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Thinking about applying to Devonport High School for Girls? 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 Devonport High School for Girls
Address: Devonport High School for Girls, Lyndhurst Road, Peverell, Plymouth, Devon, PL2 3DL
Number of pupils: 800+
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 158
11+ exam: GL Assessment
Catchment area: no
Dates for your diary
Monday 15th April 2024: registration opens for the DHSG and PHSG practice 11+ exam
Monday 22nd April 2024: 11+ registration opens
Wednesday 22nd May 2024: registration closes for the practice exam
Saturday 6th July 2024: DHSG and PHSG practice (mock) 11+ exam
Tuesday 16th July 2024: results sent for the DHSG and PHSG practice 11+ exam
Saturday 31st August 2024: 11+ registration closes
Friday 6th September 2024: information sent about the 11+ exam day
Saturday 14th September 2024: 11+ exam paper 1 (English)
Saturday 21st September 2024: 11+ exam paper 2 (maths)
Monday 14th 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
About Devonport High School for Girls
Devonport High School for Girls is a grammar school for girls aged 11–18 in Plymouth. It's the counterpart to the local boys' grammar school, Devonport High School for Boys.
The school was awarded Specialist Languages College status in 2005 and has won the International School Award four times. Students can learn Mandarin Chinese and the school has international links with 20 countries.
Ofsted rates Devonport High School for Girls 'good', but 'outstanding' for behaviours and attitudes and personal development. The report praises pupils' behaviour and attitudes to learning. It also notes the exceptional level of care staff provide pupils, with prioritisation for mental wellbeing.
How to apply to Devonport High School for Girls
Devonport High School for Girls 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.
Devonport High School for Girls shares an 11 plus entrance exam with Plymouth High School for Girls (PHSG). If you are considering both schools, your daughter will only need to take the test once – at either school – to apply to both.
Registration for the 11 plus opens on the school website on Monday 22nd April 2024 and closes on Saturday 31st August 2024. You’ll receive an email with information about the exam day on Friday 6th September.
The 11+ exam for Devonport High School for Girls and Plymouth High School for Girls is taken over two dates. Your child will take the first paper (English) on Saturday 14th September and the second paper (maths) on Saturday 21st September. You’ll receive their results on Monday 14th October.
To apply to Devonport High School for Girls, 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 Devonport High School for Girls below.
What subjects are on the Devonport High School for Girls 11 plus?
Children applying to Devonport High School for Girls and/or Plymouth High School for Girls take two 11 plus papers on two separate dates. Both papers are supplied by GL Assessment – one of the main 11+ exam providers in England.
Both papers last around 45 minutes to one hour and are multiple-choice. Your child will be given a question booklet and pre-printed answer sheets. They will need to mark the answer(s) or the answer sheets which they believe are correct.
Children will take the English paper on Saturday 14th September. The questions are based on the content your child will have learned on the national curriculum at school. Some questions will test reading comprehension. Your child will need to read a passage of text and answer questions to demonstrate their understanding. Other questions might test further English skills, such as spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation.
Your child will then take the maths paper the following week on Saturday 21st September 2024. This is also based on Year 5 content, but the questions might be more challenging than what your child is used to. They will assess your child’s knowledge of key concepts, including times tables, mental maths, shapes, space and measures, how to use the four basic operations, and reading graphs. Your child will need to use their skills to solve new kinds of problems for some more advanced questions.
Guide to GL Assessment 11 plus exams
Find out everything you need to know in our complete guide to the GL Assessment 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 Devonport High School for Girls?
Your child’s marks in the English and maths papers are age-standardised to ensure that younger children aren’t disadvantaged. The standardised for each paper is added together to form your child’s final 11 plus score. All children are then placed in rank order according to their score.
The cut off score for Devonport High School for Girls is the score achieved by the last child allocated a place under oversubscription criteria 3 (see below).
There are 158 places available at Devonport High School for Girls. Children who have achieved the cut-off score and have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names the school are given places first.
All other children are allocated places in this order:
Looked after and previously looked after children who achieve a score equal to or higher than the adjusted cut-off score for DHSG in the previous three years
Up to 12 places are allocated to children who achieve a score equal to or higher than the lowest cut-off score for DHSG in the last three years, and who qualify for free school meals or the pupil premium
All other children ranked by score order (starting with the highest)
There is no catchment area for Devonport High School for Girls. All children are considered equally and purely on the basis of their results in the 11 plus exam.
The only time your child's address may be used is if there's a tie for the last place. If this happens, the school will allocate the place to the child who lives closest to the school.
Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation
The Plymouth 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able girls in Plymouth 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 Plymouth 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 Plymouth 11 plus
Wish you could give your child a roadmap to success in the Plymouth 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 Devonport High School for Girls
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Automatic marking and instant progress data
Navigate the Plymouth 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, Plymouth 11 plus prep is sorted.
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