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Thinking about applying to Ribston Hall High School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus.
Key information for Ribston Hall High School
Address: Ribston Hall High School, Stroud Road, Gloucester, GL1 5LE
Number of pupils: 850+
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 150
Catchment area: No
Dates for your diary
Monday 19th May 2025: Gloucestershire 11 plus registration opens at midday
Friday 27th June 2025: Gloucestershire 11 plus registration closes at midday
Saturday 13th September 2025: Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test
Mid-October 2025: parents receive 11 plus results
Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school applications close at 5pm
Monday 2nd March 2026: secondary school national offers day
About Ribston Hall High School
Ribston Hall High School is a grammar school in Gloucester for girls aged 11 to 18, with a mixed sixth form. It has a proud tradition of providing excellent education. And it is at the forefront of new ideas in education.
Pupils have outstanding behaviour and attitudes to learning. They also achieve above-average results in public exams. The school recently opened a £1.5 million new STEM building – the Rosalind Franklin Science Centre. This provides pupils with excellent new facilities, including cutting-edge laboratories and prep rooms.
How to apply to Ribston Hall High School
Ribston Hall High School is a selective school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place.
All seven grammar schools in Gloucestershire use the same 11 plus exam. This is known as the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test. Your child will only have to take the test once, regardless of how many grammar schools in the county you’re applying to.
Exam registration opens at midday on Monday 19th May 2025 and closes at midday on Friday 27th June 2025.
The Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test will take place on Saturday 13th September 2025. Your child will take the test at one of the seven grammar schools – although this might not be the school you’re applying to.
You’ll be emailed your child’s result by mid-October. If your child has met the eligible score for Ribston Hall High School, you can apply for it on your common application form. This must be submitted to your local authority by Friday 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 Ribston Hall High School below.
What subjects are on the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test?
The Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test consists of two one-hour papers. All of the questions in both papers are multiple-choice.
Paper 1 tests verbal skills. This includes reading comprehension, vocabulary, and verbal reasoning. Paper 2 tests non-verbal skills. This includes non-verbal reasoning and maths.
Take a look at our complete guide to the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test for more details about the exam.
Guide to the Gloucestershire 11 plus
Find out everything you need to know in our complete guide to the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' 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 Ribston Hall High School?
There is no pre-defined pass mark for the Gloucestershire 11 plus exam. The qualifying standard will only be set after the test is taken and the results are known. This varies from year to year but has historically been around 210-220 marks.
If the number of children who have met the qualifying standard for entry to the school exceeds the number of places available, Ribston Hall High School applies oversubscription criteria. Children are prioritised for places in the following order:
Children in care or previously in care (also known as 'Looked After' or 'Previously Looked After' children). These children will be offered priority by rank order of score.
30 places are allocated for children who qualify for Pupil Premium who have met the qualifying standard, or a mark up to 100 ranked places below the qualifying standard. Places are first allocated to Pupil Premium students who live in Gloucester City by rank order of score, then to Pupil Premium students who live outside Gloucester City by rank order of score.
The remaining places will be allocated to children by rank order in the qualifying standard.
There is no catchment area for Ribston Hall High School. Children from Gloucestershire and beyond can take the 11 plus exam; all children will be considered equally. However, if two or more children achieve the same total score, their respective positions in the rank order will be determined by how close they live to the school (measured in a straight line from the school to the child's home).
Atom’s top tips for Gloucestershire 11 plus preparation
The Gloucestershire Grammar Schools’ Entrance Test is designed to select the most academically able children in the county. 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. 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.
Gloucestershire Grammar Schools Entrance Test practice papers and online learning
Preparing for the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools Entrance Test can feel daunting — knowing what to cover, keeping your child motivated, and making sure you’re on the right track. With Atom Home, you’ll have everything you need to guide your child with confidence. No tutor required.
Get a personalised exam plan each week, so your child covers every topic in manageable steps
Download unlimited Gloucestershire 11+ practice papers, then upload a photo of their answers for instant, stress-free results
Take unlimited Gloucestershire 11+ mock tests that replicate the real exam, building confidence under timed conditions
Track their performance with SAS scores and comparisons against other children applying to Gloucestershire grammar schools
Everything you need for 11+ success
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