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How to apply to St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School
St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School is selective, so your child needs to sit the 11+ test to be considered for a place.
You register your child for the 11+ examination online through the Slough Consortium's registration form, which is linked from each consortium school's website. Registration only asks permission for your child to sit the test; it isn't an application for a place. To apply to St Bernard's you also complete the school's supplementary form about your child's faith background; for 2027 entry it had to reach the school by 31 October 2026.
Once you have your child's result, you apply by naming St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School on your common application form, which goes to your home local authority. For September 2028 entry the deadline is Sunday 31 October 2027. As it falls on a Sunday, you may find it easier to submit your form in the days before.
Reaching the qualifying score makes your child eligible, but it doesn't guarantee a place. If more qualifying children apply than there are places, the school uses its oversubscription criteria, set out further down this page.
What will my child be tested on?
The test is changing for 2028 entry
St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School has used GL Assessment for its entrance test in recent years. From the September 2027 test, the one that decides September 2028 entry, the Slough Consortium's test is provided by Quest Assessments.
The Quest grammar school tests are paper-based and non-adaptive, in a similar format to the GL tests used previously. Familiarisation materials for parents have been published, and the school will confirm any remaining details before the test.
What this means for the pass mark: the Slough Consortium has said the eligibility score will continue to be set at 111 on a standardised scale for the new test. Children who score 111 or above are in the top 35% of those sitting the examination. Reaching 111 makes your child eligible to be considered for a place; it doesn't guarantee one.
St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School is one of four grammar schools in the Slough Consortium, alongside Herschel Grammar School, Langley Grammar School and Upton Court Grammar School. All four use the same 11+ examination, so your child only needs to sit it once to be considered for any of them.
The assessment is two papers, each lasting about 50 minutes plus time for instructions. Paper 1 covers English comprehension and verbal reasoning; paper 2 covers non-verbal reasoning and maths. Both are sat in one session at one of the four Slough grammar schools, with a short supervised break, and your child stays in the test room during the break. Expect around two to three hours in the centre in total. The schools say the structure and format will be similar to those used before, and all marking and standardisation is carried out by the test provider.
It's a paper test. Your child gets a question booklet and a separate answer sheet for each subject, and may get a reading booklet too. Instead of writing answers out, they draw a clear horizontal line through the box next to their chosen answer on an OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheet, marking one answer per question unless a question says otherwise.
Results are given as a standardised score, and Slough Consortium scores aren't shared with any other schools. Quest Assessments doesn't answer enquiries from parents: questions about registration, results, venues and special arrangements go to the school your child is applying to.
The official familiarisation materials for the Slough Consortium 11+ assessment are on the Quest Assessments parent guidance page. Read our guide to the Quest Admissions exam for what the test looks like and how it's marked.
The table below shows what each paper covers.
