Sir Thomas Rich's School has its own admissions pattern, and the right preparation follows exactly how this school selects. Because entry runs through the Gloucestershire grammar test, effective preparation means practising the precise skills that test rewards rather than a generic 11-plus syllabus. This guide walks through the school, the test board and format, the subjects to drill, a realistic year-by-year timeline, and how to keep a calm head on test day. Everything you need to practise for it is free on Quest Arena.
About Sir Thomas Rich's School
Sir Thomas Rich's is the second of Gloucester's boys' grammars, founded by the bequest of Sir Thomas Rich in 1666. It remains a strongly academic selective school with a proud, centuries-old heritage, and selection is by the Gloucestershire grammar test taken in mid-September of Year 6. Gloucestershire runs seven state grammars across Cheltenham, Stroud and Gloucester, and Sir Thomas Rich's sits alongside The Crypt School among Gloucester's boys' provision. Here are the key facts at a glance:
- Location: Gloucester, Gloucestershire
- Intake: Boys (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1666
- Type: Academy Grammar
- Admissions test: Gloucestershire grammar test (GL Assessment)
Always confirm the current admissions policy, registration windows and open evenings on the school's own site, which is the authority on dates and eligibility: strs.org.uk. You can also read our full school profile and browse neighbouring selective schools in our grammar school directory.
How selection works at Sir Thomas Rich's School
Admission to Sir Thomas Rich's is decided by the Gloucestershire grammar test, which is set by GL Assessment, currently the dominant 11-plus provider across most of the UK. GL is, in many ways, the most learnable board because its question types are published and stable, and the papers are multiple-choice with answers marked on a separate answer sheet. Questions are tightly timed at roughly a minute each, there is no calculator, and the test is taken in mid-September at the start of Year 6.
The Gloucestershire test assesses the standard family of GL skills: English and comprehension, Maths, Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR). Scores are age-standardised, so a summer-born boy is not disadvantaged against an autumn-born classmate sitting the same paper; the raw mark is converted to a Standard Age Score that adjusts for the child's exact age in months. We do not publish a fixed pass mark, because qualifying scores and the demand for places vary by year and by school, and passing the test is not the same as securing a place. Always treat the school's and the county's published guidance as the final word.
The table below summarises the format so you know exactly what to prepare for:
| Feature | Gloucestershire grammar test |
|---|---|
| Board | GL Assessment |
| Subjects | English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning |
| Answer type | Multiple-choice, separate answer sheet |
| Timing | Tightly timed sub-sections, about a minute per question |
| Scoring | Age-standardised (Standard Age Score) |
| Test month | Mid-September, start of Year 6 |
What to practise for this test
Because GL publishes its question types, systematic type-by-type practice pays off directly. The single most useful thing you can do is drill each named question type until it is automatic, then rehearse under real time pressure. Focus your effort here:
- Verbal Reasoning: the roughly 21 GL question types, including codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter and number series. Vocabulary is the strongest single predictor of VR and comprehension scores, so build a word-a-day habit early.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations, cube nets and spatial reasoning. These sit outside the national curriculum, so they must be practised deliberately.
- Maths: KS2 arithmetic, fractions, percentages, ratio, and multi-step word problems, all at speed and without a calculator. Fluent times tables to 12×12 underpin everything.
- English: comprehension of unseen passages, inference, and a strong working vocabulary.
Start with our free GL Assessment practice papers, then widen and deepen with the free worksheet library for any subject a first timed paper flags as weakest. When your child is ready to sit whole papers under exam conditions, move to our full-length mocks and, in the final stretch, our centre-specific mocks tuned to Gloucestershire's format. No account is needed to start practising.
A realistic preparation timeline
Preparation works best as a slow build over two years rather than a panicked sprint. The aim is quiet, consistent exposure so that by September the test hall feels routine. Here is a sensible shape:
- Year 4 into the summer: daily reading for pleasure, casual vocabulary chat, and times tables to 12×12. No formal papers yet — you are building foundations, not exam stamina.
- Year 5 autumn: introduce 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice with our free worksheets, rotating through Maths, English, VR and NVR so no skill is neglected.
- Year 5 spring — register: registration windows typically open in the spring for a September test, but dates vary, so check our key dates page and, decisively, the school's own site.
- Year 5 summer into Year 6: begin one full timed mock paper a week. Review the errors far more carefully than the score — the mistakes are the lesson.
- Final six weeks before mid-September: switch to centre-specific papers in Gloucestershire's exact format, and taper intensity in the last few days to keep confidence high.
Track progress and keep motivation up with our gamified practice arena and the live leaderboard, which turns timed drilling into something children actually want to return to.
On the day and after
By test day the preparation is done; your job is to protect your son's composure. A child who has sat ten timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real hall as the eleventh, which is exactly the point of all that rehearsal. Keep the practical details simple:
- Have a calm, ordinary evening beforehand and a normal breakfast — nothing new or dramatic.
- Arrive with time to spare so there is no rush, and pack spare pencils and any items the school specifies.
- Remind him of pace: in a multiple-choice paper it is better to move on and come back than to stall on one hard question and lose the last third of the section.
- Encourage sensible guessing where there is no penalty for a wrong answer, rather than leaving blanks.
Afterwards, resist the temptation to interrogate every question. Results and the allocation of places follow the county's timetable, and a qualifying score is a threshold, not a guarantee of a place at a specific school. Whatever the outcome, the reading, reasoning and resilience your child has built are lasting gains. Keep the school's official site handy for results dates and any appeal or waiting-list process.
Frequently asked questions
Which exam board does Sir Thomas Rich's use?
Sir Thomas Rich's selects through the Gloucestershire grammar test, which is set by GL Assessment. That means multiple-choice papers with published, learnable question types — ideal for type-by-type practice.
What subjects are tested?
The Gloucestershire test covers English and comprehension, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. VR and NVR sit outside the normal school curriculum, so they need deliberate practice.
When is the test and how is it scored?
The test is sat in mid-September at the start of Year 6, and scores are age-standardised so younger, summer-born children are not disadvantaged. We do not publish a fixed pass mark; always confirm current thresholds and dates with the school and the local authority.