Admissions

The Governing Body of Ermysted’s Grammar School (the ‘School’) is the Admissions Authority.

The School has a Published Admission Number (‘PAN’) of 128 places in Year 7.

To be eligible to sit the Entrance Test and be considered for a place at the School in September 2027, an applicant must have been born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016. For admissions outside of a child’s normal age group, parents should refer to the relevant section of the Admissions Policy. Please note, as a single sex boys’ school, eligibility will be based on the child’s gender being male. An applicant may only sit the Entrance Test once.

Yes.

Everyone, including those residing in the catchment area, needs to register.

Parents can submit the Entrance Test Registrations Form from 13 April 2026. Forms must be submitted via this website or submitted in hardcopy to the School Office. The deadline for registrations for the main testing session is 12:00 pm (noon) on 31 August 2026. All registrations received after this deadline will be considered as late and will not be considered in the first round of offers.

For candidates who have a disability and/or require special resources to complete the Entrance Test, parents may request special arrangements be made by completing the relevant section of the Entrance Test Registration Form. Parents making such an application will be informed in writing by 14 September 2026 whether their request has been agreed. The deadline for registrations for the main testing session is 12:00 pm (noon) on 31 August 2026. All registrations received after this deadline will be considered as late and will not be considered in the first round of offers. Please see our Parents’ Guide for advice on special arrangements.

The required standard will be determined by the Admissions Committee based on the performance of candidates in the main Entrance Test cohort.

To allow time in which to complete the Common Application Form (‘CAF’), parents will be informed whether their child has met the required standard in the week commencing 12 October 2026.

Please note that achieving the required standard does not equate to the offer of a place at the School.

No.

Attaining the required standard does not guarantee admission to the School. If the School is oversubscribed by applicants who have reached the required standard, it will apply its oversubscription criteria until the PAN of 128 has been achieved.

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) naming the School will be admitted. Should this occur it will reduce the number of places available. For other applicants achieving the required standard, there is no guarantee of a place at the School being available. If more applicants reach the required standard than there are places available, the following oversubscription criteria will apply:

First to children who have achieved the required standard and who are Looked-After or are Previously Looked-After, second to children who have achieved the required standard and whose home address lies within the catchment area at the time of application, third to children who have achieved the required standard and whose home address lies outside the catchment area at the time of application.

Preference to children in the second and third priority will be applied in the following order. First to children who are registered as in receipt of the Pupil Premium at the time of application, then to children who have a brother at the School in September of the year of entry, then to children who live closest to the School.

If two or more applicants fulfil the relevant criteria and live equidistant to the School, but there are not enough spaces remaining to accommodate them all, the available place(s) will be allocated at random. The process will be conducted in the presence of a witness who is independent of the School and its admissions process.

Yes.

Registering for and sitting the Entrance Test is not an application for a place at the School. The parent must name the School on the Common Application Form (‘CAF’) and submit the CAF on time to the home local authority. The closing date for submitting the CAF is usually 31 October 2026 but it is the parent’s responsibility to contact their home local authority directly for further details.

In order to be able to apply the oversubscription criteria, the School must be informed of applicants who qualify for priority. This is achieved by the parents concerned submitting a Supplementary Information Form (‘SIF’) and including the necessary information and supporting evidence. The SIF needs only to be completed by parents who believe their child qualifies for priority under one of the oversubscription criteria.

The Local Authority will notify the parents whether or not their child has been allocated a place at the School on 1 March 2027 and provide instructions on how parents can confirm whether they wish to accept the place or not. Failure to confirm the place within the indicated timeframe may lead to the offer being withdrawn.

The FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise) entrance test is a set of test papers used by some grammar schools to evaluate candidates for entry into Year 7. It assesses a range of academic abilities, inspired by (and not beyond) the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum taught up until the end of Year 5.

The test includes:
• English: assessing understanding of texts, and appropriate use of language. To identify candidates with strong command of the written word, who can read easily, fluently and with good understanding.
• Mathematics: problem-solving, logical reasoning, and application of numeracy. To identify candidates whose fluency in the fundamentals of maths means that they are able to focus on grappling effectively with increasingly complex problems.

Non-verbal reasoning is not included in our test and there is no creative writing element.

The test has been designed with the child in mind. From familiar test layouts to accessible wording and content with a range of difficulty levels, all children will be able to ‘give it a go’ based on their commitment to working hard at primary school. A mix of multiple choice and constrained response tasks will be familiar to children from their primary school work.

Our tests only include Key Stage 2 curriculum content that will have been taught up until – and including – the end of Year 5.

Yes. Children will benefit by:
• Working well at primary school with maximum attendance and engagement in all areas of school life;
• Reading widely and regularly, with a focus on meaning;
• Practicing mental arithmetic in real-life scenarios and problem-solving puzzles;
• Engaging in reasoning and logic games that require imagination;
• Using the official Familiarisation Guides, which are available on the school website.

There is no need for intensive tutoring and no need for spending hours on past papers or mock exams. There are no commercial 11+ books or past papers endorsed by our test provider, FSCE. All relevant test information and sample questions are provided in our Familiarisation Guides.

The school has Familiarisation Guides on its website to help children and their families understand the style and format of the questions. These resources are designed to be informative, provide familiarity, reduce anxiety and ensure fairness. No tutor, website, or company can claim to have any other knowledge about what the FSCE entrance test will be like or contain.

The structure can vary slightly but generally:
• There are two separate papers;
• Each paper typically lasts 45–60 minutes;
• A break will be scheduled between papers.

Specific details will be provided by the School in advance of the test.

To be eligible to sit the Entrance Test and be considered for a place at the School in Year 7 in September 2027, an applicant must have been born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016.

For admissions outside of a child’s normal age group, parents should refer to the relevant section of the Admissions Policy. Please note that an applicant may only sit the Entrance Test once.

The main testing session will take place at the School on the morning of Saturday, 26 September 2026.

When you present your child for the Entrance Test it is expected that you are satisfied that there are no other circumstances that will prevent him from performing to his best. If anything serious has occurred that you believe will affect his performance, such as an illness or bereavement, you must advise the Admissions Officer via the School Office (01756 792186) or admissions@ermysteds.uk as soon as possible and no later than the relevant deadline (outlined above).

If your child does not attend the test day and the School has not been notified of a valid reason by the relevant deadline, they will be withdrawn from testing. If you later wish your child to be tested, the application will be treated as per any other late applications.

None. The School will supply candidates with the necessary stationery.

Yes but drinks and snacks are to be consumed during the break in between the two papers. Drinks and snacks are not permitted during the Entrance Test. Please ensure that any snacks are placed in a clear plastic bag and it is labelled with his name.

All candidates will be allowed to visit the toilet if and when they request it. However, if a toilet break is taken during one of the assessments, no additional time will be provided at the end.

A clock will be clearly visible to candidates in each room. The use of electronic timers, dictionaries, calculators of any description (including calculator watches), or any potential internet enabled source of information is not permitted. Mobile phones, iPads, MP4 players, smart watches or any other electronic aids must not be brought to the test. Possession of unauthorised items, such as a mobile phone, is a serious offence and could result in disqualification from the examination.

No.

The mathematics and English responses are scanned and marked automatically using Optical Mark Recognition technology. The process is reliable and trustworthy.

The raw marks in each paper are then standardised and adjusted to account for differences in the age of the candidates. The process of standardisation is a statistical adjustment to ensure both papers have the same average score (100) and similar spread of results. This ensures that a low scoring performance in a difficult paper, say, has equal merit with a high score in an easier paper. Standardisation also ensures both papers have the same weight in determining the overall performance of each candidate.

The two standardised scores are added together to produce a candidate’s overall score. It is this value that is compared to the ‘required standard’ for admission in to Year 7. The required standard is determined each year by the Admissions Committee based on the performance of candidates in the main Entrance Test cohort.