Ermysted’s Grammar School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Ermysted’s Grammar School

Ermysted’s Grammar School is a selective state grammar school for boys aged 11 to 18, located in Skipton, North Yorkshire. The school admits 128 boys into Year 7 each year.

Entry into Year 7 is by competitive entrance test, sat in the September of Year 6. A boy may sit the test only once in an academic year.

Ermysted’s uses the FSCE entrance test, the same test used by a growing number of grammar schools across the north of England. If your son is also being entered for a different grammar school, always check that school’s own test provider, since not every grammar school in the area uses the same format.

Key information for 2027 entry to Ermysted’s Grammar School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: boys’ grammar school
• Test provider: FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise)
• Registration opens – deadline: 13 April – 31 August 2026 (12 noon)
• Exam date: Saturday 26 September 2026
• Results date: week commencing 12 October 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
• Year 7 places available: 128
• Contact details: ermysteds.uk

Admissions information for 2027 entry to Ermysted’s Grammar School at 11 Plus (11+)

Ermysted’s uses the FSCE Entrance Test, set by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE), a company established in 2022 that is itself a trading company of Reading School. The test is written by a grammar school for grammar schools rather than by an outside assessment provider, and its content is limited to the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum taught up to the end of Year 5, which is intended to reduce the advantage held by tutored children.

For admission into Year 7 at Ermysted’s in 2027, you must first register your son for the entrance test through the school’s website. Registration for 2027 entry opens on 13 April 2026 and closes at 12 noon on 31 August 2026. The entrance test itself takes place on Saturday 26 September 2026, and outcomes are sent to parents in the week commencing 12 October 2026.

You must then name Ermysted’s on your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF) by its deadline of 31 October 2026. Registering with the school for the test is not the same as applying for a school place, and both steps are required.

There is no fixed pass mark at Ermysted’s. The required standard for admission is determined by the Admissions Committee based on how that year’s cohort of candidates performs in the test, so any fixed pass mark quoted elsewhere is an estimate rather than a published figure. Scores are standardised and age-weighted, so a boy born in August is not judged against the same raw marks as classmates who are nearly a year older.

If more boys reach the required standard than there are places available, priority is given first to looked-after or previously looked-after children, then to applicants living in the school’s catchment area, and then to applicants outside it. Within the catchment and non-catchment groups, preference then goes to children eligible for Pupil Premium, then siblings of current pupils, then proximity to the school. The full detail is set out in the school’s admissions policy.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exams at Ermysted’s Grammar School?

Registration for the entrance test opens on 13 April 2026 and closes at 12 noon on 31 August 2026. You register directly with the school through the Entrance Test Registration Form on the Ermysted’s website.

Make sure you check the school website for the current registration link and admissions policy, as dates can change from year to year.

The application process is:

• Register your son for the entrance test via the Ermysted’s website
• Sit the entrance test in September of Year 6
• Receive the test outcome in the week commencing 12 October
• Complete your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF), naming Ermysted’s, by 31 October 2026
• Receive your offer on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027

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

Boys sit two standardised papers on the same day, with a scheduled break between them. Both papers cover English and maths together, rather than splitting the subjects into separate papers. All content comes from the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum taught up to and including the end of Year 5.

The two papers are:

• Adventure Paper – English and maths questions in multiple-choice format. Answers are marked by shading ovals on a separate answer sheet, which is then marked by computer.
• Beacon Paper – English and maths questions answered with short written answers, written into boxes on a separate answer sheet, one digit or one capital letter per box.

A rough guide to topics covered:

• Maths – arithmetic, fractions, decimals and percentages, measurement and unit conversions, geometry, statistics and handling data, word questions
• English – reading comprehension, inference, vocabulary in context, spelling, punctuation and grammar

There is no verbal reasoning, no non-verbal reasoning and no creative writing paper at Ermysted’s. Some other FSCE schools do set a creative writing paper, so if you have read about an FSCE creative response task elsewhere, it does not apply here. For a general explanation of how the FSCE test works across all the schools that use it, see our FSCE 11+ explained guide.

The way an FSCE test is run differs from most other 11+ exams:

• Instructions are played from a voice recording rather than read out by an invigilator, telling candidates when to open the booklet, which page to turn to, and how long each section lasts.
• Answers go on a separate answer sheet. Nothing written in the question booklet is marked.
• Boys must write in black biro or ballpoint pen. Frixion pens are allowed, but pencils are not.
• Rulers, protractors, dictionaries, calculators, scrap paper, stopwatches, phones and smart watches are not permitted.
• Multiple-choice ovals must be fully shaded. A line or a tick through an oval will not be read correctly.
• No marks are deducted for a wrong answer.
• Spare time at the end of a section can only be spent on that section. Once a section is closed, your son cannot return to it.

The papers are marked using optical mark recognition, with people checking any answers the scanner finds unclear, and results are age-standardised.

Ermysted’s Grammar School 11 Plus (11+) top tips for your child

• Make sure you are familiar and confident with the KS2 syllabus up to the end of Year 5, as this is what the questions are based on. You will need to apply what you know to unfamiliar situations.
• Read as much as possible in the run-up to the exam. This builds your vocabulary and gives you practice at reading and understanding texts quickly, which helps in the English sections of both papers.
• Listen to the recorded instructions carefully! Do not turn over any pages or start a new section before you are told to.
• Check your answer sheet as you go. Make sure the number on the answer sheet matches the number of the question you are answering in the booklet.
• Practise in black pen. If you are used to working in pencil, do a few papers in biro so that writing without an eraser is not new on the day.
• Shade the ovals fully. A line or a tick through an oval will not be read properly by the computer.
• Don’t leave any blanks! No marks are taken away for a wrong answer, so it is always worth putting something down.
• Pay attention to the time! Move on if you are stuck, and come back to the question later if there is time left in that section.

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

Start with the official FSCE Familiarisation Guides, available from the Test Familiarisation section of the Ermysted’s admissions pages, alongside the school’s own admissions FAQ. These contain sample questions and sample answer sheets, and are a useful first look at the layout your son will meet on the day.

Beyond that, the most useful way to prepare is to use practice tests to familiarise your son with the exam format. This gives him practice at working to a clock, transferring answers to a separate answer sheet, and answering both multiple-choice and short written questions, so that the format itself holds no surprises on the day.

Because Ermysted’s sets one multiple-choice paper and one short-written-answer paper, practice in both formats is worthwhile. We would not recommend buying verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning or creative writing material for this school, as none of it appears in the test.

For Ermysted’s Grammar School 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: