South West Hertfordshire 11 plus guide

Are you considering a partially-selective school in South West Hertfordshire for your child? This guide walks you through how the system works, key dates for entry, and how to support your child through the test.

In this guide, you’ll find:

• How the South West Hertfordshire grammar school system works
• Key 11+ dates and deadlines for 2027 entry
• Which schools use the South West Hertfordshire Schools Consortium test
• What your child will be tested on
• How the exam is scored and how places are allocated
• Practical ways to support your child’s test preparation
  

South West Hertfordshire consortium schools

The South West Herts Schools Consortium is made up of seven partially selective schools in southwest Hertfordshire. These schools offer places based on academic ability, musical aptitude, or sporting aptitude (Queens’ School only).

If your child is applying to more than one of these schools through the same selection route, they only need to take the relevant aptitude test once. Children who meet the required standard may then be considered for a priority place at their chosen school or schools.

The seven schools and their aptitude tests are:

• Croxley Danes School (music test only)
• Parmiter’s School (academic and music tests)
• Queens’ School (academic, music and sports tests)
• Rickmansworth School (academic and music tests)
• St Clement Danes School (academic and music tests)
• Watford Grammar School for Boys (academic and music tests)
• Watford Grammar School for Girls (academic and music tests)

There are a further six partially-selective schools in Hertfordshire, but these are not members of the South West Herts Schools Consortium:

• Bishop’s Stortford High School
• Chancellor’s School
• Dame Alice Owen’s School
• Goffs Academy
• Hertfordshire and Essex High School
• Hockerill Anglo-European College

Key dates for 2027 entry

• Wednesday 1st April 2026: South West Herts Secondary Transfer Test registration opens
• Wednesday 29th April 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School test registration opens
• Friday 5th June 2026: South West Herts Secondary Transfer Test registration closes
• Wednesday 10th June 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School test registration closes
• Saturday 5th September 2026: South West Herts academic ability test
• Tuesday 1st September 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School entrance exam part 1 (verbal reasoning) and first round musical aptitude test
• Monday 7th September 2026: South West Herts first round music aptitude test
• Wednesday 9th September 2026: South West Herts sports test (Queens’ School only)
• Friday 18th September 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School entrance exam part 1 results day
• Thursday 17th September 2026: South West Herts first round music scores notified to parents
• Saturday 26th September 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School entrance exam part 2 (English and maths)
• Monday 21st September to Friday 25th September 2026: South West Herts second round music test‍
• Monday 28th September to Thursday 1st October 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School second round music test‍
• Thursday 15th October 2026: South West Herts Secondary Transfer Test results day‍
• Friday 23rd October 2026: Dame Alice Owen’s School Round 2 results day‍
• Saturday 31st October 2026: secondary school common application deadline‍
• Monday 1st March 2027: national school offers day

Dates can vary, so always check with your target schools!

What’s in the South West Hertfordshire Secondary Transfer Test?

There are three tests used by the South West Herts Schools Consortium – an academic ability test, a musical aptitude test, and a sports test (only used by Queens’ School).

Academic ability test

The Academic Ability Test is used by Parmiter’s School, Queens’ School, Rickmansworth School, St Clement Danes School, Watford Grammar School for Boys and Watford Grammar School for Girls.

The academic criterion test consists of two papers. These papers are produced by GL Assessment. The two papers are:

• Maths: questions based on the Key Stage 2 national curriculum for maths.
• Verbal reasoning: questions which test your child’s ability to use logic and solve problems with written information, such as words, letters, symbols and numbers.

Both papers are multiple-choice. Your child will be given a question booklet and an answer sheet for each paper. The answer sheet is marked using OMR (optical mark recognition), which scans the marks your child has made to indicate their chosen answer(s) for each question.

Musical aptitude test

The musical aptitude test is used by all seven schools in the South West Herts Schools Consortium. If your child is applying under the music criterion for entry to any of these schools, they will only have to take this test once. If they pass this test, they may be eligible for a priority place at your target school(s).

There are two stages in the musical aptitude test.

The first stage is a written test which takes around 45 minutes. There are 60 questions across four sections, which are played on a CD. These questions assess pitch, melody, texture and rhythm.

Children who score highly in the first stage are invited to the second stage. If your child is invited to this stage, they will need to perform a piece of music (no longer than 3 minutes).

More information about these two stages is available on the South West Herts Schools Consortium website.

Sports test

The sports test (PE aptitude) is only used by Queens’ School. This test is very popular, so only children with exceptional sporting aptitude and who live within Queens’ School’s catchment area should consider applying.

The test is selected from the Council of European Physical Fitness (Eurofit) and covers core movement skills. More information about this test is available on the South West Herts Schools Consortium website.

How is the South West Herts academic ability test scored?

After the test, answer sheets are marked using Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) technology.

The Verbal Reasoning and Maths raw scores are age-standardised based on the child’s age in completed months. This ensures fair comparison across all children, balancing performance regardless of age differences within the same year group. The standardisation process considers the child’s age on the test day, addressing variations where some children are younger in their year group.

The Music Aptitude test scores are not standardised.

Your child’s results will be sent to you in mid-October 2026. If they meet the qualifying standard for your target school, you can then apply for that school through your common application form (CAF).

What's the pass mark for the academic test?

There is no single pass mark for the academic test; places are offered based on each school’s admission arrangements.

Once you receive your final standardised test score, you can decide which school(s) to apply to.

How to apply for South West Hertfordshire Consortium schools

1. Register for the South West Hertfordshire Secondary Transfer Test

To be considered for a place, you must register your child to take the Secondary Transfer Test.

• Registration opens: Wednesday 1st April 2026
• Registration closes: Friday 5th June 2026

2. Apply for school places

Test results are sent in mid-October 2026.

If your child meets the qualifying standard for a school, you can list it on your secondary school common application form, which must be submitted to your local authority by Saturday 31st October 2026.

Before listing a school, check the admissions policy to make sure your child meets all criteria.

3. National Offer Day

On Monday 1st March 2027, you’ll be informed which secondary school your child has been allocated.

If your preferred school isn’t offered, your child will receive another local school place, and you’ll be given information about how to appeal.

How can I help my child prepare for the Secondary Transfer Test?

The Secondary Transfer Test can feel like a big milestone, but preparation doesn’t have to be stressful.

Here are some practical ways to support your child in a calm, structured way.

Stay on track with a clear revision plan

One of the hardest parts of the Secondary Transfer Test preparation isn’t motivation – it’s knowing what to work on, when, and how to stay consistent without it taking over family life.

A clear plan helps your child build skills in the right order and avoid last-minute cramming.

With Atom’s Exam Plan, you enter your child’s exam date and target schools, and Atom builds a personalised weekly plan based on the key skills they’ll be tested on. It adapts as they improve and shows them exactly what to focus on each week.

That means less guesswork for you, less stress for them, and a clearer path to exam day.

Build exam technique with realistic practice papers

Once your child feels secure with the main topics, paper practice tests help them feel more confident with the exam format.

Atom’s practice papers are designed to reflect real test conditions. Parents simply photograph their child’s answer sheets and upload them to Atom for instant marking.

You’ll get:

• a Standardised Age Score (SAS)
  
• clear insight into strengths and areas for improvement
  
• a comparison with other children applying to the same schools
  

The papers are unlimited, meaning your child can practise again and again with new questions each time.

Encourage regular reading

Strong reading skills underpin almost every part of the exam.

Encourage your child to read for 10–15 minutes a day, focusing on variety – fiction, non-fiction, different genres and authors.

This helps build:

• vocabulary
  
• comprehension and inference
  
• confidence with unfamiliar texts
  

If you’re looking for ideas, Atom’s recommended reading lists for Years 3–6 include a wide range of age-appropriate books.

Celebrate progress, not just scores

When you’re supporting your child through preparation, what really matters is knowing they’re moving in the right direction.

Atom’s progress tracking gives you a clear, simple view of how your child is doing across topics and how their performance is developing over time.

That makes it easier to give meaningful encouragement, keep motivation steady and focus on consistent improvement – not just one-off test results.