and Edgbaston High, there is no published 13+ exam date to register for. Instead, the school directs Year 8/9 enquiries to a named contact: “Please contact the Director of Admissions for further information on 0121 415 2195 or admissions@kehs.org.uk.” A family interested in KEHS at Year 9 has to ask directly whether a place currently exists, rather than book a place on an advertised exam day. Year 12 is the other published entry point KEHS names, and it is a scheduled one: our guide to 16+ tuition in Birmingham sets out the grade thresholds and interviews the city’s grammar and independent sixth forms use at that stage.

King Edward's School Birmingham does not belong on this list at all, and it is worth saying so directly because the school appears throughout 13+ tutor search results. Its own admissions page is unambiguous: “The normal entry points to the School are at 11+ (Year 7) and 16+ (Sixth Form), although boys are occasionally considered for other year groups should there be availability.” It is an independent boys' school on Edgbaston Park Road, entirely separate from the state King Edward VI grammar schools covered above, and our Birmingham 7+ guide found the identical gap at the same school for Year 3 entry. If King Edward's School Birmingham is genuinely your target, its 11+ or 16+ routes — not 13+ — are where preparation belongs.

How Do the Routes Compare? Format, Subjects and Dates for 2026/2027

Put side by side, the two models look nothing alike. One column is a waiting list with no fixed date; the other is a calendar entry.

It helps to see what a genuinely scheduled Foundation exam actually looks like, for contrast. The Foundation's real dated test is the main Year 7 entrance test, not anything at 13+: “The entrance test for 2027 entry will be held on Saturday 12th September 2026”, provided by GL Assessment, with two papers weighted “50% for English/verbal reasoning, 25% for non-verbal reasoning and 25% for mathematics.” That test is shared across 19 grammar schools in the wider West Midlands region, so a child sits it once and it counts everywhere. Nothing resembling that scale, structure or fixed date exists for Year 9 entry anywhere in the Foundation — which is precisely why treating 13+ in Birmingham as a scaled-down version of the 11+ test, the way several ranking pages implicitly do, gives families the wrong expectation to prepare against.

For families weighing preparation time, the practical difference is this: Solihull School and Edgbaston High School reward focused preparation aimed at a specific date on a specific syllabus, in the same way any scheduled entrance exam does. The King Edward VI Foundation schools, Bishop Vesey's and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls reward being genuinely ready whenever a place opens, since there is no way to know the date in advance — registering interest and joining the waiting list early matters more than cramming for an exam day that has not been set. For the Foundation's main Year 7 route itself, our King Edward VI Birmingham 11+ guide and our King Edward VI 11+ preparation guide cover the GL Assessment format in full.

Frequently Asked Questions About Birmingham 13+ Entry