Families targeting Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School ask the same first question: what exactly should we practise? The honest answer is that good preparation fits the way this school selects. Sir Henry Floyd chooses its intake through the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test, sat county-wide in mid-September of Year 6, so your practice plan should mirror that test's subjects, its timing and its qualifying threshold rather than a generic 11+ routine. This guide sets out who the school is, how the Bucks test works, exactly what to drill, and a calm, unhurried timeline to get there.
About Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School
Sir Henry Floyd is Aylesbury's mixed grammar, smaller and more recent than the town's two long-established selective schools. Founded in 1959, it sits within Buckinghamshire's network of 13 state grammars, all of which admit pupils through the same county entrance test. That shared arrangement is genuinely helpful for parents: a child preparing for Sir Henry Floyd is preparing for exactly the same paper as one aiming at any other Bucks grammar, so a single, well-judged plan covers every preference you might list on your application. Being co-educational, the school draws boys and girls from Aylesbury and its surrounding villages, and as a foundation grammar it manages its own admissions within the county framework.
- Location: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
- Intake: Mixed (co-educational)
- Founded: 1959
- Type: Foundation grammar school
- Admissions test: Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test
For the definitive admissions policy, open-day dates and this year's registration deadlines, always check the official school website. You can also read our full school profile, and browse every selective school in the county through the Quest Arena grammar school directory.
How selection works at Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School
Sir Henry Floyd does not set its own paper. Instead it uses the county-wide Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test, administered on a single test day in mid-September of Year 6, before secondary applications are finalised. The test is delivered by GL Assessment in two papers: Paper 1 covers English and Verbal Reasoning, and Paper 2 covers Maths, Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Reasoning. Papers are multiple-choice, tightly timed at roughly a minute a question, and completed with no calculator, with answers marked on a separate sheet. Crucially, results are age-standardised so that summer-born children are not disadvantaged simply for being younger than their autumn-born classmates: the raw score is adjusted for the child's exact age in years and months, so two children who get the same number of questions right can end up with different standardised scores depending on their birth month.
The qualifying score for a Buckinghamshire grammar place is 121 on the standardised scale, where 100 is the county average. Reaching or exceeding 121 means a child has "qualified" for grammar admission, but qualifying is not the same as securing a place: offers still depend on the school's published oversubscription criteria, such as catchment area, sibling links and any priority categories. If a child narrowly misses, Buckinghamshire operates a selection review (appeal) route where parents can submit further evidence for a panel to consider. Because Sir Henry Floyd shares this test with every other Bucks grammar, you can hold it as a genuine preference alongside the two larger Aylesbury schools without changing a thing about how your child prepares. The subject content of the test has stayed stable across recent years, which means practice done well in Year 5 carries directly through to the September sitting.
What to practise for this test
Because the Bucks test rewards broad, transferable skill rather than memorised tricks, spread practice across all four assessed areas and mix them within a single session so your child learns to switch quickly between question styles.
- English: comprehension of a passage, spelling, punctuation and grammar. Wide daily reading is the foundation, because pupils who read confidently answer comprehension questions faster and more accurately.
- Verbal Reasoning: codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites. Vocabulary is the single strongest predictor here, so reading matters as much as drilling. Practise with our free worksheet library and timed GL-style reasoning papers.
- Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, rotations, reflections and folding of shapes and cube nets. These sit outside the national curriculum, so familiarity with the question types is what builds the speed and confidence that carry marks.
- Maths: KS2 arithmetic, fractions, percentages, ratio and problem-solving up to roughly the Year 5 curriculum ceiling. Secure times tables to 12x12 and fast mental methods remove the biggest single source of lost marks.
Start with a first timed mock paper to expose the weakest area, then target it with worksheets before returning to full papers again. The aim is not to grind through every sheet on the site but to find the two or three question types that consistently cost marks and turn them into strengths.
A realistic preparation timeline
The best Bucks preparation is slow and steady rather than an intense final sprint. Younger children benefit far more from a strong foundation than from early exam pressure, so build gradually.
- Year 4: daily reading for pleasure and times tables to 12x12. No formal papers yet; the aim is a strong, unpressured foundation and a genuine love of books.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15-20 minutes of daily topic practice using our free worksheets, working on one skill at a time so nothing feels overwhelming.
- Year 5 spring and summer: introduce reasoning question types and a weekly short timed section. Check the Quest Arena key dates page and the school's site for the registration window, which typically opens in the spring or summer of Year 5, a full year before the test.
- Year 6, first weeks (test in mid-September): full timed mocks in the Bucks format. Review errors far more carefully than scores, and finish with centre-specific mocks matched to Buckinghamshire.
Keep the intensity honest to your own child. Some are ready for full timed papers by the summer of Year 5; others need the reasoning types introduced more gently. What matters is that by the time the September test arrives, sitting a paper against the clock feels familiar rather than frightening.
On the day and after
By test day the goal is composure, not cramming. A child who has sat several timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real exam hall as simply the next one in the series. Practical steps help most: a good night's sleep, a proper breakfast, arriving with time to spare, and a clear reminder to move on from any hard question rather than lose two minutes on it. On a multiple-choice paper, giving a sensible answer to every question is always worth it, since there is no penalty for a wrong guess. Afterwards, resist post-mortems and let your child switch off; results and any selection-review deadlines will follow the county timetable, which you can confirm on the school's website and through Buckinghamshire admissions.
Frequently asked questions
What test does Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School use?
The county-wide Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test, delivered by GL Assessment. Paper 1 covers English and Verbal Reasoning, and Paper 2 covers Maths, Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning, sat in mid-September of Year 6.
What score do I need to pass in Buckinghamshire?
The qualifying standardised score is 121, with 100 as the county average. Qualifying makes a child eligible; a place then depends on the school's oversubscription criteria such as catchment.
Is the Bucks test the same for every grammar in the county?
Yes. All 13 Buckinghamshire state grammars, including Sir Henry Floyd, admit through the same test, so one preparation plan covers any Bucks grammar you name as a preference.