Ripon Grammar School 11+ guide

Thinking about applying to Ripon Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions in 2025–2026 and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus entrance exam.

Key information for Ripon Grammar School

• Address: Ripon Grammar School, Clotherholme Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 2DG
• Number of pupils: 900+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 117 (including 14 boarding places)
• 11+ exam: GL Assessment 11 plus
• Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

• Early April 2025: Ripon Grammar School 11+ test registration opens
• Thursday 19th June 2025: Ripon Grammar School open evening
• Monday 30th June 2025: Ripon Grammar School 11+ test registration closes
• Saturday 13th September 2025: 11+ exam at Ripon Grammar School
• Mid-October 2025: parents receive outcome of 11+ exam
• Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school applications close at 5pm
• Monday 2nd March 2026: secondary school national offers day

About Ripon Grammar School

Ripon Grammar School is a grammar school in Ripon, North Yorkshire for boys and girls. It is consistently listed as the top state school in the North by the Sunday Times based on A level and GCSE results.

Ripon Grammar School was founded in 1555, but traces its roots back to the 7th century. Unusually for a state school, it offers boarding to a small portion of students. Boarding places cost around a third of the typical fees charged by private schools.

How to apply to Ripon Grammar School

Ripon Grammar School is a selective state school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place in Year 7.

North Yorkshire Council is responsible for the 11 plus tests at Ripon Grammar School. If you would like your child to be considered for a place at the school, you will need to register them via the North Yorkshire Council website. Registration for the exam opens in early April 2025 and closes on Monday 30th June 2025.

The Ripon Grammar School 11 plus exam will take place on Saturday 13th September 2025. You’ll receive the outcome of your child’s test performance in mid-October. If your child has met the qualifying standard, they’ll be eligible for a place at the school.

To apply to Ripon Grammar School, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted 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 Ripon Grammar School below.

What subjects are on the 11 plus?

The 11 plus at Ripon Grammar School consists of papers by GL Assessment. This is one of the leading 11 plus providers in England.

All GL Assessment papers are multiple-choice. Your child will have separate answer sheets which they will use to mark their answers. These are marked electronically.

Children applying to Ripon Grammar School will take two 11 plus papers on Saturday 13th September 2025.

1. One paper is a verbal reasoning test. This lasts 50 minutes and consists of 80 multiple-choice questions. Your child will be tested on their ability to use logic and reasoning to solve problems with written information. This could include letters, words, symbols or numbers.
2. The other paper is a non-verbal reasoning test. This consists of four sections – each with a 10-minute time limit – with 20 multiple-choice questions in each section. Your child will be tested on their ability to use logic and reasoning to solve problems with visual information. This could include shapes, diagrams or pictures.

Verbal and non-verbal reasoning aren’t taught on the national curriculum, so your child will likely be unfamiliar with these types of questions. Regular bitesize practice in the lead-up to the exam will help your child feel more confident on exam day.

How does place allocation work at Ripon Grammar School?

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.

Each paper is then age-standardised. Age-standardisation is a common practice in 11 plus scoring and ensures younger children aren’t disadvantaged. Standardised age scores for each paper normally range from 60 at the lowest end, to 142 at the highest end. 100 is the average score for the year group. The standardised scores for each paper are added together to produce your child’s total mark.

All children’s scores are then placed in rank order from highest to lowest. The results of the test are used to find the highest scoring 28% (or as close as possible) of Year 6 children who live in the Ripon area. This means that the pass mark can vary each year, as it depends on the overall performance of the cohort each year. In the last three years, the pass mark has been:

• 195 (2024)
• 196 (2023)
• 201 (2022)

If the number of children who achieve the pass mark exceeds the number of places available, the school uses oversubscription criteria to prioritise places.

There are 103 day places available at Ripon Grammar School. Priority is given in this order:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children
2. Children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and are now adopted
3. Children with special social or medical reasons for admission
4. Children who live within the catchment area
5. Children of Ripon Grammar School staff (employed for at least two years)
6. Children who live outside the catchment area

Within each of these groups, priority is given first to children who have a sibling at Ripon Grammar School, and then to children who live closest to the school.

Does Ripon Grammar School have a catchment area?

Ripon Grammar School does have a catchment area. This area covers Ripon and its surrounding area, including Grewelthorpe, Laverton, Galphay, Winksley and Aldfield.

A detailed map is available here.

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the area. 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

Verbal reasoning tests 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 for Ripon Grammar School. 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.