Grammar schools in the West Midlands form a partnership to jointly employ GL 11 Plus exams for their 2024 admission assessment and onwards.
A recently launched initiative by a group of grammar schools in the West Midlands will streamline the 11 Plus examination process for the region.
The newly-formed West Midlands Grammar Schools partnership has brought together esteemed institutions from Birmingham, Shropshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, and Wolverhampton to jointly administer a single entrance test.
As a result of this partnership, participating grammar schools will collectively use GL 11 Plus tests.
This will effectively cease the need for students to prepare for and sit multiple 11 Plus exams on different dates when
This will effectively cease the need for students to prepare for and sit multiple 11 Plus exams on different dates when applying to more than one grammar school.
Only the grammar schools in Birmingham and Warwickshire were using 11 Plus tests provided by GL Assessment prior to the partnership. The grammar schools in Shropshire, Walsall, and Wolverhampton were previously using 11 Plus tests provided by CEM (Centre for Evaluation & Monitoring).
The partnership has placed a strong emphasis on the well-being and mental health of young candidates, by using a uniform test format to reduce stress levels.
The 11 Plus test, which will take place in September before the year of entry, will serve as a common yardstick for all participating schools.
With consent from the candidates’ parents, the test scores can be shared among the partnership schools, obviating the need for multiple tests and simplifying the application process for students and parents alike.
The collaboration is poised to establish a new benchmark for admission procedures in the region and provide a smoother, more equitable pathway to the prestigious grammar schools for aspiring students.
Which grammar schools are a part of this partnership?
The following are the grammar schools in the West Midlands region which will be collectively using a single GL 11 Plus test for all their applicants:
Birmingham
- 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 Grammar School for Boys
- King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls
- Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls
Shropshire
Walsall
Warwickshire
- Alcester Grammar School
- King Edward VI School
- Lawrence Sheriff School
- Rugby High School
- Stratford Girls’ Grammar School
- Ashlawn School
Wolverhampton
The GL 11 Plus Examination
The 11 Plus examination is used by grammar schools all over the UK to determine whether applicants qualify for admission.
Grammar schools use this selection process because they have only a limited number of places to offer with a significantly high number of students applying.
The participating grammar schools in the West Midlands will all be using 11 Plus tests provided by GL Assessments for their 2024 admissions.
This means students who are attempting to apply to multiple grammar schools will not have to sit multiple 11 Plus examinations from different exam providers on different days at different venues. A single GL 11 Plus exam on a single day will effectively enable them to apply to more than one grammar school.
The GL 11 Plus test is made up of two test papers that contain four sections:
- English
- Mathematics
- Verbal Reasoning
- Non-verbal Reasoning
One paper pair English and Verbal Reasoning, while the other paper comprises Mathematics and Non-verbal Reasoning.
Students are given approximately 50 minutes to solve each of these papers with a short break between each paper. The questions in both papers are multiple-choice.
The test results will employ age-weighted standardisation, with a central score of 200. The West Midlands grammar schools will provide additional information on their respective websites regarding how the result will be used.
Centralised Application Process using GL 11 Plus Tests
The West Midlands Grammar Schools partnership has stated: ‘Dates and key processes have been aligned and all applications will be directed to one centralised application portal opening at 9 am on May 9, 2023.
‘Parents will be asked to enter their home postcode and their child’s gender and will then be directed to the relevant website to register their child for the entrance test. Children will be tested at their local test centre and will be eligible to apply for any of the schools in the group.
‘There will no longer be a need to sit tests at every school of interest. Following the notification of test scores in October, the parents will be able to list their schools of interest on the Local Authority Preference Form.
‘Results will be released throughout the West Midlands Grammar Schools’ partnership using an age-weighted standardisation around a median score of 200 and further details will be made available on individual school websites in due course. This will mean a change for those grammar schools in Shropshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton who previously used a median score of 300.’
While the application portal is yet to be unveiled, the updated application process ‘will provide a much-improved entrance test process for all children’ aspiring to secure a place in a grammar school in the West Midlands region.
