Rickmansworth School 11 plus: 2024 entry guide

Are you considering Rickmansworth School for your child? We've collated everything you need to know about Year 7 entry in 2024. Keep reading to learn about the school application process in South West Hertfordshire and how to help your child excel in the 11 plus exam.

About Rickmansworth School

Rickmansworth School is a partially-selective comprehensive academy in Croxley Green, Hertfordshire for boys and girls aged 11 to 18. Due to popular demand, the school was expanded in 2018 to take on an additional form of entry in each year group and now provides extensive new and refurbished facilities through the support of a £3.5 million capital grant.

Rickmansworth School sets high academic standards and provides an extensive co-curricular programme, aiming to ensure that all students leave as well-rounded young people. The school ethos and key values are promoted through six 'Ricky Rs' – students are encouraged to develop and exhibit responsibility, respect, resourcefulness and resilience, and to be reflective and form positive relationships.

Rickmansworth School has specialist status in science and the performing arts and is a hub school for the local School Sports Partnerships. It's rated 'good with outstanding features' by Ofsted.

• Address: Rickmansworth School, Scots Hill, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, WD3 3AQ

• Local authority: Hertfordshire County Council

• School type: mixed partially-selective school

• Headteacher: Matt Fletcher

• Number of pupils: 1,500+

• National rank (Sunday Times Parent Power): 263

• A level results: 67.6% A*–B

• GCSE results: 43.5% A*/A/9/8/7

Key info for Year 7 admissions

• Admissions contact: [email protected]

• Number of places in Year 7: 240 (of which 60 places are allocated based on academic ability)

• Open day date: 28th September 2023

• 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 Rickmansworth School

If you would like your child to be considered for a place in Year 7 at Rickmansworth 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 Rickmansworth 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 Rickmansworth School.

To apply for a school place, you will need to name Rickmansworth 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 Rickmansworth 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 60 children with the highest scores will be eligible for a place. However, in previous years the minimum score required for a place at Rickmansworth School under the academic criterion was 189 (2022) and 186 (2021 and 2020). 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.

Rickmansworth School admissions criteria

Rickmansworth School does not have a strict catchment area. However, 97% of all places (both standard and under either the musical or academic ability criteria) are allocated to applicants living in a priority postcode. These postcodes are:

• WD17, WD18, WD19, WD23, WD24, WD25

• WD3, WD4, WD5

• HA6 2, HA6 3

3% of places are allocated from outside the above postcodes. In 2022, Rickmansworth School received over 1,300 applications for 226 places; due to the oversubscription criteria, only two places were offered to children not living in a priority postcode.

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

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