King Edward VI Grammar School Louth 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth

King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, often shortened to KEVIGS, is a co-educational state grammar school with around 900 pupils aged 11 to 18. The Published Admission Number for Year 7 in September 2027 is 145. It was judged Good at its May 2024 Ofsted inspection.

Entry into Year 7 is by the Lincolnshire 11+, the two reasoning papers shared across the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools and sat at the school itself.

One point of confusion worth clearing up: there is a separate and unrelated King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, Essex, which uses an entirely different admissions system and a different test. The two schools share a name and a founder and nothing else. The Louth school’s website is kevigs.org.

Key information for 2027 entry to King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: co-educational state grammar school
• Test: the Lincolnshire 11+, organised by the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools with papers from GL Assessment
• Papers: verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning with spatial awareness. There is no English or maths paper
• Registration: directly with the school, opening 7 January 2026 and closing 31 March 2026 for September 2027 entry. Children are not entered automatically
• Test dates: 11 or 12 September 2026 for verbal reasoning, 18 or 19 September 2026 for non-verbal reasoning
• Results date: Friday 9 October 2026, emailed to parents at midday
• Common Application Form deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
• Year 7 places available: 145
• Contact details: kevigs.org, [email protected], 01507 600456

Admissions information for 2027 entry to King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth at 11 Plus (11+)

Lincolnshire publishes its qualifying score, which is unusual and useful. A child qualifies with a total standardised score of 220 or more across the two papers combined. It is worth being precise about this, because it is widely misreported: 220 is the aggregate of both papers, not a score needed on each one. The standard is set to identify roughly the top 25% of the age group in the selective parts of the county.

When the school is oversubscribed, priority runs in this order after any child with an Education, Health and Care plan naming the school: looked after and previously looked after children; children with a sibling still on roll; twins and children of multiple births where both qualify; then qualifying children living in the school’s traditional catchment area or attending one of its named feeder primary schools, ranked by test score if that group is itself oversubscribed; and finally all remaining qualifying children ranked by test score.

Ties are broken by the county council’s nearest-home-address measure, and then by an independent lottery. The named feeder list runs to 26 villages and primary schools around Louth, Market Rasen and the North East Lincolnshire border, so it is worth checking whether your child’s primary school is on it: it sits above open competition on score. Roughly a third of places go to children from outside the catchment and feeder set. Make sure you check the school’s current admission arrangements for the full list, as they are reviewed each year.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exams at King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth?

Lincolnshire does not enter children automatically. Your child will not sit the 11+ unless you register them, and you register directly with the grammar school or schools you want them tested at, not with the county council.

For September 2027 entry, registration opened on Wednesday 7 January 2026 and forms were due back to the individual grammar schools by Tuesday 31 March 2026. Registration opens in January of Year 5 and closes at the end of March each year, so if you are working towards a later cycle it is worth putting early January in the diary.

Applying for a school place is a separate step, on the Common Application Form submitted to your local authority. Both are required.

The application process is:

• Register your child with the grammar school directly, between 7 January and 31 March 2026 for September 2027 entry
• Sit Test 1, verbal reasoning, on 11 or 12 September 2026
• Sit Test 2, non-verbal reasoning and spatial awareness, on 18 or 19 September 2026
• Receive the result by email on Friday 9 October 2026
• Complete your Common Application Form, naming King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth, by 31 October 2026
• Receive your offer on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027

Whether your child sits on the Friday or the Saturday depends on the area and on whether their primary school is in Lincolnshire. Some children sit at their own primary school and some at a grammar school. The school will confirm this when you register.

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth?

The Lincolnshire 11+ is organised by the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, the schools themselves rather than the county council, and the papers are commissioned from GL Assessment. There are two papers, sat a week apart.

• Test 1 – verbal reasoning
• Test 2 – non-verbal reasoning and spatial awareness

This is the thing most families get wrong when they start planning: there is no English paper and no maths paper in the Lincolnshire 11+. Reasoning is the whole test. A general 11+ bundle built around English comprehension and maths will leave your child short on the only two things actually being assessed.

Both papers are multiple choice, with answers recorded on a separate machine-read answer sheet rather than in the question booklet, so practising that transfer is worth doing. Scores are standardised for age, so a summer-born child is not judged against the raw marks of older classmates. For more on this provider, see our GL Assessment guide.

A rough guide to topics covered:

• Verbal reasoning – letter and number sequences, codes, word relationships, synonyms and antonyms, hidden words, and logic puzzles. Vocabulary underpins most of it, so wide reading still matters a great deal even though there is no comprehension paper
• Non-verbal reasoning and spatial awareness – sequences, rotations, reflections, analogies, nets and odd-one-out questions with shapes

Familiarisation papers are sent to Lincolnshire feeder primary schools ahead of the tests. Families whose children attend a primary outside Lincolnshire will not receive them that way, so it is worth asking the grammar school directly what is available.

King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth 11 Plus (11+) top tips for your child

• Put your practice where the marks are. There is no English or maths paper in the Lincolnshire 11+, so verbal and non-verbal reasoning deserve nearly all of your preparation time.
• Keep reading widely anyway. Verbal reasoning is built on vocabulary, so the more words you know, the faster those questions become.
• Learn the common non-verbal reasoning patterns. Rotations, reflections, nets and sequences come up again and again, and they get much quicker with practice.
• Practise marking answers on a separate answer sheet. The papers are marked by machine, so a clear mark in the right box matters as much as knowing the answer!
• Remember the two tests are a week apart. If the first one felt hard, there is a whole week to reset before the second, and both scores are added together.
• Work steadily rather than racing. Both papers reward accuracy, and a careless mark costs exactly as much as a question you could not do.
• Don’t panic about one difficult question! Move on, keep a steady pace, and come back to anything you skipped if there is time left.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth exam

Preparing for King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth means preparing for two reasoning papers and nothing else: verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning with spatial awareness. That makes Lincolnshire simpler to plan for than most counties, but it also means the standard 11+ starter bundle of English and maths papers is the wrong buy here.

Verbal reasoning leans heavily on vocabulary, so wide reading remains one of the best things your child can do, even without a comprehension paper to sit. Non-verbal reasoning improves quickly with pattern practice, and it is often the paper where a child gains the most ground in a few months.

The most useful way to prepare is to use practice tests that match this format, so your child gets used to multiple-choice reasoning questions, to transferring answers accurately onto a separate answer sheet, and to keeping to time. That familiarity is what stops the format itself being a surprise on the day.

The same two papers are sat for Boston Grammar School, Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Horncastle, Skegness Grammar School and Spalding Grammar School, so one set of material covers every Lincolnshire grammar school you apply to.

For King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: