Queens' School 11 plus: 2024 entry guide

About Queens' School

Queens' School is a partially-selective secondary school in Bushey, Hertfordshire, formed in 1969 by the amalgamation of Bushey Grammar School and Alexandra School. It's the largest co-educational state school in Hertfordshire with around 1,700 students on roll.

The school is committed to providing a caring, safe and challenging environment for learning and embraces the use of new technology. Students have access to a range of facilities to aid their academic, social and personal development on a 50-acre site including 12 all-weather sports pitches and extensive playing fields.

Children applying to Queens' School can apply for a standard place, or a selective place based on aptitude in sport, music or academia. Partially-selective places are assessed through a process administered by the SW Herts Consortium.

• Address: Queens' School, Aldenham Road, Bushey, Hertfordshire, WD23 2TY

• Local authority: Hertfordshire County Council

• School type: mixed partially-selective school

• Headteacher: Jonathan Morrell

• Number of pupils: 1,650+

• National rank (Sunday Times Parent Power): 300

• A level results: 62.2% A*–B

• GCSE results: 43.8% A*/A/9/8/7

Key info for Year 7 admissions

• Admissions contact: [email protected]

• Number of places in Year 7: 270 (of which 94 places are allocated based on academic ability)

• Open day date: virtual open evening available online

• 11 plus registration opens: 11th April 2023

• 11 plus registration closes: 16th June 2023

• Exam date: 9th September 2023 (academic test)

• Exam type: SWH Consortium – GL Assessment

• Common application form (CAF) deadline: 31st October 2023

• National school offer day: 1st March 2024

How to apply to Queens' School

If you would like your child to be considered for a place in Year 7 at Queens' School, you will need to complete the common application form for your local authority.

If you would like your child to be considered for a place under the academic criterion, you will also need to register for them to take the academic ability test with the SW Herts Consortium. This group of grammar and partially-selective schools all administer the same academic tests, so if your child is applying for an academic place in any of the schools in the consortium, they will only need to take the academic tests once.

1. Register for the academic ability test

If you are thinking about registering your child for the academic criterion at Queens' School, it's a good idea to speak to your child's teacher first to see if the 11 plus and a selective education is right for them. The 11 plus is a challenging exam, designed to select the children working within the top 25% of their year group.

You will need to register your child with the SW Herts Consortium between Tuesday 11th April 2023 and Friday 16th June 2023. You will then be notified of your child's test venue on Friday 7th July 2023.

2. Apply for a school place

You will be notified of your child's scores in the academic test via your parent portal on the SWH Consortium website on Wednesday 19th October 2023. You can use your child's results to decide whether to apply for a place at Queens' School.

To apply for a school place, you will need to name Queens' School on your common application form. You must complete the form for your home local authority:

• Buckinghamshire residents: Buckinghamshire Council

• Hertfordshire residents: Hertfordshire County Council

• London Borough of Barnet residents: Barnet Council

• London Borough of Enfield residents: Enfield Council

• London Borough of Harrow residents: Harrow Council

• London Borough of Hillingdon residents: Hillingdon Council

Before completing your common application form, make sure to check the school's oversubscription criteria first. In the likely event that more children achieve the qualifying score than there are places available, the school will need to apply oversubscription criteria to prioritise places.

The application form must be submitted to your home local council by 31st October 2023.

What's the pass mark for Queens' School?

Your child's scores in the academic ability test will be age-standardised to ensure that children born later in the school year aren't disadvantaged. Scores will then be combined to give a total score across both papers, which is then placed in rank order with all the other children who took the exam. The range for the combined score is between 140 and 272.

There is no minimum score required – the 94 children with the highest scores will be eligible for a place under the academic criterion. However, in previous years the minimum score required for a place under the academic criterion was 186 (2022), 182 (2021), 184 (2020) and 198 (2019). These figures may be useful as a guide when helping your child prepare for the test.

Achieving a particular score doesn't guarantee a place at the school, as it may be oversubscribed with qualified candidates. We always recommend researching the admission policies for your target schools and looking at their oversubscription criteria.

Queens' School admissions criteria

Queens' School does not have a strict catchment area. However, if the number of children who meet the qualifying mark exceeds the number of places available, places may be prioritised for children who have passed the academic test and who live in particular postcodes:

• WD3-7, WD17-19, WD23-25

• AL2 (south of the M25)

• HA6

• HA5 4

• HA3 6

• HA7 3, HA7 4

Other oversubscription criteria apply to children not applying for an academically-selective place. More information is available on the Queens' School website.

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