Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith (QEGS) is a selective, co-educational state grammar school for pupils aged 11 to 18, located in Penrith, Cumbria. The school has a Published Admission Number of 160 for Year 7.

Entry into Year 7 is by competitive entrance test, sat in the autumn term of Year 6. A child may sit the test only once.

QEGS is one of a small number of FSCE schools that test the wider curriculum rather than English and maths alone, so its entrance test looks a little different from most other FSCE schools’ tests. We explain what that means below.

Key information for 2027 entry to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: co-educational grammar school
• Test provider: FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise)
• Registration opens – deadline: 1 May – 12 July 2026
• Exam date: Thursday 17 September 2026
• CAF deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
• Year 7 places available: 160
• Contact details: qegspenrith.education

Admissions information for 2027 entry to Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith at 11 Plus (11+)

QEGS 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. FSCE’s stated aim is to make grammar school testing more accessible regardless of a child’s background, primary school or any disability, by focusing only on content taught up to the end of Year 5 so that no tutor can claim to know what will come up.

To register for 2027 entry, you must register your child for the entrance test through the school’s own process. Registration opens on 1 May 2026 and closes on 12 July 2026. The test itself takes place on Thursday 17 September 2026.

You must also name QEGS 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. The Local Authority informs parents of the school place allocated to their child on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027.

There is no fixed pass mark at QEGS. Your child must first reach the required standard in the entrance test. A fifth of the 160 places (32 places) are then awarded purely by ranked test score, and the remaining places are allocated using the school’s oversubscription criteria, which include the designated catchment area, family association and Pupil Premium priority. 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 Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith?

Registration for 2026 entry opens on 1 May 2026 and closes on 12 July 2026. You register directly with the school; check the Admissions section of the QEGS website for the current process, as dates can change from year to year.

The application process is:

• Register your child for the FSCE entrance test via the QEGS admissions process
• Sit the entrance test in the autumn term of Year 6
• Complete your local authority’s Common Application Form (CAF), naming QEGS, by 31 October 2026
• Receive your offer on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith?

Children sit three separate papers, which may be sat in any order, with a break scheduled between them. Each paper typically lasts 45 to 60 minutes. The three papers are:

• Adventure Paper – multiple-choice questions, answered by shading ovals on a separate answer sheet.
• Beacon Paper – short written answer questions, with one number or one capital letter written per box on a separate answer sheet.
• Compass Paper – a second multiple-choice paper, again answered on a separate answer sheet.

Unlike most other FSCE schools, QEGS is not limited to English and maths. Any of the three papers can draw on any of eleven Key Stage 2 subjects taught up to and including the end of Year 5: art and design, computing, design and technology, English, geography, history, languages, maths, music, physical education and science.

There is no need to worry about that list. The test asks children to apply what they already know to a new situation rather than to recall facts, and where a question touches a subject that has not been covered much at school, the paper itself gives the information needed to answer it. There is nothing extra to memorise. There is no verbal reasoning, no non-verbal reasoning and no creative writing paper at QEGS. 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 for each paper. 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 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 child cannot return to it.

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

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith 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.
• Don’t panic if a question is about a subject you haven’t studied much recently, such as art, geography or music. Read it carefully. Everything you need to answer it is given in the paper itself.
• 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.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith exam

Start with the official FSCE Familiarisation Guides that QEGS publishes on its admissions page, in separate editions for children and for parents, alongside an FSCE FAQ. 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 itself: working to a clock, transferring answers to a separate answer sheet, and moving between multiple-choice and short written questions. That familiarity holds however the subject content on the day varies.

Because QEGS’s papers can draw on any of eleven Key Stage 2 subjects, no single pack, ours included, can cover every topic that might come up, and no commercial pack is endorsed by FSCE. English and maths remain the two subjects most consistently tested, so building strong reading, reasoning and number skills in those areas, alongside wide general reading, is the most useful preparation you can buy. We would not recommend verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning or creative writing material for this school, as none of it appears in the test.

For Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: