Families targeting Devonport High School for Girls ask the same first question: what exactly should we practise? The honest answer is that good preparation is not generic 11+ cramming, but practice shaped around how this particular school actually selects. Devonport High School for Girls admits through the Plymouth Test, and once you understand what that test does and does not include, the whole preparation plan falls neatly into place. This guide walks through the school, the exact test format, the skills to build, a realistic term-by-term timeline, and how to keep your daughter calm on the day itself.
About Devonport High School for Girls
Devonport High School for Girls is the second of Plymouth's two girls' grammar schools, and one of three selective state schools in the city. Founded in 1911, it is a well-established academy grammar with an academic sixth form open to both girls and boys, and it admits on the strength of the shared Plymouth Test. Selection is competitive, so the aim of preparation is to help a capable child show what she can already do under timed conditions, not to teach anything beyond her age. A calm, well-drilled child working on a familiar format is exactly what this test rewards, which is why so much of what follows is about steady habits rather than last-minute effort.
- Location: Plymouth, Devon
- Intake: Girls (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1911
- Type: Academy Grammar
- Admissions test: Plymouth Test (Quest Assessments) — English comprehension and Maths
You can read the full school profile on Quest Arena, and you should always confirm this year's exact dates and admissions policy on the school's own site: dhsg.co.uk. For a wider view of selective schools across the country, our grammar school directory lists them all alongside the tests they use, so you can see at a glance how Plymouth's approach differs from the GL-heavy systems used elsewhere.
How selection works at Devonport High School for Girls
Admission is decided by the Plymouth Test, which the city's three selective schools share and which is now provided by Quest Assessments. This matters, because Plymouth's test is deliberately narrower than the four-subject GL papers used in many other regions. The Plymouth Test assesses just two subjects: an English comprehension paper and a Maths paper. There is no separate verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning paper, which changes where you should spend your preparation time and means you can safely ignore much of the VR and NVR drilling that dominates advice written for GL counties.
The papers are sat over two Saturdays in September at the start of Year 6 — typically one subject on each Saturday morning — with results issued in time for the national secondary-school application. Because it is a single shared test, one set of results counts towards all three Plymouth selective schools, so your daughter does not sit a separate paper for Devonport Girls. Below is a quick reference for how the format compares with the more common GL model, so you know what to ignore as well as what to practise.
| Feature | Plymouth Test (Devonport Girls) | Typical GL region |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Quest Assessments | GL Assessment |
| Subjects | English comprehension, Maths | English, Maths, VR, NVR |
| Verbal / non-verbal reasoning | Not a separate paper | Usually both |
| When | Two Saturdays in September | September of Year 6 |
| Shared across schools | Yes — all three Plymouth grammars | Varies by area |
Scores are age-standardised in the usual way, meaning a younger, summer-born child's raw mark is adjusted upward so pupils are compared fairly regardless of birth month. Two girls who score the same number of raw marks can therefore end up with different standardised scores simply because one is several months younger. We do not publish a specific pass mark or cut-off, because thresholds are set each year and depend on the whole cohort — always treat the school's own guidance as the authority. What matters for preparation is that the format is stable and focused, and a focused format rewards steady, subject-by-subject practice.
What to practise for this test
Because the Plymouth Test is an English-and-Maths paper, your preparation should concentrate firmly on those two subjects rather than spreading thinly across reasoning types your daughter will never be tested on. Build depth in comprehension and maths, then rehearse both under the clock. Use free Quest Arena resources for each strand:
- English comprehension: read widely every day and practise the "why" and "how do you know" questions — inference, the meaning of words in context, the writer's intent, and picking evidence from the passage. Vocabulary is the single best predictor of comprehension scores, so keep a running list of new words and their meanings.
- Maths: secure times tables to 12×12, then fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio, measures and multi-step word problems drawn from the Key Stage 2 curriculum. Accuracy first, then speed — a right answer reached calmly beats a rushed guess every time.
- Timed technique: both papers reward answering steadily without stalling, so rehearse working at a sensible pace and checking answers when time allows.
Build the foundations with our free worksheet library, which you can use with no account needed, then move to full timed mock papers once individual topics feel comfortable. In the final stretch, switch to centre-specific mocks matched to the Plymouth format so the real paper feels familiar. The revision hub pulls these strands into a single plan, and our exam guides explain comprehension and maths technique step by step.
A realistic preparation timeline
Preparation works best as a gentle build over two or three years, not a panicked sprint. Nothing here requires long hours — short, regular sessions beat occasional marathons every time.
- Year 4: the foundation year. Daily reading for pleasure, tables to 12×12, and mental-arithmetic games. No formal 11+ papers yet — the goal is a confident, curious reader who enjoys number.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15–20 minutes of daily practice with the free worksheets, alternating a comprehension task one day and a maths topic the next.
- Year 5 spring and summer: broaden your maths coverage and lengthen comprehension passages, and start occasional short timed sets. Note the registration window on our key dates page and confirm it on the school's site; registration for September testing typically closes over the summer before Year 6.
- Year 6, September: the two Saturday papers themselves. In the weeks before, sit one full timed mock of each subject, reviewing every error carefully — understanding a mistake is worth more than the score.
- Final few weeks: move to centre-specific papers in the Plymouth format and dial the volume down in the last few days so your daughter arrives fresh rather than frazzled.
On the day and after
By test day the learning is done; the job now is composure. A child who has sat several timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real hall as just one more. Practical calm-under-pressure tips:
- Rehearse the answer sheet in advance, so recording answers and keeping the question number aligned is second nature.
- Teach the "skip and return" habit: if a question is sticky, mark it, move on, and come back — never let one item eat the clock.
- Keep both Saturday mornings ordinary: a good breakfast, an early night before, and a relaxed journey. Avoid last-minute cramming.
- Afterwards, praise the effort rather than dissecting individual answers, and remember results feed into your normal secondary application. If the outcome is not what you hoped, the official site explains any review or appeal route.
Whatever the result, the reading, reasoning and resilience your daughter builds along the way are worth having in their own right, and they carry straight into secondary school regardless of which place she is offered.
Frequently asked questions
Which exam board does Devonport High School for Girls use?
The school admits through the Plymouth Test, which is provided by Quest Assessments and shared by Plymouth's three selective schools. It covers two papers — English comprehension and Maths — with no separate verbal or non-verbal reasoning test.
When is the Plymouth Test sat?
Over two Saturdays in September at the start of Year 6, with results in time for the national secondary-school application. Registration closes earlier, usually over the preceding summer, so check the school's site and our key dates page well ahead.
Do we have to pay for practice?
No. Every worksheet, mock paper and centre-specific mock on Quest Arena is free, and you can practise without creating an account. A free sign-up simply lets you track progress and join the leaderboard.