If Bourne Grammar School is on your child's list, preparation should be shaped around how this school actually selects — not generic 11+ advice. Bourne is a mixed grammar in south Lincolnshire, and entry runs through the Lincolnshire 11+, a GL Assessment test sat in mid-September of Year 6. Because GL publishes stable, named question types, a focused, type-by-type practice plan genuinely moves the needle here. This guide walks through the school, exactly how selection works, what to practise, a realistic build-up from Year 4, and how to keep a calm head on the day.
About Bourne Grammar School
Bourne Grammar is the mixed grammar serving south Lincolnshire, drawing families from Bourne itself and the surrounding villages and market towns. It is a long-established school with a strong academic reputation, and selection is by the Lincolnshire 11+ rather than any bespoke paper of its own. Lincolnshire is quietly one of the larger selective systems in England, with fifteen state grammars, so the same GL-based test opens doors across the county — but you should always confirm each school's admissions arrangements and catchment rules directly with the school and your local authority.
- Location: Bourne, Lincolnshire (region: south Lincolnshire)
- Intake: Mixed (co-educational)
- Founded: 1636 (on its present South Road site since 1921)
- Type: Academy grammar school
- Admissions test: Lincolnshire 11+ (GL Assessment)
For the definitive admissions policy, registration deadlines, open evenings and any oversubscription criteria, always use the school's own authority: the official Bourne Grammar School website. You can also see our full school profile and browse the wider county in our grammar school directory.
How selection works at Bourne Grammar School
Entry to Bourne Grammar is decided by the Lincolnshire 11+, produced by GL Assessment. GL is now the dominant 11+ provider across most of the UK, and its Lincolnshire papers follow the familiar GL pattern: multiple-choice questions answered on a separate answer sheet, with tightly timed sections and no calculator. Children mark their choices from a set of lettered options, so accurate transfer of answers to the sheet is a skill in itself.
The Lincolnshire test assesses the standard GL skill areas — English and comprehension, Maths, Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR). Verbal and non-verbal reasoning sit outside the normal national curriculum, which is why familiarisation matters so much: bright children can lose marks simply because they have never seen a code question or a cube-net folding puzzle before. The test is sat in mid-September of Year 6, near the start of the autumn term, meaning the real preparation window is Year 5 and the summer holiday before.
Scores are age-standardised. Raw marks are converted onto a standardised scale (average 100, with a spread of roughly 70 to 140), and younger, summer-born children receive an uplift so that a child born in August is not disadvantaged against a classmate born the previous September. Passing the qualifying standard is about clearing the county's threshold; securing a place then depends on the school's oversubscription criteria such as catchment. We do not publish an invented cut-off score for Bourne — thresholds vary year to year, so confirm the current figures with the school directly.
What to practise for this test
Because the Lincolnshire 11+ is a GL paper, the smartest approach is systematic, type-by-type drilling followed by full timed papers. GL question types are published and predictable, so effort converts cleanly into marks. Focus on the four skill areas:
- Verbal Reasoning: GL uses around 21 named question types — codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter, number series and word logic. Vocabulary is the single best predictor of VR and comprehension scores, so pair drills with wide daily reading.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations, cube nets and spatial reasoning. These reward pattern-spotting and calm, methodical checking.
- Maths: KS2 arithmetic, fractions, ratio, measures and word problems — solved quickly and accurately under time pressure. Fluent times tables underpin almost everything.
- English and comprehension: reading a passage closely and answering inference and vocabulary questions at speed.
Start with our free GL Assessment practice papers, then use the free worksheet library to shore up whichever subject a first timed paper exposes as weakest. When your child can handle single question types confidently, move to full-length timed mock papers so pace and answer-sheet accuracy become second nature. Everything on Quest Arena is free, and no account is needed to start practising.
A realistic preparation timeline
You do not need years of tutoring, but you do need a steady build-up. Little and often beats cramming, and reviewing mistakes matters far more than chasing scores.
- Year 4 (and the summer after): lay foundations, not exam pressure. Daily reading for pleasure across fiction and non-fiction, and times tables secure to 12×12. No formal papers yet.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice using the free worksheets, introducing one verbal or non-verbal reasoning type at a time so nothing feels overwhelming.
- Year 5 spring: register when the window opens — Lincolnshire's registration typically runs across the spring and early summer, so check the school's site and our key 11+ dates page and diarise the deadline. Missing registration is the one avoidable way to lose a place.
- Year 5 summer holiday: the crucial stretch before a mid-September test. Sit one full timed mock a week, keep reading daily, and rehearse transferring answers onto a separate sheet.
- Final few weeks before the test: switch to centre-specific mock papers in the format your child will actually face, and taper the volume so they arrive fresh rather than burnt out.
These dates are indicative for the Lincolnshire system; always confirm the exact registration and test dates for your child's year with the school and your local authority.
On the day and after
By September of Year 6 the real work is done, and the job on the day is simply to let your child show what they know calmly. A few practical points:
- The night before: a light review at most, an early night, and everything packed — no last-minute cramming, which only raises anxiety.
- On the morning: a proper breakfast, arrive with time to spare, and keep your own nerves off your child. A child who has sat ten kitchen-table mocks treats the real hall as the eleventh.
- During the test: read instructions carefully, keep an eye on the clock per section, and if a question is baffling, move on and return — never lose easy marks by stalling on a hard one.
- Afterwards: resist a post-mortem. Praise the effort, not a remembered answer. Results in the Lincolnshire system are typically issued in mid-October, in time for the secondary application deadline — so keep the wider application on track whatever the outcome.
Whatever happens, one test on one morning does not define a bright child. Many routes lead to a strong secondary education, and the reading, reasoning and resilience built during preparation are worth having in their own right.
Frequently asked questions
What test does Bourne Grammar School use?
Bourne Grammar admits through the Lincolnshire 11+, a GL Assessment test covering English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. It is multiple-choice, tightly timed, and sat in mid-September of Year 6.
When is the Lincolnshire 11+ and when do I register?
The test is taken in mid-September at the start of Year 6, with registration usually opening in the spring of Year 5. Confirm the exact deadline on the school's official website and note it in our key dates page — missing registration is the most common avoidable mistake.
What score does my child need for Bourne Grammar?
Scores are age-standardised around an average of 100, and the county sets a qualifying standard each year. Exact thresholds and oversubscription rules vary annually, so we never publish an invented figure — check the current criteria with the school directly.