Colyton Grammar School 11+ guide

Atom Learning is partnered with Colyton Grammar School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Please note: the 11+ exam provider used by Colyton Grammar School may be changing the structure and content of the test from September 2025.

For specific information about the entrance exam, we recommend checking the school website for more information.

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
• 11+ exam: Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE)
• Catchment area: no

Dates for your diary

• Monday 31st March 2025: Colyton Grammar School 11+ registration opens
• Early September 2025: Colyton Grammar School 11+ registration closes
• Saturday 13th September 2025: Colyton Grammar School 11+ exam
• Mid-October 2025: parents receive 11+ results
• Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school applications close at 5pm
• Monday 2nd March 2026: secondary school national offers day

The open days for Colyton Grammar School are:

• 31st March 2025 (afternoon)
• 23rd April 2025 (morning)
• 24th April 2025 (afternoon)
• 9th July 2025 (morning)
• 10th July 2025 (afternoon)
• 18th July 2025 (afternoon)

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 on Monday 31st April 2025 and closes in **September **. Your child will take the exam on Saturday 13th 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 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 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.

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:

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children
2. Children who are entitled to pupil premium (including the service premium)
3. 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.

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