Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School

Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School is a state grammar school for boys aged 11 to 16, with a co-educational Sixth Form, on Lichfield Road in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. It is an academy and one of the largest and most heavily oversubscribed boys’ grammar schools in the Birmingham area, with 192 places available each year in Year 7.

Entry to Year 7 is through the shared West Midlands Grammar Schools entrance test, set by GL Assessment. Bishop Vesey’s is its own foundation, part of ‘The Grammar Schools of Birmingham’ Consortium rather than the King Edward VI Foundation, but it sits the same shared test as the King Edward VI schools. Your son registers once and sits the test once, and the same result can be used for any West Midlands grammar school you name on the secondary application form in the autumn.

Bishop Vesey’s then runs its own oversubscription criteria, filling places zone by zone: Zone 1 (up to 12 miles from the school), then Zone 2 (12 to 20 miles), then Zone 3 (beyond 20 miles), each time in score order, with a small number of places reserved for Pupil Premium boys in Zone 1 first. Because the school regularly admits well above its shared qualifying score, both a strong result and your home address matter a great deal to your son’s chances.

Key information for 2027: Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: State grammar school (boys 11-16, co-educational Sixth Form), academy
• Consortium: ‘The Grammar Schools of Birmingham’ Consortium (its own foundation, not a King Edward VI Foundation school, but shares the same GL Assessment entrance test)
• Registration deadline: late June 2026, at westmidlandsgrammarschools.co.uk
• Exam date: September 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National school offer day: March 2027
• Contact details: Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School, Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, B74 2NH, www.bvgs.co.uk; West Midlands Grammar Schools registration, westmidlandsgrammarschools.co.uk

Admissions information for 2027 entry: Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School at 11 Plus (11+)

Registration for Year 7 entry into Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School closes in late June 2026, through the West Midlands Grammar Schools registration portal. The test itself is held in September, with results (a standardised score, not an offer of a place) sent to families in mid-October.

You must also submit your Common Application Form (or your home authority’s equivalent) by 31 October 2026, listing Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School among your preferences; the order you list schools in is treated as your order of preference. National school offer day, when the actual offer of a place is made by Birmingham City Council, falls in March 2027.

The published admission number (PAN) is 192 boys at Year 7. Your son needs to reach the shared qualifying score to be considered at all, but places are then allocated zone by zone and score by score: a small number of places are reserved for Pupil Premium boys in Zone 1 first, before the remaining places are offered to other Zone 1 applicants, then Zone 2, then Zone 3, each ranked by score. In recent years the general-applicant cut-off has sat well above the basic qualifying score and has risen year on year, so a strong, secure result well clear of the minimum gives your child the best chance.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exam at Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School?

To register your child for the entrance exam, you as their parent or legal guardian must complete the online registration through the West Midlands Grammar Schools registration portal, before the late June 2026 deadline. Registering does not commit your son to Bishop Vesey’s; you still choose which schools to name, and in what order, on the secondary application form in the autumn.

When registering, make sure your child’s home address details are accurate and submitted in good time, since your address determines which priority zone your son falls into, and that has a real bearing on his chances of a place.

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School?

The West Midlands Grammar Schools entrance test used by Bishop Vesey’s is two multiple-choice papers, each about an hour including instructions and practice questions, sat on the same day. There is no writing task, and children mark their answers on a separate answer sheet, which is a skill worth practising in its own right.

• English comprehension: a reading passage with questions, plus vocabulary and wider literacy.
• Verbal reasoning: word and logic puzzles, not usually taught in primary school.
• Maths: the Year 5 curriculum at pace, rewarding speed and accuracy.
• Non-verbal (spatial) reasoning: pattern and shape puzzles.

Each section is given a standardised age score, which adjusts for your son’s age so younger children are not disadvantaged. English and verbal reasoning together carry half the marks, with maths and non-verbal reasoning a quarter each, and there is no re-marking once the answer sheets are computer-scanned.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School exam

Because Bishop Vesey’s regularly admits well above its basic qualifying score, the aim is not just to clear the minimum but to push your son’s result as high as it will comfortably go, and because English and verbal reasoning carry half the marks, that is where preparation time pays off most. Little and often works well in the school term, with short daily sessions on verbal and non-verbal reasoning, since these question types are the least familiar from school.

Closer to the summer, full timed practice tests under exam conditions help your child get used to the pace and to transferring answers onto a separate answer sheet, a skill that costs easy marks if it is not practised. Free familiarisation materials are also published showing exactly how the real papers and answer sheets look, which are worth using alongside full practice tests.

For Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School (Grammar Schools of Birmingham Consortium) 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: