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.

Are you thinking about applying to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about the entry process and how to prepare for the 11+ exam.

Key information for Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

• School type: boys' grammar school
• Location: Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 150
• 11+ exam: West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test
• Catchment area: no

Important dates for 2027 entry

• Tuesday 5th May 2026: test registration opens
• Friday 26th June 2026: test registration closes (4pm)
• Saturday 12th September 2026: test day
• Friday 16th October 2026: parents receive test results
• Saturday 31st October 2026: deadline to apply for secondary school places
• Monday 1st March 2027: secondary school national offers day

How to apply to Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School is selective. This means that your son will need to take the 11+ exam to be eligible for a place.

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School is one of 19 grammar schools in the West Midlands that share the same entrance test. This means your son will only need to sit the test once, even if you are applying to multiple schools in the partnership.

You must register your son for the test. Registration opens on Tuesday 5th May 2026 and closes at 4pm on Friday 26th June 2026. You will be allocated a test venue and a session either morning or afternoon, and should keep the whole of Saturday 12th September 2026 free. You'll receive confirmation of your son's allocated slot by the end of July.

Your son's results will be emailed to you on Friday 16th October 2026. If he meets the qualifying standard for Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, you can apply for a place by naming the school on your common application form. This must be submitted to your local authority by Saturday 31st October 2026.

Important note: passing the test doesn't guarantee that your son will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Grammar schools are often oversubscribed with children who meet the qualifying standard. After the 31st October deadline, schools use admissions criteria to allocate places.

We've outlined the process for Bishop Vesey's Grammar School below.

What will my child be tested on?

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School uses the West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test. The test is provided by GL Assessment and consists of two papers, each approximately one hour long. All questions are multiple-choice.

The papers are divided into individually timed sections covering four areas: English comprehension, verbal reasoning, maths, and non-verbal and spatial reasoning.

Your son's marks are weighted across the sections: 50% for English and verbal reasoning, 25% for maths, and 25% for non-verbal and spatial reasoning. These weighted scores are then age-standardised to ensure younger children aren't disadvantaged.

How are places allocated at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School?

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School will set a qualifying score after the entrance test has taken place. Children who achieve the qualifying score are eligible to apply for a place.

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. Places are prioritised in this order:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children who achieve the qualifying score
2. Children who achieve the qualifying score and are registered as Pupil Premium, ranked by score
3. Other children who achieve the qualifying score, ranked by score
4. If two children have equal scores, the child living closest to the school will be prioritised

Does Bishop Vesey's Grammar School have a catchment area?

Bishop Vesey's Grammar School doesn't have a catchment area. If your son meets the qualifying standard, he is eligible to apply for a place regardless of where you live.

If you don't live close to the school, it's worth thinking about how your son will get there every day. How long will the journey take? What transport options are available? Will he be travelling independently or with support?

A longer or more complex journey can affect your child's daily routine, including how much time he has for homework, rest, and after-school activities.

It's a good idea to think about how manageable the school run will be and whether it will work for your family day to day.

How can I help my child prepare for the test?

The West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test can feel like a big milestone, but preparation doesn't have to be overwhelming. Here's how you can help your child prepare for test day.

Stay on track with a clear plan

One of the hardest parts of 11+ preparation is knowing what to focus on, when, and how to make steady progress without it taking over family life.

A clear, structured plan helps your child feel less overwhelmed and more in control. It ensures they build skills in the right order, cover everything they need, and avoid last-minute cramming.

Atom's exam plan makes this easier. Enter your child's target schools and exam dates, and we'll create a personalised weekly plan tailored to the topics they'll be tested on. It shows them what to work on and when, adapts as they improve, and helps them build progress in a calm, manageable way — little and often.

That means less guesswork for you, less stress for them, and a clearer path all the way to exam day.

Build smart exam technique

As your child's knowledge grows, practice tests can help them feel more comfortable with the real exam format.

Atom's 11+ practice papers are exact replicas of real 11+ exams. They're also unlimited — you can download the same paper again and again, and your child will get new questions each time. This helps them practise without repeating the same content.

We've made marking easy for you, too. Simply photograph your child's answer sheets and upload them to Atom. The papers are marked instantly, showing your child's standardised age score (SAS), where they're doing well, and what they should focus on next. You'll also learn how they compare to other children applying to the same school.

Encourage regular reading

Strong reading skills play a big role in 11+ preparation.

Encourage your child to read every day, even for just 10–15 minutes. The key is variety. Mix fiction and non-fiction, different genres, and a range of authors. This helps them become more confident in understanding tone, purpose, and meaning across different texts.

Over time, regular reading will broaden their vocabulary, improve comprehension and inference, and build confidence in tackling unseen texts.

Looking for inspiration? Atom's recommended reading lists have suggestions spanning fiction and non-fiction for Years 3–6.

Celebrate progress, not just scores

When you're supporting your child through 11+ preparation, what really matters is knowing they're moving in the right direction — not just how they scored on a single test.

Atom's progress tracking gives you a clear, simple picture of how your child is doing in each topic and the direction they're moving in. You can see where they're on track, where they might need more practice, and spot progress as it happens.

That makes it easier to give meaningful encouragement, keep motivation steady, and focus on what matters most: consistent improvement, not just one-off results.