The Warwickshire grammar schools
Warwickshire County Council lists six selective grammar schools, all allocating places on the results of the same 11+ test.
King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon (boys, with a co-educational sixth form)
Stratford Girls' Grammar School, Stratford-upon-Avon (girls)
Alcester Grammar School, Alcester (boys and girls)
Lawrence Sheriff School, Rugby (boys)
Rugby High School, Rugby (girls)
Ashlawn School, Rugby (boys and girls)
Ashlawn is a bi-lateral school rather than a fully selective one: it operates one selective class alongside its non-selective intake, following a slightly different curriculum in Years 7 and 8.
Each school sets its own admission arrangements on top of the shared test, typically a priority area measured from a fixed point plus distance as a tiebreaker.
The test
Warwickshire does not run a test of its own. Its schools sit the West Midlands Grammar Schools Entrance Test, provided by GL Assessment and shared with the grammar schools in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Shropshire. The same papers are used across all five areas, and a candidate can ask for their result to be shared between them.
The format for the September 2026 sitting:
Two papers, each around 50 to 60 minutes including instructions and example questions
Each paper divided into shorter, individually timed sections
Sections covering English comprehension, verbal reasoning, mathematics, and non-verbal or spatial reasoning
Every question multiple choice, answered on a separate machine-read answer sheet
No written or extended-answer component at all
Instructions, examples and timings delivered by audio recording
The West Midlands partnership publishes the weighting it applies: 50% English and verbal reasoning combined, 25% non-verbal reasoning, and 25% mathematics. Raw marks are standardised for age before weighting. Note that the Warwickshire schools' own admission policies reserve the right to weight differently from the Birmingham schools, which is why a child whose result is shared across both areas can receive two letters showing two different totals.
Dates for September 2027 entry
Registration ran from 7 May 2026 to 30 June 2026 through Warwickshire's parent portal. The test was scheduled for 12 and 13 September 2026, with each candidate allocated one session. Results go to parents from 16 October 2026, ahead of the 31 October 2026 deadline for the secondary school application itself. Registering for the test and applying for a school place are two separate steps.
Which route you register through depends on where you live rather than which schools you want. Warwickshire residents register with Warwickshire Admissions by the 30 June deadline. Families living in Birmingham register with The Grammar Schools in Birmingham instead, and that route closed earlier, at 4pm on 26 June 2026.
Qualifying scores
There is no fixed pass mark. Each school's Automatic Qualifying Score is set after the test by a Committee of Reference, using that year's results against that school's admission number, so it moves from year to year. Schools publish the previous year's scores for comparison only. Any specific score quoted as a target elsewhere is a historic figure, not a threshold you can prepare against.
How tutoring usually focuses
Verbal reasoning and English
Weighted together at half the total, so this is where most preparation time goes. Comprehension passages sit alongside verbal reasoning question types that are not taught in primary school. Wider reading helps with both.
Non-verbal and spatial reasoning
A quarter of the weighting, and unfamiliar to most Year 5 pupils. Tutors work through the recurring GL question types until pattern recognition becomes quick.
Maths
A quarter of the weighting. Key Stage 2 content, but the individually timed sections put it under real pace pressure, so fluency in arithmetic, fractions, ratio and multi-step word problems matters more than reaching for harder topics.
Answer-sheet technique
Because the answer sheet is separate and machine-read, and because no section can be revisited once its time is called, a fair amount of preparation goes into the mechanics: transferring answers correctly, keeping pace, and moving on. Familiarisation materials showing the booklet and answer-sheet layout are published by Warwickshire Admissions and by the West Midlands partnership.
Choosing a Warwickshire 11+ tutor
Look for a tutor who works to the actual weighting rather than splitting time evenly across four subjects. Both in-person and online tutoring work here; in-person availability clusters around Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Leamington Spa and Rugby, while online opens up tutors outside the county. Ask how they handle timed multiple-choice sections and the separate answer sheet, since that is a distinct skill from the underlying content.
Warwickshire and Birmingham use the same paper over the same weekend, and every child is allocated a single session, so nobody can sit it in both areas. Birmingham tests on 12 September 2026; Warwickshire uses 12 and 13 September. If you are considering schools in both areas, register once and use the score-sharing option.