Families targeting Carre's Grammar School ask the same first question: what exactly should we practise? The honest answer is that good preparation has to fit how this school actually selects. Carre's is a boys' grammar in Sleaford that takes its intake through the Lincolnshire 11+, sat with GL Assessment. That single fact shapes everything below, from the question types you drill to the week you register. This guide sets out the test, the subjects, a realistic build-up over Years 4 to 6, and how to keep a ten-year-old calm on the day, with free Quest Arena worksheets and mocks matched to every skill named.
About Carre's Grammar School
Carre's was founded in 1604 from a bequest by Robert Carre and remains Sleaford's boys' grammar school today. It is one of fifteen state grammars in Lincolnshire, a quietly large selective system that sits its transfer test in mid-September and works almost entirely through GL Assessment. Selection at Carre's is by the Lincolnshire 11+, so the admissions process is county-run rather than a bespoke paper set by the school itself.
- Location: Sleaford, Lincolnshire
- Intake: Boys (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1604
- Type: Academy grammar
- Admissions test: Lincolnshire 11+ (GL Assessment)
For open days, the current admissions policy and this year's exact deadlines, the school's own site is the authority: see carres.uk. You can also read our full school profile for Carre's alongside the wider UK grammar school directory, which lets you compare it with the other Lincolnshire options.
How selection works at Carre's Grammar School
Carre's uses the Lincolnshire 11+, built by GL Assessment and administered by the local authority. GL is the dominant UK 11+ board in 2026: the old CEM paper test was discontinued around 2023, and Lincolnshire has stayed firmly with GL throughout. That is good news for preparation, because GL is the most learnable of the boards. Its question types are published, stable and repeated year on year, so systematic type-by-type practice pays off directly rather than being a gamble.
GL papers are multiple choice. Children mark answers A to E on a separate answer sheet, work without a calculator, and face tight timing of roughly a minute a question. The Lincolnshire test assesses across the familiar 11+ skill areas: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, and core maths and English/comprehension. Results are reported as a standardised age score, which adjusts every child's raw mark for how old they are in months. A summer-born boy therefore receives a small uplift compared with an autumn-born classmate on the same raw mark, so nobody is penalised simply for being younger in the year group. We deliberately do not quote a cut-off score, because the qualifying mark varies by year and place is also affected by catchment and preference order. Always confirm the current threshold and dates with the local authority and with Carre's directly.
What to practise for this test
Because the Lincolnshire 11+ is a GL paper, the smartest plan is to drill the named question types until each is automatic, then rehearse them under real time pressure. Split the work into four strands:
- Verbal reasoning: GL uses around twenty-one question types, including letter and number sequences, codes, hidden words, compound words, closest-meaning and opposite pairs, analogies, odd-one-out and simple logic. Vocabulary is the single biggest driver of the verbal score, so wide reading feeds this directly.
- Non-verbal reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and cube-net folding. These are pattern-spotting skills that improve fast with focused repetition.
- Maths: the KS2 curriculum up to Year 5 level, tested for speed and accuracy — number, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio, measures and quick mental arithmetic.
- English and comprehension: reading a passage closely and answering inference and vocabulary questions at pace.
Start with our free GL Assessment practice papers, which mirror the multiple-choice format your son will meet. Use the worksheet library to strengthen whichever strand a first timed paper exposes as weakest, then progress to full-length mock papers. In the closing weeks, switch to centre-specific mocks so the timings and answer-sheet layout feel routine. Everything here is free, and no account is needed to begin practising.
A realistic preparation timeline
Preparation for a September test in Year 6 works best as a steady eighteen-month build rather than a last-minute sprint. Avoid over-drilling a young child; the aim is confident, unhurried fluency.
- Year 4: lay foundations, not exam skills. Daily reading of varied books, times tables secure to 12×12, and lots of talk about word meanings. No formal papers yet.
- Year 5 autumn: begin fifteen to twenty minutes of daily topic practice using the free worksheets. Introduce one verbal and one non-verbal type at a time.
- Year 5 spring and summer: broaden coverage of all four strands and start short timed sets so the clock stops feeling threatening. Check registration dates early on our key 11+ dates page and against the school's own calendar, as the Lincolnshire registration window typically closes over the summer before the September test.
- Year 6, September test run-in: one full timed mock paper a week through the summer holiday, reviewing errors far more carefully than raw scores. In the final two to three weeks, move to centre-specific papers in the GL format.
On the day and after
By test day the useful work is done; the job now is to arrive calm. A child who has sat ten timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real hall as simply the eleventh. Keep the night before ordinary — normal bedtime, no cramming — and a good breakfast. Remind him of the GL rhythm he already knows: read each question once, mark the answer sheet carefully, and if a question stalls, move on and return to it rather than burning a minute. Since GL is multiple choice with no penalty for a wrong guess, every question should be answered even if the last few are educated estimates.
Afterwards, resist the urge to interrogate. Praise the effort, not the outcome, and let him decompress. Results in Lincolnshire arrive in the autumn, in time for the secondary application. If the score falls short, remember that passing the test and securing a place are two different things, and that many good routes remain open. Whatever happens, the reading habit, mental-maths speed and composure built along the way are genuine, lasting gains.
Frequently asked questions
Which exam board does Carre's Grammar School use?
Carre's selects through the Lincolnshire 11+, which is set by GL Assessment. It is a multiple-choice test covering verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, maths and English, marked as a standardised age score.
When is the Lincolnshire 11+ sat?
Lincolnshire runs its transfer test in mid-September of Year 6, with registration usually closing over the preceding summer. Always confirm the exact dates on the school website and our key dates page, as they shift slightly each year.
What score does my son need to pass?
We do not quote a fixed pass mark, because the qualifying score varies by year and a place also depends on catchment and preference order. Check the current threshold with the local authority and with Carre's directly.