How are places allocated at Ripon Grammar School?
After the test, your child's papers are marked and then age-standardised. Age-standardisation is standard practice in 11+ scoring and ensures younger children aren't disadvantaged. The standardised scores from both papers are added together to give your child's total mark.
All children's scores are placed in rank order. The results are used to find the highest-scoring 28% (or as close as possible) of Year 6 children living in the Ripon area. The pass mark varies each year depending on the overall performance of the cohort. In the last three years, the cut-off mark has been:
- 203 (2026 entry)
- 196 (2025 entry)
- 195 (2024 entry)
If more children reach the pass mark than there are places available, the school uses oversubscription criteria to prioritise places. There are 103 day places available. Priority is given in this order:
- Looked after and previously looked after children, and children who appear to have been in state care outside of England
- Children with special social or medical reasons for admission (applications must be supported by a professional recommendation from a doctor, social worker, or other appropriate professional)
- Children who live within the catchment area
- Children of Ripon Grammar School staff (employed for more than two years, or recruited to fill a demonstrable skills shortage)
- Children who live outside the catchment area
Does Ripon Grammar School have a catchment area?
Ripon Grammar School does have a catchment area, covering Ripon and its surrounding villages including Grewelthorpe, Laverton, Galphay, Winksley and Aldfield.
If a tie-break is needed within any priority group, priority is given first to children who have a sibling already at Ripon Grammar School, and then to children living closest to the school, measured by the nearest route recognised by North Yorkshire Council's electronic mapping system.
How can I help my child prepare for the test?
The Ripon Grammar School entrance test can feel like a big milestone, but preparation doesn't have to be overwhelming. Here's how you can help your child get ready for test day.
Stay on track with a clear plan
One of the hardest parts of 11+ preparation is knowing what to focus on, when, and how to make steady progress without it taking over family life.
A clear, structured plan helps your child feel less overwhelmed and more in control. It ensures they build skills in the right order, cover everything they need, and avoid last-minute cramming.
Atom’s exam plan makes this easier. Enter your child's exam date and target schools, and we'll create a personalised weekly plan tailored to the topics they'll be tested on. It shows them what to work on and when, adapts as they improve, and helps them build progress in a calm, manageable way — little and often.
That means less guesswork for you, less stress for them, and a clearer path all the way to exam day.
Build smart exam technique
As your child's knowledge grows, practice tests can help them feel more comfortable with the real exam format.
Atom’s 11+ practice papers are exact replicas of real 11+ exams. They're also unlimited — you can download the same paper again and again, and your child will get new questions each time. This helps them practise without repeating the same content.
We've made marking easy for you, too. Simply photograph your child's answer sheets and upload them to Atom. The papers are marked instantly, showing your child's standardised age score (SAS), where they're doing well, and what they should focus on next. You'll also see how they compare to other children applying to the same school.
Encourage regular reading
Strong reading skills play a big role in 11+ preparation.
Encourage your child to read every day, even for just 10–15 minutes. The key is variety. Mix fiction and non-fiction, different genres, and a range of authors. This helps them become more confident in understanding tone, purpose, and meaning across different texts.
Over time, regular reading will:
- broaden their vocabulary
- improve comprehension and inference
- build confidence in tackling unseen texts
And just as importantly, it can help them enjoy reading — not just see it as exam preparation.
Looking for inspiration? Atom’s recommended reading lists have suggestions spanning fiction and non-fiction for Years 3–6.
Celebrate progress, not just scores
When you’re supporting your child through 11+ preparation, what really matters is knowing they’re moving in the right direction — not just how they scored on a single test.
Atom’s progress tracking gives you a clear, simple picture of how your child is doing in each topic and the direction they’re moving in. You can see where they’re on track, where they might need more practice, and spot progress as it happens.
That makes it easier to give meaningful encouragement, keep motivation steady, and focus on what matters most: consistent improvement, not just one-off results.
