Kendrick School has its own admissions pattern, and the most effective preparation is the kind that fits exactly how this school selects. This guide walks through the test Kendrick uses, the subjects and skills it rewards, a realistic Year 4 to Year 6 build-up, and the calm, practical routine that helps a girl do herself justice on the day. Everything you need to practise is free on Quest Arena, with no account required to begin.
About Kendrick School
Kendrick is Reading's girls' grammar and the partner school to Reading School, and it sits consistently among the highest-achieving state schools in the country. It is a small, academically selective foundation grammar with a long history, and places are always in high demand — which is exactly why targeted, unhurried preparation matters more than last-minute cramming. Selection is by the school's own admissions test rather than a shared county-wide exam, so your practice should be shaped around that paper rather than a generic checklist.
- Location: Reading, Berkshire
- Intake: Girls
- Founded: 1877
- Type: Foundation Grammar
- Admissions test: Kendrick's own admissions test (GL Assessment)
You can read the full school profile on Quest Arena, and Kendrick appears in our grammar school directory alongside the other selective schools in the Reading and Slough area. Always confirm this year's exact dates, catchment and admissions policy on the official Kendrick School website, which is the authority for anything that can change from year to year.
How selection works at Kendrick School
Kendrick selects using its own admissions test, set with GL Assessment. GL is now the dominant 11+ provider across most of the UK, and for parents it is genuinely good news: GL papers are the most predictable of the boards. The question types are published and stable, the papers are multiple-choice with answers marked on a separate answer sheet, and the timing is tight — roughly a minute a question, no calculator. That predictability means systematic, type-by-type practice translates almost directly into marks.
A GL-style selective test for a school like Kendrick assesses the four familiar skill areas: English (comprehension and technical accuracy), Maths (Key Stage 2 content, worked at speed), Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Verbal reasoning covers around twenty-one named question types — codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter and number series among them. Non-verbal reasoning tests series, matrices, analogies, rotations, reflections and spatial patterns. Because the school runs its own paper, the precise combination and timings can differ from a neighbouring county's test, so treat the official school site as the final word and use Quest Arena to drill the underlying skills. We do not publish invented cut-off scores; grammar schools use age-standardised scores (roughly 69 to 141, with 100 the average), and younger, summer-born girls receive an age adjustment so that the same raw mark can land at a different standardised score depending on birth month.
What to practise for this test
Because Kendrick's paper is GL-based, the winning approach is to make each question type automatic before layering on time pressure. Break preparation into the four strands and rotate through them so no single area is neglected:
- English and comprehension: daily reading of challenging fiction and non-fiction, plus targeted work on inference, vocabulary and grammar. Vocabulary is the single strongest predictor of both comprehension and verbal-reasoning scores.
- Maths: secure number bonds, times tables to 12x12, fractions, percentages and multi-step word problems, all worked at pace.
- Verbal reasoning: drill the named GL question types one at a time until each is quick and reliable.
- Non-verbal reasoning: practise rotations, reflections, matrices and series so spatial patterns become second nature.
Start with our free GL Assessment practice papers, then use the worksheet library to shore up whatever a first timed paper reveals as weakest. When you are ready to sit full papers under exam conditions, move to our free mock papers, and in the final stretch use centre-specific mocks to rehearse the format your daughter will actually meet.
A realistic preparation timeline
Good 11+ preparation is a gentle two-year build, not a sprint. There is no need to invent pressure early; the aim is steady confidence.
- Year 4 into the summer: daily reading for pleasure, tables to 12x12, and plenty of talking about words. No formal papers yet — this stage is about curiosity and fluency.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15 to 20 minutes of daily topic practice using our free worksheets, introducing one verbal and one non-verbal question type at a time.
- Year 5 spring and summer: registration windows for the coming test typically open in the spring, so check the key dates page and, crucially, the school's own website for Kendrick's exact registration deadline and test date. Register on time — a missed deadline cannot be undone.
- Year 6 up to the test: the test itself falls in the autumn of Year 6. Sit one full timed mock paper a week through the summer, review errors far more carefully than scores, then switch to centre-specific papers in the final six weeks.
On the day and after
By test day the real work is done, and your job is simply to help your daughter arrive calm and rested. A settled morning beats a frantic last revision session every time.
- Get a good night's sleep and a proper breakfast; leave early so nobody is rushing.
- Pack the essentials the night before — pencils, eraser, water, and anything the school specifies.
- Remind her of her exam technique: read each question carefully, mark the answer sheet cleanly, and if one question is hard, move on and come back rather than losing minutes.
- Keep your own nerves off her shoulders. A child who has already sat ten mocks at the kitchen table treats the real hall as the eleventh.
Afterwards, resist the urge to quiz her on every answer. Results and any subsequent steps follow the school's published timeline, so watch the official Kendrick School website for those. Whatever the outcome, the reading, reasoning and composure she has built are lasting gains that serve her well at any secondary school.
Frequently asked questions
Which exam board does Kendrick School use?
Kendrick uses its own admissions test set with GL Assessment. That means predictable, published question types and a multiple-choice format — ideal for structured, type-by-type practice.
What subjects are tested?
A GL-based selective test assesses English (comprehension), Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Confirm the exact combination and timings for the current year on the school's official site.
When should we start preparing?
Begin gentle habits — reading and times tables — in Year 4, add structured worksheet practice in Year 5, and move to full timed mocks in the run-up to the autumn Year 6 test. Register during the spring window; never miss the deadline.