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Thinking about applying to Skipton Girls' High School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions in 2024–2025 and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus entrance exam.
Key information for Skipton Girls' High School
Address: Skipton Girls’ High School, Gargrave Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1QL
Number of pupils: approx 900
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 116
11+ exam: GL Assessment 11 plus
Catchment area: yes
Dates for your diary
Wednesday 1st May 2024: registration opens for the Skipton Girls’ High School selection tests
Thursday 11th July 2024: Year 5 open evening at Skipton Girls’ High School
Wednesday 28th August 2024: registration closes for the Skipton Girls’ High School selection tests
Saturday 28th September 2024: Skipton Girls’ High School 11+ selection tests
Monday 14th October 2024: parents receive outcome of selection tests by this date
Thursday 31st October 2024: secondary school applications close at 5pm
Monday 3rd March 2025: secondary school national offers day
About Skipton Girls' High School
Skipton Girls’ High School is a grammar school for girls in North Yorkshire. Ofsted rated the school 'good' overall, but 'outstanding' for behaviour and attitudes. It praised students' exemplary behaviour and how they "approach challenging work with enthusiasm".
Skipton Girls' aims to provide young women with an "innovative, dynamic and academic learning environment". The grounds consist of traditional buildings alongside a new £1.8 million STEM centre.
How to apply to Skipton Girls' High School
Skipton Girls' High 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.
Registration for the Skipton Girls’ High School selection tests opens on Wednesday 1st May 2024 and closes on Wednesday 28th August 2024. The selection tests will take place on Saturday 28th September 2024 and you’ll receive information about your daughter’s results by 14th October. If your child has met the qualifying standard, they’ll be eligible for a place at the school.
To apply to Skipton Girls' High 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 Thursday 31st October 2024.
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 Skipton Girls' High School below.
What subjects are on the 11 plus?
The 11 plus at Skipton Girls' High 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 Skipton Girls' High School will take three 11 plus papers on Saturday 28th September 2024.
Maths: the 11 plus maths paper consists of questions which will assess your child’s knowledge of Key Stage 2 maths concepts. This includes topics covering number, measurement, geometry and statistics.
English: the English paper consists of two reading comprehension extracts. Some questions might also assess your child’s spelling, grammar and punctuation.
Verbal reasoning: the verbal reasoning test will assess your child’s ability to use logic and reasoning to solve problems with written information. This could include letters, words, symbols or numbers. Verbal reasoning isn’t taught on the national curriculum, so your child will likely be unfamiliar with these types of questions.
Guide to GL Assessment 11 plus exams
Find out everything you need to know in our complete guide to GL Assessment 11 plus entrance tests. Plus, get access to free 11 plus resources to help your child feel confident for their exam!
How does place allocation work at Skipton Girls' High 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 placed in rank order from highest to lowest. The school will then use this rank list to decide on a qualifying score.
Children who achieved the qualifying score and have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which names the school are allocated places first. If the remaining number of places is lower than the number of qualifying children who applied to the school, oversubscription criteria is used to allocate places. Priority is given in this order:
Looked after and previously looked after children
Children eligible for the pupil premium and free school meals
Children living within the priority area
Children living outside the priority area
Within each of the groups above, priority is given to girls who live closest to the school.
Does Skipton Girls' High School have a catchment area?
Skipton Girls' High School does have a catchment area. This is known as a ‘priority area’ and it covers Skipton at the south, extending up into the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
A map of the priority area is available in the school admissions policy.
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 Skipton Girls' High 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.
Tailored preparation for the Skipton Girls' High School selection tst
Wish you could give your child a roadmap to success in the selection test? You can. Atom Home has everything you need to get prepared, in one package.
You don't need a tutor to get into your top-choice grammar school. You just need Atom. We’ll create a tailored plan for your child and support them along their fun revision journey.
Practice papers for Skipton Girls' High School
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Navigate the 11 plus with confidence.
In 2024, 91% of Atom users got offered a place at their top-choice school.
Start your free trial today. Our specialists will get to work on your child’s plan. Relax, 11 plus prep is sorted.
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