Spalding High School 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About Spalding High School

Spalding High School is a girls’ state grammar school on Stonegate in Spalding, Lincolnshire. It selects through the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, the shared reasoning test used across the county.

Spalding Grammar School, the boys’ grammar in the same town, sits the same test, so families with a son and a daughter follow one timetable.

Key information for 2027 entry to Spalding High School at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: girls’ state grammar school
• Test: the Lincolnshire 11+, set through the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools
• Format: verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning with spatial awareness. No English or maths paper
• Registration: directly with the school. Children are not entered automatically
• Registration window: January to the end of March of Year 5
• Test timing: the start of Year 6, in September
• Results: emailed to parents in mid-October
• Common Application Form deadline: 31 October
• National Offer Day: Monday 1 March 2027
• Contact details: spaldinghigh.lincs.sch.uk, 01775 722110

Admissions information for 2027 entry to Spalding High School at 11 Plus (11+)

Lincolnshire’s grammar schools share one test through the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, and the qualifying standard is set and standardised by the consortium rather than by each school. Related pages: Spalding Grammar School and Boston High School.

Children are not entered automatically. You register your daughter directly with the school. This is the single thing Lincolnshire families most often miss, because in many other counties the primary school or the council handles entry.

Spalding has two grammar schools, one for girls and one for boys, and they use the same county test. Registering for one does not register your child for the other, so if you are considering both for different children, complete both forms.

Registering for the test is not applying for a place. You must also name Spalding High School on the Common Application Form submitted to Lincolnshire County Council by 31 October.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exams at Spalding High School?

1. Complete the school’s own online 11+ registration form. Spalding High School publishes the form in the admissions section of its website.
2. Register while your daughter is in Year 5. The consortium window runs from January to the end of March.
3. Sit the two papers at the start of Year 6, in September.
4. Results are emailed to parents in mid-October, before the application deadline.
5. Name Spalding High School on your Common Application Form by 31 October.
6. If the result is not what you hoped, every applicant has a right of appeal.

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for Spalding High School?

The Lincolnshire 11+ is reasoning only. There is no English paper and no maths paper at all, which surprises almost every family arriving from another county. Two papers are sat about a week apart:

• Verbal reasoning.
• Non-verbal reasoning and spatial awareness.

The qualifying standard is set and standardised by the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, and is published as a combined score across the two papers rather than as a mark for each.

Scores are age-standardised, so a summer-born child is not judged against the raw marks of older classmates. For more on the provider behind most reasoning papers, see our GL Assessment guide.

Spalding High School 11 Plus (11+) top tips for your child

• Register in Year 5. Nobody does it for you, and the window closes at the end of March.
• Practise verbal and non-verbal reasoning, not English and maths papers. Neither subject is tested directly, however strange that feels.
• Include spatial awareness work. It sits in the second paper and is the element most often left out of a reasoning plan.
• Spread practice across the two papers evenly, since they are sat about a week apart and both count.
• Build speed on question types rather than knowledge. Reasoning papers reward pattern recognition under time.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) Spalding High School exam

A Lincolnshire plan is narrower than most: verbal reasoning, and non-verbal reasoning with spatial awareness. That makes it easy to build and easy to get wrong, because material bought for a typical GL county will include English and maths papers that Lincolnshire never sets.

For Spalding High School 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: