FSCE 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide: Schools, Papers and Dates

About the FSCE 11 Plus (11+) test

The FSCE entrance test is used by ten grammar schools across England as their Year 7 entrance exam. It is written by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE), a company established in 2022 which is itself a trading company of Reading School. The test is therefore written by a grammar school for grammar schools, rather than by an outside assessment provider.

FSCE’s stated aim is to make grammar school testing accessible to all children, regardless of background, primary school or disability. The test is deliberately different from the GL and CEM exams that most 11+ families will have heard of:

• All questions come from the Key Stage 2 National Curriculum taught up to and including the end of Year 5, not Year 6
• There is no verbal reasoning and no non-verbal reasoning
• The subjects, question types and format change from year to year

It is important to note that the number of papers and the range of subjects both vary depending on which school your child is applying to. Being told that your child is sitting the FSCE test does not tell you what they will actually sit, so always check your school’s own admissions page.

Key information for 2027 entry to FSCE schools at 11 Plus (11+)

• Test provider: FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise)
• Schools using FSCE: 10 grammar schools across England
• Papers: between two and four, depending on the school
• Subjects: English and maths at every school, with some also testing the wider KS2 curriculum and creative writing
• Reasoning: no verbal reasoning and no non-verbal reasoning at any FSCE school
• Exam dates: July – September 2026, depending on the school
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027

Schools that use the FSCE entrance test

Ten schools use FSCE for 2027 entry, in four different combinations. Two things vary: how many papers your child sits, and whether the test stays on English and maths or opens up to the wider curriculum.

Two papers, English and maths

• Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School
• Clitheroe Royal Grammar School
• Skipton Girls’ High School
• Ermysted’s Grammar School

Three papers, English and maths plus creative writing

• Heckmondwike Grammar School
• The Crossley Heath School
• The North Halifax Grammar School

Three papers, wider curriculum

• Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith

Four papers, wider curriculum

• Reading School
• Chelmsford County High School for Girls

Dates for 2027 entry

Registration for 2027 entry has already closed at most FSCE schools. Make sure you check individual schools’ websites well ahead of the deadline, as these dates change each year.

• Reading School: test 16 July 2026, registration closed 17 May 2026
• Chelmsford County High School for Girls: test 3 September 2026, registration closed 3 June 2026
• Heckmondwike Grammar School: test 14 September 2026, registration closed 22 June 2026
• Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School: test 26 September 2026, registration closes 9 September 2026
• Clitheroe Royal Grammar School: test 26 September 2026, registration closes 4 September 2026
• Ermysted’s Grammar School: test 26 September 2026, registration closes at noon on 31 August 2026
• The Crossley Heath School: test September 2026, registration closed 26 June 2026
• The North Halifax Grammar School: test September 2026, registration closed 26 June 2026
• Skipton Girls’ High School: test September 2026, registration opened 1 May 2026
• Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith: test 17 September 2026, registration closed 12 July 2026

Exam format for the FSCE 11 plus (11+) entrance exam

FSCE names its papers rather than numbering them. The four papers are:

• Adventure Paper – multiple choice. Answers are marked by shading ovals on a separate answer sheet.
• Beacon Paper – short written answers, with one digit or one capital letter written per box.
• Compass Paper – a further multiple-choice paper, set only by the schools that test the wider curriculum.
• Discovery Paper – the Creativity task, a longer piece of handwritten creative writing in response to a prompt.

Schools can run the papers in any order and there may be a break between them. Timings vary between schools and are not always published. Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith states that each of its three papers lasts about 45 – 60 minutes, while Skipton Girls’ High School sets around 52 minutes for its multiple-choice paper and around 35 minutes for its short-answer paper.

Mathematics and English

Every FSCE school tests English and maths, drawn from the KS2 National Curriculum up to the end of Year 5.

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

The wider curriculum

Reading School, Chelmsford County High School for Girls and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith can also draw on any of eleven Key Stage 2 subjects: art and design, computing, design and technology, English, geography, history, languages, maths, music, physical education and science.

There is no need to panic about that list. FSCE tests whether a child can apply what they already know to an unfamiliar situation, and where content is less likely to have been covered, the information needed is given in the paper itself. There is nothing to memorise.

How the FSCE test is run

The way an FSCE test is run differs from most other 11+ exams, and each of these details can cost a child marks for reasons that have nothing to do with ability:

• Instructions are played from a voice recording rather than read out by an invigilator. The recording says when to open the booklet, which page to turn to, how to answer, and how long each section lasts.
• Answers go on a separate answer sheet. Nothing written in the question booklet is marked.
• Children 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 horizontal or vertical line through the oval will not do.
• 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 child cannot return to it.

How the FSCE papers are marked

The multiple-choice and short-answer papers are scanned and marked using optical mark recognition, with people checking any answers the scanner finds unclear. Raw scores are then standardised and age-weighted, so a child born in August is not judged against the raw marks of classmates who are nearly a year older.

At schools that set the Discovery paper, the creative writing is usually only assessed for candidates who have already reached the qualifying standard on the computer-marked papers. Each school sets its own qualifying standard, so the same performance can mean different things at different schools.

Gloucestershire moves to FSCE for 2028 entry

In April 2026 the seven Gloucestershire grammar schools (The Crypt School, Denmark Road High School, Marling School, Pate’s Grammar School, Ribston Hall High School, Sir Thomas Rich’s School and Stroud High School) appointed FSCE as their admissions test provider for Year 7 entry from 2028 onwards.

Non-verbal reasoning is removed. FSCE tests only Key Stage 2 National Curriculum content and does not regard non-verbal reasoning as part of it, and the headteacher of Denmark Road High School confirmed the removal in the seven schools’ joint announcement of April 2026. FSCE has also said adapted formats including Braille, large print and modified papers will be provided. The seven schools will publish the full paper list later in 2026.

It is important to note that the test also moves out of September of Year 6 and into the latter part of the summer term of Year 5, and will first be sat in summer 2027. This pulls the preparation window forward by roughly a school year. If your child is in Year 4 now, they are in the first cohort to sit it.

Checking your own school’s test provider

Schools change test provider more often than they used to, and there is rarely a big announcement when they do. Colyton Grammar School in Devon previously used FSCE and has moved to Quest Assessments for 2027 entry, which is the opposite direction to Gloucestershire. Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School uses FSCE, while Lancaster Royal Grammar School a short distance away still uses GL Assessment with a verbal reasoning paper.

Make sure you check your school’s own admissions page for the current test specification before you plan your preparation. Every FSCE school publishes the official FSCE Familiarisation Guides there, in separate versions for children and for parents, usually alongside an FSCE FAQ.

FSCE 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.
• 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 FSCE 11 Plus (11+) exam

Start with the official FSCE Familiarisation Guides published free on your school’s admissions page. These contain sample questions and sample answer sheets, and are a useful first look at the layout your child will meet on the day.

Beyond that, the most useful way to prepare is to use practice tests to familiarise your child with the exam format. This gives them 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. Wide reading and a strong vocabulary help throughout, since every FSCE format includes English.

Which papers suit your child depends on their school’s format. Every FSCE school needs multiple-choice practice for the Adventure and Compass papers and standard format practice for the Beacon paper. Schools setting the Discovery paper also need creative writing practice. We would not recommend buying verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning material for an FSCE school, as neither appears in the test.

For FSCE 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: