West Kirby Grammar School 11+ guide

Atom Learning is partnered with West Kirby Grammar School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Thinking about applying to West Kirby Grammar 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 West Kirby Grammar School

• Address: West Kirby Grammar School, Graham Road, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 5DP
• Number of pupils: 1,200+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 180
• 11+ exam: Wirral Admissions Test
• Catchment area: no

Dates for your diary

• Thursday 1st May 2025: registration opens for the Wirral Admissions Test
• Saturday 31st May 2025: registration closes for the Wirral Admissions Test
• Monday 15th September 2025: Wirral Admissions Test
• Tuesday 21st October 2025: parents receive outcome of Wirral Admissions Test
• Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school applications close at 5pm
• Monday 2nd March 2026: secondary school national offers day

About West Kirby Grammar School

West Kirby Grammar School is a girls' grammar school in Wirral. The school is an accredited High Performance Learning World Class School. This follows the belief that academic ability is not fixed, but can improve with the right opportunities and support.

West Kirby Grammar School has an extensive co-curricular and international outreach programme. This includes the Combined Cadet Force, science visits to CERN and NASA, and expeditions to work with children in Inner Mongolia.

How to apply to West Kirby Grammar School

West Kirby Grammar 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.

West Kirby uses the Wirral Admissions Test to assess children for entry. This test is used by the four non-Catholic grammar schools in Wirral. This means that if you are considering any of these schools for your child, they will only have to take the test once.

Registration for the Wirral Admissions Test opens on the Wirral Council website on Thursday 1st May 2025 and closes at midnight on Saturday 31st May 2025. Your child will take the test in September 2025 and you’ll receive their results by Tuesday 21st October.

To apply to West Kirby Grammar 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 Friday 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 West Kirby Grammar School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

West Kirby Grammar School uses the Wirral Admissions Test to assess children’s suitability for entry.

This test consists of two papers, with three different types of questions:

• Verbal reasoning
• Non-verbal reasoning
• Maths

All of the questions in the Wirral Admissions Test are multiple-choice. Your child will have separate answer sheets which they will use to mark their answers. These are marked electronically.

How does place allocation work at West Kirby Grammar School?

Your child’s marks in the Wirral 11 plus are age-standardised to ensure that younger children aren’t disadvantaged. All children’s standardised scores are then placed in rank order from highest to lowest. The Wirral admissions authority sets a required standard based on this ranked list. Children who meet the required standard are eligible for a place at a grammar school in Wirral.

If more eligible children apply to West Kirby Grammar School than the 180 places available, the school uses oversubscription criteria. Places are prioritised for eligible children in this order:

1. Looked after children and previously looked after children
2. Children who have a valid medical or social reason to attend the school
3. Up to 18 places for children who receive free school meals, in rank order of the shortest walking distance to the school
4. Children who have a sibling at the school at the time of admission
5. Children of staff employed by West Kirby Grammar School for at least two years
6. Remaining places are allocated to children based on the shortest walking distance to the school

West Kirby Grammar School does not have a catchment area. However, children who live closest to the school, based on walking distance, are prioritised for places.

How can I help my child prepare for the Wirral Admissions Test?

The Wirral Admissions Test is designed to be challenging. Here are our top tips to help your child prepare for the exam in September 2025.

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

11 plus exams test 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 the Wirral Admissions Test. 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.