West Kirby Grammar School 11+ guide

Applying to West Kirby Grammar School for September 2028? This guide covers the Wirral Admissions Test in September 2027, the qualifying score, how the 180 Year 7 places are allocated and the key dates for September 2028 entry.

West Kirby Grammar School 11+ at a glance

• School type: girls' grammar school
• Location: West Kirby, Wirral
• Admissions contact: office@wkgs.net
• Number of places in Year 7: 180 (2027-entry figure — West Kirby Grammar School confirms each year's admission number in its determined arrangements, published the spring before entry.)
• Qualifying score: No pass mark is published. Children must reach the grammar school standard in the Wirral Admissions Test, using scores adjusted for each child's age.
• 11+ test: Wirral Admissions Test (two multiple-choice papers of about 50 minutes each, sat in the same session)
• Catchment or priority area: no — 60% of remaining places by distance, the rest by score

Source: Wirral Council Admissions policies for Wirral secondary schools 2027-2028 (West Kirby Grammar School); test provider and format: Quest Assessments parent guidance page for the Wirral 11+ assessment. Last checked October 2026.

Key dates for September 2028 entry

Wirral Council has published its timetable for September 2028 entry, shown below. It gives the month of the test, September 2027, rather than the exact day. For 2027 entry, registration opened on Friday 1 May 2026 and closed at 12 noon on Monday 1 June 2026, the test took place on Tuesday 15 September 2026 and results were sent on Wednesday 21 October 2026.

In 2026 the council's timetable gave a 31 May deadline, but registration actually closed at 12 noon on 1 June, so check the exact closing time on Wirral Council's assessment page.

How to apply to West Kirby Grammar School

West Kirby 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 Wirral Admissions Test with Wirral Council, using its online assessment request form, while your child is in Year 5. Wirral Council's timetable shows registration for September 2028 entry opening on 1 May 2027 and closing on 31 May 2027.

Once you have your child's result, you apply by naming West Kirby 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 Wirral Admissions Test is used by the four non-Catholic grammar schools in Wirral: Calday Grange Grammar School, West Kirby Grammar School, Wirral Grammar School for Boys and Wirral Grammar School for Girls. Your child only sits it once to be considered for any of them. West Kirby Grammar School says its 11+ assessments are provided by Quest Assessments. In a joint letter, the Wirral Consortium says that from September 2026 it uses Quest Assessments, one of several companies that set 11+ tests, as the provider of its 11+ assessments, and Wirral Council also names Quest as the provider. The consortium says the overall style and format of the test stayed the same after the change. Quest's parent guidance page calls it the Wirral 11+ Assessment.

There are two papers, sat in the same session with a short supervised break between them. Each paper lasts about 50 minutes, plus time for instructions. Paper 1 covers verbal reasoning, and Paper 2 covers maths and non-verbal reasoning, with no content beyond the Year 5 National Curriculum. The test is paper-based, and all questions are multiple choice, usually with five options (A to E). Answers are marked by machine on an OMR (optical mark recognition) answer sheet: rather than writing an answer, your child draws a horizontal line through the box next to the answer they've chosen. Your child gets a question booklet and a separate answer sheet for each subject, and may also get a reading booklet. Including settling in, instructions and the break, children are usually at the test centre for two to three hours.

Scores are adjusted for each child's exact age. Parents are told which venue their child will attend by the end of August. Quest Assessments doesn't answer enquiries from parents: questions about the assessment, including registration, results, venues and special arrangements, go to the Wirral Consortium at secondaryplaces@wirral.gov.uk. Questions about admissions go to the school you're applying to.

Upton Hall School FCJ and St Anselm's College are Catholic grammar schools that run their own entrance examinations, so they need a separate application.

West Kirby Grammar School is named on the Quest Assessments parent guidance page for the Wirral 11+ assessment, which sets out the test format and links to the official familiarisation materials. 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.

How are places allocated at West Kirby Grammar School?

If more children reach the qualifying standard than there are 180 Year 7 places, West Kirby Grammar School offers places in the order below. This order comes from the school's admissions policy for 2027/28. The school sets its 2028-entry policy separately, and we'll update this table if anything changes.

Category 3 is capped at 18 places. After categories 1 to 5, 60% of the remaining places go by distance and the rest go to the highest-scoring girls.

Does West Kirby Grammar School have a catchment area?

West Kirby Grammar School doesn't have a catchment area. After the priority groups, 60% of the remaining places go by distance, measured from home to the nearest school gate by the shortest road route, or by a footpath the school considers a safe walking route. The rest go by test score, so a high score can secure a place whatever the distance.

For places given by score, the standardised score is your child's two age-adjusted test scores added together. Neither the 2026-2027 policy nor the council's 2027-2028 booklet sets out a separate tie-break.

If you don't live close to the school, it's worth thinking about how your child will get there every day. How long will the journey take? What transport options are available? Will they be travelling independently or with support?

A longer or more complex journey can affect your child's daily routine, including how much time they have for homework, rest and after-school activities. It's a good idea to think about how manageable the school run will be and whether it will work for your family day to day.

How can I help my child prepare for the Wirral 11+ assessment?

The Wirral Consortium publishes official familiarisation materials for the test, and that is where families should start. Atom is not an authorised source for this test and has no access to its content. The guidance below is about building the skills the test draws on.

The curriculum doesn't change

The test draws on the Key Stage 2 curriculum, which is the same material every 11+ test is built from. Atom Home covers that curriculum with over 100,000 teacher-written practice questions across English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, so the work a child does is useful whichever test they end up sitting.

Find the gaps early

Atom's progress insights show which topics and question types a child finds hardest, so revision goes where it's actually needed rather than across everything equally.

Practise the conditions, not the questions

Atom's mock tests are built to give children practice working to time, reading an answer sheet and holding their nerve for a full paper. Each one returns a Standardised Age Score and a breakdown of where accuracy dropped under timed conditions.