St Anselm’s College 11 Plus (11+) Exam Guide

About St Anselm’s College

St Anselm’s College is a Catholic voluntary-aided grammar school and academy for boys on Manor Hill in Birkenhead, taking pupils from age 11 to 18, with around 988 on roll. It is in the Diocese of Shrewsbury. The Published Admission Number for Year 7 in September 2027 is 156.

St Anselm’s does not use the shared Wirral Admissions Test that the other four Wirral grammar schools sit. It sets and marks its own entrance examination, and that examination is written rather than multiple-choice. If you are applying to St Anselm’s alongside one of the consortium schools, your son will sit two quite different tests.

The College was judged Good at its last graded Ofsted inspection in July 2019, and an ungraded inspection in March 2025 found it had taken effective action to maintain those standards. The Catholic Schools Inspectorate graded it Outstanding in February 2026.

Key information for 2027 entry to St Anselm’s College at 11 Plus (11+)

• School type: Catholic voluntary-aided state grammar school for boys, ages 11 to 18
• Test: the College’s own entrance examination, set and marked by the College, not the shared Wirral Admissions Test
• Registration deadline: Friday 31 July 2026
• Examination date: Friday 18 September 2026, with Saturday 19 September 2026 for boys granted special access arrangements only
• Pass marks: 55% in mathematics, 55% in English and 118 in verbal reasoning, with the pass mark needed in two of the three papers
• Results date: by letter or email before the end of October 2026
• Secondary application deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027
• Year 7 places available: 156
• Contact details: st-anselms.com, [email protected], 0151 652 1408

Admissions information for 2027 entry to St Anselm’s College at 11 Plus (11+)

Places at St Anselm’s are offered to boys who reach the required standard in the College’s own entrance examination. Unlike most grammar schools, St Anselm’s publishes its pass marks: 55% in the mathematics paper, 55% in the English paper and 118 in the verbal reasoning paper. A boy needs to reach the pass mark in two of the three papers, not all three.

If 156 or fewer boys reach the required standard, all of them are offered places. If more do, the oversubscription criteria decide who is admitted. A boy with an Education, Health and Care plan naming the College who has reached the required standard is offered a place automatically, ahead of those criteria.

As a Catholic voluntary-aided school, the criteria are faith-based and run in this order: baptised Catholic looked after and previously looked after boys; baptised Catholic boys living in the relevant area; all other looked after and previously looked after boys; baptised Christian, non-Catholic boys living in the relevant area; and then boys who are not baptised but whose parents wish them to have a Catholic education. The relevant area is defined as Wirral, Cheshire West and Chester, and any other area within ten miles of the College. Boys eligible for free school meals are given priority within each category, with documentary proof required. Where boys cannot be separated within a category, rank order of examination performance decides, and then distance from home.

To be considered under the Catholic or Christian criteria, a baptismal or Holy Communion certificate must be supplied with the registration form by 31 July 2026, or sent to the College before the examination date. Make sure you check the College’s current admissions policy for the full ordered list, as it is reviewed each year.

How can I register my child for the 11 Plus (11+) exams at St Anselm’s College?

You register directly with St Anselm’s College, not with Wirral Council, using the entrance examination registration form on the College website. Registration closes on Friday 31 July 2026, and that is also the deadline for supplying documentation in support of a request for special access arrangements.

Registering for the examination and applying for a school place are two separate steps, and you need to do both. The application to Wirral Council naming St Anselm’s is a different form with its own deadline.

The application process is:

• Register your son for the St Anselm’s entrance examination by Friday 31 July 2026, supplying a baptismal or Holy Communion certificate if you are applying under the Catholic or Christian criteria
• Request any special access arrangements by the same date
• Sit the examination on Friday 18 September 2026. Saturday 19 September 2026 is used only for boys who have been granted special access arrangements, so it is not a general second sitting
• Receive the result by letter or email before the end of October 2026, ahead of the local authority deadline
• Complete your Wirral Council secondary school application, naming St Anselm’s College, by 31 October 2026
• Receive your offer on National Offer Day, 1 March 2027

What is the 11 Plus (11+) entrance exam format for St Anselm’s College?

The St Anselm’s entrance examination is three written papers, each lasting one hour, with a fifteen-minute break between them. Answers are written out in full rather than marked on a multiple-choice sheet, which makes it a different kind of test from the Wirral Admissions Test sat at the other four Wirral grammar schools.

• English – one hour, 40 marks, in two compulsory sections
• Mathematics – one hour, no calculator allowed
• Verbal reasoning – one hour

The English paper is split evenly. Section A is reading, worth 20 marks: a printed passage followed by short-answer comprehension questions covering literal understanding, vocabulary in context, word classes, and literary devices such as simile and personification, with a longer question asking how the writer creates an effect. Section B is writing, also worth 20 marks: a compulsory creative writing task with a choice of two narrative or descriptive prompts, with about five minutes for planning and twenty-five minutes for writing.

The mathematics paper is written throughout, with working shown, and calculators are not allowed. It mixes straight calculation with worded problems, drawing on arithmetic, fractions, decimals and percentages, algebra, geometry and area, sequences, and data and graphs.

A rough guide to topics covered:

• English – reading comprehension and inference, vocabulary in context, word classes, literary devices, and narrative and descriptive writing
• Mathematics – arithmetic, fractions, decimals and percentages, measurement, algebra, geometry and area, sequences, statistics and word problems
• Verbal reasoning – letter and number sequences, codes, word relationships, hidden words and logic puzzles

The College publishes sample English and mathematics papers on its website, which are well worth working through. It does not publish sample verbal reasoning papers, so that is the area where outside practice material matters most.

St Anselm’s College 11 Plus (11+) top tips for your child

• Practise writing a full story or description in half an hour. The writing task is worth half of the English paper, so it deserves half of your English practice time!
• Plan before you write. Five minutes spent on a beginning, middle and end makes the whole piece clearer, and the paper actually tells you to do it.
• Work through the sample English and maths papers on the College website. They show you exactly how the questions are worded and how much space you get to answer.
• Get comfortable writing answers in full sentences. This is not a multiple-choice test, so how you explain your answer counts.
• Practise maths without a calculator. You are not allowed one, so quick mental arithmetic and neat written working both pay off.
• Give verbal reasoning proper practice time. The College does not publish sample papers for it, so this is the paper where your child is most likely to meet a question type for the first time on the day.
• Don’t panic about one difficult question! You need the pass mark in two papers out of three, so one wobbly moment does not end it.

How to prepare your child for the 11 Plus (11+) St Anselm’s College exam

Preparing for St Anselm’s means preparing for three written papers: English with a substantial creative writing task, mathematics without a calculator, and verbal reasoning. Because answers are written out rather than marked on a multiple-choice sheet, standard-format practice papers are a much better match than the multiple-choice bundles used for most grammar school tests.

Creative writing deserves its own attention. It carries twenty of the forty marks in the English paper, and it is the part of the examination that improves most with regular practice and feedback. Wide reading feeds both the comprehension section and the writing.

Verbal reasoning is the one paper the College does not publish samples for, so outside practice material is the only way for your son to meet those question types before the day.

If you are also applying to Wirral Grammar School for Boys or Calday Grange Grammar School, the other two Wirral grammar schools taking boys into Year 7, note that they share the Wirral Admissions Test, which is multiple-choice and has no English paper at all, so you will need material for both formats. You can compare the schools side by side in our complete guide to the Liverpool and Wirral grammar schools.

For St Anselm’s College 11+ preparation, we recommend the following packs: