Miss the registration window and no score can save you. Here's when registration opens, when the test sits, and when results arrive in every major 11+ region — with the one deadline every family shares: 31 October.
Whatever your region, the rhythm is the same: register in early summer of Year 5, sit the test in September of Year 6, results in October, then submit your Common Application Form (CAF) to the local authority by 31 October. National Offer Day is 1 March. The table below shows how each region fills in that skeleton.
| Region / consortium | Registration window | Test date | Results | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kent (PESE) | Late May – early July (Year 5) | Early September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
| Medway | May – June (Year 5) | September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
| Buckinghamshire | Opt-out system — no registration for Bucks pupils; out-of-county register by June | Mid-September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
| Essex (CSSE) | May – mid-July (Year 5) | Second half of September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
| Birmingham consortium | May – end of June (Year 5) | Mid-September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
| Sutton (SET) | May – early August (Year 5) | First stage mid-September; second stage October | After stage 2 | Read guide → |
| Trafford | May – June (Year 5) | Early September – October (varies by school) | October | Read guide → |
| Wirral | May – June (Year 5) | Early September (Year 6) | October | Read guide → |
| Lincolnshire | May – June (Year 5) | September (Year 6) | Early October | Read guide → |
| Slough & Reading | May – June (Year 5) | Mid-September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
| Yorkshire (Ripon, Skipton, Calderdale) | Varies by school — typically May – September | September – October (Year 6) | October | Read guide → |
| Gloucestershire (Pate's) | May – June (Year 5) | Mid-September (Year 6) | Mid-October | Read guide → |
A September Year 6 test means the effective preparation window is Year 5. Most successful families follow this arc: build reading and tables through Year 4, start structured worksheet practice at the start of Year 5, add a weekly timed mock from Easter, and switch to centre-specific papers for the final six weeks. Our year-by-year plan maps the whole journey.
For most regions, registration opens in May of Year 5 and closes between mid-June and mid-July. This is separate from the Common Application Form — you must do both. Registration is usually via the local authority or school website.
Almost all grammar-school 11+ tests are sat in the first three weeks of September of Year 6, roughly a year before the child starts secondary school. Sutton, Tiffin and other super-selectives run a second stage in October.
Most regions release results in mid-October of Year 6 — deliberately before the 31 October secondary application deadline so families can make an informed choice.
The Common Application Form (your ranked list of secondary schools) must be submitted to your local authority by 31 October of Year 6, in every English region. National Offer Day is 1 March.
The single most useful thing you can do with a set of dates is to read them right to left. The 11+ is not one deadline but a chain of them, and each one has a natural lead time attached. If you fix the September test in your mind first and then step backwards, every other date — registration, the last mock, the switch to region-specific papers, even the week you order a new set of worksheets — falls into place without panic. Below is the same universal timeline expressed as a countdown, so you can see exactly how much runway sits behind each milestone.
| When | Milestone | What it really means for you |
|---|---|---|
| ~16 months before (start of Year 5) | Structured practice begins | Establish a routine: short, regular sessions beat marathon weekends. Cover the four skill areas — English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning — in rotation. |
| ~14 months before (summer, Year 5) | Registration window opens | Watch the local authority or school admissions page. Diarise the closing date the moment it is published — this is the one you cannot recover from. |
| ~5 months before (Easter, Year 5) | Add weekly timed papers | Introduce a full timed mock once a week so pace and stamina develop alongside knowledge. |
| ~6 weeks before (late summer) | Switch to region-specific practice | Move to papers that match your target format, whether that is GL-style multiple choice or the CSSE Essex style, and rehearse the exact answer method. |
| The test (first three weeks of September, Year 6) | Test day | Familiar routine, early night, calm morning. The preparation is done; test day is about composure. |
| ~4 weeks after (mid-October) | Results released | Deliberately timed before the application deadline so you can rank schools honestly. |
| 31 October (Year 6) | Common Application Form deadline | Submit your ranked list to the local authority. Non-negotiable, and the same date across England. |
| 1 March (Year 6) | National Offer Day | Secondary school offers are released to families on the same day nationally. |
It is worth being blunt about this: a brilliant score is worthless if the child was never registered to sit the test. Registration and the Common Application Form (CAF) are two separate actions, and families lose places every year by assuming one covers the other. Registration tells the grammar school or consortium that your child intends to sit their assessment; the CAF, submitted to your home local authority by 31 October, is your ranked list of preferred secondary schools. You need both, and they have different owners and different windows.
Registration windows typically open in May of Year 5 and close somewhere between mid-June and mid-July, though a few areas run later. Buckinghamshire is the well-known exception: pupils at Bucks state schools are entered automatically on an opt-out basis, while out-of-county children must actively register. If your child is at a school outside the county where you hope they will sit, always check the out-of-county process early — it usually has an earlier cut-off than you expect.
Because the test lands at the very start of Year 6, the useful preparation window is really the whole of Year 5 plus the preceding summer. That is a generous amount of time — long enough that steady, modest effort works far better than a last-minute sprint. A sensible shape is to build reading habits and number fluency early, layer in structured practice across all four skill areas from the start of Year 5, and only add the pressure of full timed papers once the fundamentals are secure. GL-style papers are tightly timed and sat without a calculator, so rehearsing pace matters as much as content in the final stretch.
Remember that scores are reported as age-adjusted Standard Age Scores, which account for how old a child is within the year group, so a younger child is not disadvantaged simply for being born later. That should take some of the anxiety out of the calendar: the aim is consistent, confident work, not cramming against a mythical fixed pass mark. If you are still deciding which schools to target, browse UK grammar schools to see which regions and formats apply to you, then come back to this page to lock in the dates.
Most families find the start of Year 5 — roughly a year before the test — is the natural moment to begin structured practice. That gives around twelve months of regular, low-pressure work rather than a stressful sprint. Reading and times-tables fluency can begin even earlier, informally, from Year 4.
In most regions a missed registration deadline cannot be recovered, and your child simply will not be able to sit that test — regardless of ability. Registration is separate from the Common Application Form, so diarise the closing date as soon as the admissions page publishes it, and keep your confirmation reference safe.
Yes. Most regions deliberately release results in mid-October, ahead of the 31 October Common Application Form deadline, so families can rank their secondary school preferences with the outcome already known. Exact dates shift by a week or two each year, so always confirm on your local authority's admissions page.