Bournemouth School 11+ guide

By Atom | Apr 17, 2024, 3:10 PM

Grammar schools

Contents

Thinking about applying to Bournemouth School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions in 2024–2025 and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus entrance exam.

Key information for Bournemouth School

Address: Bournemouth School, East Way, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH8 9PY
Number of pupils: 1,100+
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 180
11+ exam: Dorset Consortium 11 plus exam
Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

Monday 15th April 2024: Dorset 11 plus registration opens
Thursday 11th July 2024: Bournemouth School open evening
Friday 6th September 2024: Dorset 11 plus registration closes at midday
Monday 9th September 2024: deadline to submit form for exam access arrangements
Friday 13th September 2024: parents receive test information by this date
Saturday 21st September 2024: Dorset grammar schools’ entrance test (11 plus exam)
Friday 11th October 2024: results of entrance tests sent to parents
Thursday 31st October 2024: secondary school applications close at 5pm
Monday 3rd March 2025: secondary school national offers day

About Bournemouth School

Bournemouth School is a boys' grammar school with a mixed sixth form, founded in 1901. It's rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted.

The school has an excellent local reputation. This is partly due to its high academic standards and expectations of students. There is a strong sense of community and students have respect for themselves and others. Many students take on leadership roles and responsibilities as they progress through the school.

Beyond the curriculum, Bournemouth School offers an extensive extracurricular programme. Sports include representative teams and house sports, as well as activities such as surfing, fencing and martial arts. The school is also one of few maintained schools in the UK that has a Combined Cadet Force.

How to apply to Bournemouth School

Bournemouth School is a selective state school. Your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place in Year 7.

Bournemouth School is a member of the Dorset Consortium. There are four grammar schools in the Consortium and they share the same entrance test. This means that your child will only need to take the test once, even if you’re applying to more than one school in the Consortium.

Registration for the Dorset 11 plus opens on the school websites on Monday 15th April 2024 and closes at midday on Friday 6th September 2024. Your child will take the Dorset 11 plus entrance test on Saturday 21st September and you’ll receive their results on Friday 11th October.

To apply to Bournemouth 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 Thursday 31st October 2024.

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 Bournemouth School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

Bournemouth School uses the Dorset Consortium 11 plus entrance exam. This consists of three test papers:

Maths: 50 minutes
English: 45 minutes
Verbal reasoning: 50 minutes

All of the questions in the Dorset 11 plus are multiple-choice. Your child will have separate answer sheets which they will use to mark their answers. These are marked electronically.

Guide to the Dorset Consortium 11 plus entrance test

Find out everything you need to know in our complete guide to the Dorset Consortium 11 plus entrance test. Plus, get access to free 11 plus resources to help your child feel confident for their exam!

Learn more

How does place allocation work at Bournemouth School?

Your child’s marks in the Dorset 11 plus are age-standardised to ensure that younger children aren’t disadvantaged. All children’s standardised scores are then placed in rank order from highest to lowest. Bournemouth School will then set a qualifying score based on this ranked list.

If the number of children who achieve the qualifying score exceeds the 180 places available, Bournemouth School applies oversubscription criteria. Children who achieved the qualifying score are prioritised for places in this order:

Looked after and looked after children
Children eligible for Pupil Premium
Children who live within the Priority Area
Sons of current members of Bournemouth School staff (employed for at least two years)
Remaining applicants

In each of the above categories, places are allocated based on rank order of the child’s 11+ score. If two or more children have the same test score and ranking, places are prioritised based on how close the child lives to the school.

What is the catchment area for Bournemouth School?

Bournemouth School’s catchment area is known as a ‘Priority Area’. This covers the following postcodes:

BH1, BH2, BH3, BH4, BH5, BH6, BH7, BH8, BH9, BH10, BH11 BH12 5 BH23 1, BH23 2, BH23 3

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The Dorset 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in Bournemouth and Poole and the surrounding 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 Dorset Consortium 11 plus 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.

Tailored preparation for the Dorset 11 plus

Wish you could give your child a roadmap to success in the Dorset 11 plus? You can. Atom Home has everything you need to get prepared, in one package.

You don't need a tutor to get into your top-choice grammar school. You just need Atom. We’ll create a tailored plan for your child and support them along their fun revision journey.