Redbridge 11 plus selection test guide

Are you considering a grammar school in the London Borough of Redbridge for your child? We’ve collated everything you need to know about admissions in 2025–2026. Keep reading to:

• Find out more about grammar schools in Redbridge

• Learn about the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test – the local 11 plus exam

• Discover which subjects your child will be tested on

• Plus, get exclusive resources to help your child prepare!

Which schools use the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test?

There are two grammar schools in the London Borough of Redbridge. Both schools use the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test:

• Ilford County High School (boys)
• Woodford County High School (girls)

Dates for your diary

• Tuesday 1st May 2025: registration opens for the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test
• Sunday 15th June 2025: registration closes for the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test at 5pm
• Friday 19th September 2025: Redbridge 11 Plus selection test takes place
• Mid-October 2025: parents receive results from the Redbridge 11 Plus
• Friday 31st October 2025: deadline to apply for secondary school places
• Monday 2nd March 2026: national school offers day

Dates can vary, so always check with your target schools!

What is the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test?

The Redbridge 11 Plus selection test is an academic entrance exam used by the two grammar schools in Redbridge. Ilford County High School accepts boys into Year 7, and Woodford County High School accepts girls.

The Redbridge 11 Plus takes place in September in Year 6. If you would like your child to be considered for a place at a Redbridge grammar school, you’ll need to register them to take the test. Registration opens on the Redbridge Council website on Tuesday 1st May 2025 and closes on Sunday 15th June 2025 at 5pm.

Your child will be invited to take the test at one of the Redbridge grammar schools. The exam will take place on Friday 19th September 2025.

If your child is applying for a place at the nearby Latymer School, they will need to register for this school’s exam separately.

What's on the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test?

The Redbridge 11 Plus consists of two test papers. These papers are supplied by GL Assessment. Your child takes both papers on the same day with a short break in between.

Each paper lasts approximately 50 minutes to one hour. Your child will have a question booklet and separate answer sheets. All the questions in the test are multiple-choice, so your child needs to mark the answer options they think are correct on the answer sheets.

1. English and verbal reasoning

This paper tests Key Stage 2 English and verbal reasoning:

• English: reading comprehension, spelling, punctuation, grammar and vocabulary
• Verbal reasoning: using logic and reasoning to solve problems with written information, like letters, words, symbols and numbers. Verbal reasoning is not taught on the national curriculum, so your child will likely be unfamiliar with these types of questions

2. Maths and non-verbal reasoning

This paper tests Key Stage 2 maths and non-verbal reasoning:

• Maths: Key Stage 2 maths topics covering number, geometry, measurement and statistics
• Non-verbal reasoning: using logic and reasoning to solve problems with visual information, like shapes, diagrams and pictures. Non-verbal reasoning is not taught on the national curriculum

How is the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test scored?

After the test, your child’s answer sheets are marked using Optical Mark Recognition (OMR). This technology picks up the marks your child has made to indicate which answers they think are correct. Your child receives a mark for every correct answer.

These marks are then age-standardised for each paper. Age-standardisation is a common practice in 11 plus scoring and ensures younger children aren’t disadvantaged. The two age-standardised scores are added together to give your child one overall score.

What's the pass mark for the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test?

The pass mark for the Redbridge 11 Plus is 104. Any child who scores 104 or higher will be eligible for a place at Woodford County High School or Ilford County High School.

Achieving the pass mark doesn’t guarantee that your child will be offered a place at the school. The Redbridge 11 Plus selection test is very competitive; each year, hundreds of children achieve the pass mark.

In September 2024, 2,257 children took the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test for entry in 2025. 894 children (40% of all children who took the test) scored 104 or more. With 180 places available at each school, only 40% of children who met the Redbridge 11 Plus pass mark were offered places in 2025.

Admissions criteria for Redbridge grammar schools

The Redbridge grammar schools use this admissions criteria, in order, to decide which children to offer places to:

1. ‘Looked after children’ and ‘previously looked after children’
2. 45 places at each grammar school (25% of the total places) will be offered to children entitled to the pupil premium. These places will be ranked according to the child’s total standardised score
3. Other children living in the common catchment area, ranked according to their total standardised score
4. Children living outside the common catchment area, ranked according to their total standardised score

Common catchment area for Redbridge grammar schools

The Redbridge grammar schools are surrounded by a ‘common catchment area’. Children who live inside this area and who achieve the Redbridge 11 Plus selection test pass mark are prioritised for places. Note that no child who lives outside this area – regardless of their score – has ever been offered a place at either of the Redbridge grammar schools.

The Redbridge common catchment area covers an area from Woodford to the north, Goodmayes to the east, Ilford to the south and Wanstead to the west.

In 2024, 1,719 children who took the Redbridge 11 plus for entry in 2025 lived within the common catchment area.

How to apply to Redbridge grammar schools

If you're considering a Redbridge grammar school for your child, it's a good idea to speak to your child's teacher first. Grammar schools are academically-selective and select children working towards the top of their year group. Your child's teacher will be able to indicate whether they think your child will be able to keep up with the pace in a grammar school.

1. Register for the Redbridge 11 pPlus selection test

If you would like your child to take the Redbridge 11 Plus, you’ll need to register them first. Registration opens on the council website on Tuesday 1st May 2025 and closes on Sunday 15th June 2025.

2. Apply for school places

You’ll find out if your child has achieved the pass mark of 104 in mid-October 2025.

You can use the results to decide which schools to include on your secondary school common application form. Before listing a school on your form, check its admissions policy and make sure your child is eligible.

The application form must be submitted to your home local council by 31st October 2025.

3. National school offer day

On Monday 2nd March 2026, you will find out which school your child has been allocated a place at. They will be allocated a place at your highest-preferred school for which they meet the entry criteria and which has places available.

If no places are available at your preferred schools, they will be offered a place at another school in your area. You can appeal the decision via an independent panel.

How can I help my child prepare for the Redbridge 11 Plus?

The Redbridge 11 Plus selection test is designed to be challenging. Here are our top tips to help your child prepare for the exam in September 2025.

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. 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.