Skipton Girls' High School 11+ guide

Please note: the 11+ exam provider used by Skipton Girls' High School may be changing the structure and content of the test from September 2025.
For specific information about the entrance exam, we recommend checking the school website for more information.
Atom Learning is partnered with Skipton Girls' High School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Thinking about applying to Skipton Girls' High 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 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: Future Stories Community Enterprise 11 plus
• Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

• Thursday 10th July 2025: Skipton Girls' High School open evening
• Wednesday 27th August 2025: deadline to apply for the selection test
• Week of 8th September 2025: copies of your daughter's personal registration card will be posted to you
• Saturday 27th September 2025: selection tests at Skipton Girls' High School
• By 21st October 2025: parents receive test results
• Friday 31st October 2025: national deadline to apply for secondary school places
• Monday 2nd March 2026: national secondary school 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 closes on Wednesday 27th August 2025. The selection tests will take place on Saturday 27th September 2025 and you’ll receive information about your daughter’s results before 21st October 2025. 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 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 Skipton Girls' High School below.

What subjects are on the selection test?

The 2025 selection test at Skipton Girls' High School will be provided by Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE).

FSCE 11 plus exams test three subjects:

1. English comprehension: your child will be tested on reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling
2. Maths: your child will be assessed on Key Stage 2 maths topics taught up to the end of Year 5
3. Creative writing: your child will need to write a piece of original writing in response to a prompt

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:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children
2. Children eligible for the pupil premium and free school meals
3. Children living within the priority area
4. 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 practice tests for the Skipton Girls' High School entrance exam. 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.