Families targeting Stratford-upon-Avon Girls' Grammar School ask the same first question: what exactly should we practise? The honest answer is that good preparation follows how this school actually selects. Stratford Girls admits on the Warwickshire grammar test, set by GL Assessment, so the smartest plan is to master GL's published question types, build reading and mental-maths fluency early, and rehearse under real time pressure. This guide walks through the test, the subjects to drill, a calm year-by-year timeline, and how our free worksheets and mocks slot into each stage.
About Stratford-upon-Avon Girls' Grammar School
Stratford Girls is the girls' grammar in Stratford-upon-Avon, one of a small cluster of selective state schools in the town and the wider south-Warwickshire area. It is a long-established, academically selective school, and every place is decided by the county's 11-plus test rather than by catchment alone. Because it is a girls' grammar, your daughter will be sitting the same Warwickshire test taken by candidates across the region, then ranked against them.
- Location: Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
- Intake: Girls
- Founded: 1957
- Type: Foundation Grammar
- Admissions test: Warwickshire grammar test (GL Assessment)
For dates, the admissions policy and open events, the school's own site is always the authority: sggs.org.uk. You can also read our full school profile, and see where Stratford Girls sits alongside other selective schools in our grammar school directory.
How selection works at Stratford-upon-Avon Girls' Grammar School
Entry is decided by the Warwickshire Eleven Plus, produced by GL Assessment. GL is now the dominant 11-plus provider across most of England, and Warwickshire is one of the many regions that uses its papers. For parents, that is good news: GL is the most predictable of the boards because its syllabus and question types are published and stable, so structured practice translates directly into marks.
The Warwickshire test assesses the four familiar skill areas — English (comprehension), Maths, Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR). GL papers are almost entirely multiple-choice: children mark answers A–E on a separate answer sheet, work without a calculator, and face tight timing of roughly a minute a question with separately-timed sub-sections. Scores are age-standardised, so a summer-born girl is not penalised for being younger than an autumn-born classmate sitting the same paper. Always confirm the exact papers, weighting and qualifying arrangements for the year your daughter sits against the Warwickshire local authority and the school, because details can change year to year. We do not publish a guaranteed cut-off score for Stratford Girls — any site that claims a fixed pass mark for a specific school is guessing, since thresholds shift with the cohort each year.
What to practise for this test
Because the Warwickshire test is a GL paper, preparation is really about drilling the named GL question types until each one is automatic, then proving that fluency under the clock. Here is what each subject demands and where to practise it free:
- English / comprehension: reading a passage closely and answering inference, vocabulary and grammar questions at speed. Wide reading is the engine here — vocabulary is the single best predictor of both comprehension and verbal-reasoning scores.
- Maths: the KS2 curriculum up to roughly Year 5 — number, fractions, percentages, ratio, measures, shape and simple word problems — answered quickly and without a calculator. Secure times tables to 12×12 are non-negotiable.
- Verbal Reasoning: the classic GL bank of around twenty-one question types — letter codes, letter sequences, hidden words, word analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter, number series and simple logic. Each type has a method; once she knows the method, speed follows.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations, cube nets and spatial reasoning. These sit outside the normal school curriculum, so familiarity is everything.
Start with our free GL Assessment practice papers, then use the worksheet library to strengthen whichever subject a first timed paper exposes as weakest. When she is comfortable with single subjects, move to full-length timed mock papers, and in the final stretch switch to centre-specific mocks matched to the Warwickshire format. No account is needed to practise — everything is free.
A realistic preparation timeline
The children who cope best are not the ones who started earliest with formal papers; they are the ones who built reading and number fluency young and left the timed drilling for later. A sensible build-up looks like this:
- Year 4 into the summer: daily reading for pleasure, tables to 12×12, and lots of talking about words. No formal 11-plus papers yet — this stage is about fluency and love of reading.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice with our free worksheets, introducing one GL question type at a time so nothing feels overwhelming.
- Year 5 spring — register: registration for Warwickshire typically opens in the spring or early summer before the Year 6 test. Check the exact window on our key dates page and, above all, on the school's own site. Missing the deadline is the one avoidable way to lose a place.
- Year 5 summer into Year 6: one full timed mock paper a week. Review the errors far more carefully than the score — every wrong answer is a lesson.
- Final six weeks (test is early in Year 6): switch to centre-specific papers in the Warwickshire format so the real test hall feels like routine.
Selective intakes are decided at the margin by three things: pace (finishing without rushing the last third), vocabulary (built by reading, not cramming), and composure (a child who has sat ten timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real hall as the eleventh).
On the day and after
By test day the preparation is done; your job is to protect her calm. A few practical habits make a real difference:
- The night before: pack early, lay out clothes, and stop all practice by mid-afternoon. A tired brain scores worse than a slightly under-prepared one.
- Timing technique: remind her to answer every question she can quickly, skip anything that stalls her, and come back — GL papers reward pace, and blank answers score nothing.
- Answer sheet care: because GL uses a separate multiple-choice sheet, practise keeping the answer number aligned with the question number. Slipping a row is a costly, avoidable error.
- Afterwards: keep it light. Results timelines and any appeal or review routes are set by the local authority and school — check sggs.org.uk for the specifics, and remember that a qualifying score is a strong step, not a guaranteed place.
Whatever the outcome, the reading, reasoning and resilience she has built are hers to keep.
Frequently asked questions
Which exam board does Stratford Girls use?
The Warwickshire grammar test is set by GL Assessment. It is multiple-choice, sat without a calculator, and age-standardised. GL is the most learnable board because its question types are published, so type-by-type practice pays off directly.
What subjects are tested?
The four standard 11-plus areas: English comprehension, Maths, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Maths and English draw on the KS2 curriculum up to about Year 5; VR and NVR sit outside normal school work, so familiarity with the question types matters most.
When should we start preparing?
Build reading and times-table fluency from Year 4, begin gentle daily question-type practice in Year 5 autumn, and move to weekly full timed mocks from Year 5 summer. Register in the spring window before the Year 6 test — confirm the exact date with the school and the Warwickshire local authority.