Bishop Vesey's Grammar School 11+ guide

Atom Learning is partnered with Bishop Vesey's Grammar School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Thinking about applying to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions in 2025–2026 and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus entrance exam.

Key information for Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

• Address: Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield, B74 2NH
• Number of pupils: 1,300+
• Admissions contact: online contact form
• Number of places in Year 7: 192
• 11+ exam: West Midlands Grammar School Entrance Test
• Catchment area: No

Dates for your diary

• Tuesday 6th May 2025: registration opens for the West Midlands Grammar Schools' Entrance Test
• Friday 13th June 2025: reasonable adjustments deadline
• Friday 27th June 2025: test registration closes
• Saturday 13th September 2025: West Midlands Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test
• Friday 17th October 2025: parents receive test results
• Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school applications close at 5pm
• Monday 2nd March 2026: secondary school national offers day

About Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

Bishop Vesey’s Grammar School (or BVGS) is one of the oldest schools in Britain. It was founded in 1527 by the Bishop of Exeter John Vesey. He was a friend of Henry VIII and tutor of Queen Mary I. It is a selective academy for boys aged 11–16 years with a mixed sixth form. It is partnered with the nearby Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls.

The school aims to provide inspiration and excellence to students across the Midlands. It prioritises academic excellence, inspirational teaching, and enrichment opportunities to build leadership, independence and resilience.

How to apply to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School is a selective state school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place in Year 7.

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School is a member of the West Midlands Grammar Schools partnership. The partnership consists of 19 schools across Birmingham, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton. All 19 schools share the same entrance test. This means that your child will only need to take the test once – even if you’re applying to multiple schools in the partnership.

The registration portal for the West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test opens Tuesday 6th May 2025 and closes on Friday 27th June. After registration, your child will be invited to take the 11 plus exam at one of the participating schools. They will be allocated a test venue and a slot to take the test in September 2025. You’ll then receive your child’s results on Friday 17th October.

To apply to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted by 31st October 2025.

Remember – passing the 11 plus doesn’t guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Many grammar schools are often oversubscribed with qualified children. Schools and their admissions authorities work through admissions criteria to prioritise children for places. We’ve included the admissions criteria for Bishop Vesey's Grammar School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School uses the West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test.

The exam consists of two one-hour papers. These papers are divided into smaller, individually-timed sections which assess:

• English comprehension
• Maths
• Verbal reasoning
• Non-verbal reasoning

All of the questions in the West Midlands Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test are multiple-choice. Your child will have separate answer sheets which they will use to mark their answers. These are marked electronically.

How does place allocation work at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School?

Your child’s marks in the West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test are weighted for each section:

• English and verbal reasoning: 50%
• Non-verbal reasoning: 25%
• Maths: 25%

These weighted scores are age-standardised to ensure that younger children aren’t disadvantaged.

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School will then set a qualifying score. This isn’t always decided until after the entrance test takes place. As a guide, the minimum qualifying score for entry to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School in 2024 was 205.

If the number of children who have achieved the qualifying score exceeds the number of places available, Bishop Vesey's Grammar School applies oversubscription criteria. Children are prioritised for places in the following order:

1. Looked-After or previously Looked-After Children who achieve the qualifying score, ranked by order of test score.
2. Up to 38 children who get free school meals and achieve the qualifying score, ranked by order of test score.
3. Other children who achieve the qualifying score, ranked by order of test score.

When test scores are equal, children who live nearest the school will be prioritised. Distances are calculated in a straight line from the child's home address to the foot of the steps leading to the main school entrance.

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School no longer has a catchment area. Places are offered based on children's performance in the test. Priority is only given to children living nearest the school when test scores are equal.

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test is designed to select the most academically able children in the area. Here are our top tips to help you and your child feel confident for exam day!

Bitesize learning

It’s important to build a good knowledge base before the 11 plus. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when learning is key – our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. For children aged 10–11, child psychologists recommend regular study sessions of 20–30 minutes.

Atom Home makes learning a more enjoyable process for your child. They'll explore exciting worlds full of interactive questions, earning coins to spend in the Atom shop. Atom adapts to your child, showing them questions at just the right level of difficulty to keep them motivated.

Read widely

11 plus exams test your child’s ability to analyse and interpret written information. Regular reading is a great way to help your child build these skills.

Encourage them to read books from different genres and by a diverse range of authors. Increasing the variety of your child’s reading will help them understand different styles, tones and purposes. Meanwhile, reading a little every day will help widen their vocabulary, sharpen their analytical thinking, and enhance their imagination.

Refine exam technique

When your child feels confident with the topics they’ve learnt in Year 5, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge to the test.

Practice tests can help your child develop problem-solving skills and build confidence working under test conditions. They’re also a great way to consolidate learning and highlight knowledge gaps for further improvement.

With Atom Home, you'll unlock online mock tests and printable practice papers for the West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test. Enjoy automatic marking and progress tracking with the online tests, and help your child get familiar with the real exam experience with printable practice papers.

Celebrate progress

Setting regular, achievable goals and celebrating your child’s progress – no matter how big or small – will help keep their motivation high.

Make sure to encourage a growth mindset. This means celebrating effort, as well as achievement! When your child makes mistakes or struggles to understand a particular topic, help them understand that they’ll improve through practice. Regular praise will help your child improve their resilience when tackling new and challenging topics.