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Thinking about applying to Colyton 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 Colyton Grammar School
Address: Colyton Grammar School, Whitwell Lane, Colyford, Devon, EX24 6HN
Number of pupils: 1,000+
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 160
Catchment area: no
Dates for your diary
The 2025 exam dates haven’t been published yet. However, they are likely to be the same as 2024. Please use the dates below as a guide.
Monday 1st April 2024: Colyton Grammar School 11+ registration opens
Wednesday 24th July 2024: deadline to send requests for reasonable adjustments for 11+ exam
Friday 6th September 2024: Colyton Grammar School 11+ registration closes
Saturday 21st September 2024: Colyton Grammar School 11+ exam
Mid-October 2024: parents receive 11+ results
Thursday 31st October 2024: secondary school applications close at 5pm
Monday 3rd March 2025: secondary school national offers day
2024 open days for Colyton Grammar School will take place on Monday 22nd April (afternoon), Thursday 25th April (afternoon), Wednesday 1st May (morning), Tuesday 9th July (afternoon), Thursday 11th July (morning) and Friday 6th September (morning). Register for an open day slot on the Colyton Grammar School website.
About Colyton Grammar School
Colyton Grammar School is a mixed grammar school in East Devon. It was founded in 1546 and is consistently named one of the best state schools in the country.
The school has a reputation for academic success. Most students leave Colyton for the best UK universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and the Royal College of Music. Students are also encouraged to enjoy extracurricular activities beyond their classroom learning. The school is the largest facilitator of the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in the southwest. There is also a vast variety of clubs, sports teams and outdoor learning activities on offer.
How to apply to Colyton Grammar School
Colyton 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.
Registration for the Colyton Grammar School 11 plus opens on the school website in April 2025 and closes in **September **. Your child will take the exam mid-September 2025 and you’ll receive their results in mid-October.
To apply to Colyton 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 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 Colyton Grammar School below.
What subjects are on the Colyton Grammar School 11 plus?
Colyton Grammar School uses 11 plus papers provided by FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise).
There are three papers in this exam. Your child will be tested on the following subjects:
English: reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling.
Maths: based on the content your child will have learned in Year 5 maths.
Creative writing: your child will need to write a creative response to a prompt. They will have different options to base their piece on.
Guide to the FSCE 11 plus exam
Find out everything you need to know in our complete guide to the FSCE 11 plus entrance test. Plus, get access to free 11 plus resources to help your child feel confident for their exam!
How does place allocation work at Colyton Grammar School?
Your child’s marks in the English and maths papers are age-standardised to ensure that younger children aren’t disadvantaged. Colyton Grammar School will then set a qualifying score.
Children who have achieved the qualifying score then have their creative writing paper marked by staff at Colyton Grammar School. The mark from the creative writing paper is added to the standardised mark for the English and maths papers. Children are then placed in rank order from highest overall score to lowest score.
If the number of children who achieve the qualifying score exceeds the 160 places available, Colyton Grammar School applies oversubscription criteria. Children are prioritised for places in the following order:
Looked after children and previously looked after children
Children who are entitled to pupil premium (including the service premium)
Rank order based on the total score achieved in the 11 plus entrance exam
There is no catchment area for Colyton Grammar School.
Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation
The 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the local 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 Colyton Grammar School 11 plus. 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 11 plus
Wish you could give your child a roadmap to success in the 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.
Online and printable practice papers for the Colyton Grammar School 11 plus
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Automatic marking and instant progress data
Navigate the 11 plus with confidence.
In 2024, 91% of Atom users got offered a place at their top-choice school.
Start your free trial today. Our specialists will get to work on your child’s plan. Relax, 11 plus prep is sorted.
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