The Crypt School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About The Crypt School

The Crypt School is a co-educational state grammar school for 11 to 18-year-olds in Podsmead, Gloucester. It is one of seven Gloucestershire grammar schools that share a single county-wide entrance test, alongside Denmark Road High School, Marling School, Pate’s Grammar School, Ribston Hall High School, Sir Thomas Rich’s School and Stroud High School.

The school has no fixed catchment area and no fixed pass mark. Instead, applicants must reach the school’s own ‘Qualifying Standard’, a minimum age-standardised score set each year, and places are then allocated by rank order among all children who meet it, after Looked After children, Pupil Premium children and staff children have been placed first.

For Pupil Premium-eligible families, The Crypt School offers free 11+ familiarisation support covering English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning practice.

Key information for 2027 entry: The Crypt School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: Co-educational state grammar school
• Consortium: Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test (shared with six other county grammar schools)
• Registration deadline: noon on 26 June 2026
• Exam date: Saturday 12 September 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National school offer day: Monday 1 March 2027
• Contact details: 01452 530291, www.cryptschool.org/admissions

Admissions information for 2027 entry: The Crypt School at 11 Plus (11+)

Registration for Year 7 entry into The Crypt School opens at noon on 18 May 2026 and closes at noon on 26 June 2026. The exam is held in September and results reach parents in mid-October 2026.

You must also submit your Common Application Form (CAF) to your local home authority by the end of October 2026, listing The Crypt School if it is one of your preferences; the order you list schools in is treated as your order of preference.

National school offer day is held in March 2027. The Published Admission Number (PAN) for Year 7 is 155, and there is no fixed pass mark: your child must reach the school’s own Qualifying Standard, which is set each year and is lower for Pupil Premium, Looked After and Previously Looked After children than for other applicants.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exam at The Crypt School?

To register your child for the entrance exam, you as their parent or legal guardian must complete the registration for the shared Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test before the June 2026 deadline, choosing which of the seven Gloucestershire grammar schools, including The Crypt School, you would like the result shared with.

Registering does not commit you to naming The Crypt School: you still choose your preferred schools separately on the Common Application Form to your home local authority.

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for The Crypt School?

The Crypt School does not set its own exam. Your child sits the single Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test, provided by GL Assessment, which consists of two multiple-choice papers taken on the same day with a short break between them.

Paper 1 covers verbal skills, including comprehension, vocabulary and verbal reasoning. Paper 2 covers non-verbal reasoning and maths, drawing on Key Stage 2 content. Each paper takes around 45 to 50 minutes, and both are marked electronically by an independent company rather than by the school itself.

The provider changes for September 2028 entry

This matters if your child is currently in Year 4 rather than Year 5. The Gloucestershire consortium is moving to a new provider, Future Stories Community Enterprise, for the test sat in July 2027 for September 2028 entry. Note the change of season as well as the change of provider: that test is sat in July rather than September. September 2027 entry is unaffected and still uses GL Assessment. If you are preparing for the 2028 cycle, our FSCE guide explains how that format differs.

The biggest change for the 2028 cycle is that non-verbal reasoning goes. FSCE tests only what is on the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum, and non-verbal reasoning is not part of it. The headteacher of Denmark Road High School confirmed the removal in the seven schools’ joint announcement of April 2026. FSCE papers are built around Key Stage 2 English and maths, with a creative writing response at some FSCE schools, so a child in Year 4 now can put their preparation into English and maths. The consortium has said it will publish the full paper details later in 2026, and we will update this page when it does.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) The Crypt School exam

The most useful way to prepare for The Crypt School’s 11+ entrance exam is to use practice tests to familiarise your child with the exam content and format, particularly verbal skills and non-verbal reasoning, since neither is covered in the normal primary school curriculum.

These tests can help your child to build their confidence, get used to working at pace across two multiple-choice papers, and improve their performance in the exam.

For The Crypt School (Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test) 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: