How to prepare for the Felixstowe International College 11+

Exam format not yet verified. We have not confirmed this school's exam board or paper format from an official source. Where this guide describes the test, treat it as a working assumption and check the school's admissions page before relying on it.

The exam at a glance

For September 2028 entry into Year 7, our working assumption, not yet verified with the school, is that Felixstowe International College uses the school’s own entrance paper, in a GL Assessment-style format covering Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. That means children should prepare broadly across all four areas rather than leaning too heavily on just English and Maths.

The school’s public admissions information is quite general. Its admissions page describes an application process based on registration and interview for British and overseas applicants, but it does not set out a dated 11+ testing timetable or a detailed entrance-test schedule. In practice, that means parents should treat the school’s website as the first place to check, but be ready to contact the admissions team directly for the precise arrangements for 2028 entry.

Because the paper is described as GL-style, preparation should focus on the kinds of short, timed sections children usually meet in selective entrance testing:

Maths: arithmetic fluency, word problems, number facts and efficient working.
English: comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, grammar and clear written expression.
Verbal Reasoning: pattern-based language tasks, codes, sequences and careful reading of instructions.
Non-Verbal Reasoning: visual patterns, rotations, mirror images and shape-based logic.

The exact delivery method for the test is not confirmed in the school’s public information we found, so it is best to check directly whether the assessment is paper-based, computer-based, sat at the school, or combined with interview activities.

What the day looks like is also not fully published. Based on the school’s admissions page, families should expect the process to involve at least a registration stage and an interview, with testing either before or alongside that process. Until the school publishes a dated Year 7 entrance-testing process, it is safest to prepare your child for a calm, formal school visit with short timed assessment sections and an interview conversation.

Registration and key dates

Felixstowe International College appears to run its own admissions process rather than using a local-authority 11+ test portal. The school’s admissions page says there is a registration form for applicants and sets out separate admissions routes for British and overseas students. It also says applicants may be invited to interview.

For 2028 entry, however, we could not find a published 11+ timeline giving a registration opening date, deadline, entrance-test date or results day. The school’s public admissions information does not currently provide those dated milestones.

So, for now, the most accurate advice is:

Register through the school, not through a grammar-school consortium or local authority 11+ portal.
Check the admissions page regularly for updated entry information: ficedu.org/admissions.
Contact the school directly to ask when Year 7 applications for September 2028 open, whether an assessment day is planned, and what documents are required.

The admissions page indicates that families should expect to complete a school registration form and take part in the school’s admissions process. The page also refers to interview arrangements. Because no dated Year 7 testing calendar is published, parents should avoid assuming that the process follows the same timetable as local grammar schools.

If you want a simple place to track updates, these ElevenReady pages are useful:

For planning purposes only, it is sensible to contact the school during Year 5 and again at the start of Year 6 if no formal timeline has yet appeared. But because the school has not published dated milestones, we are not stating a typical registration month or exam month as fact.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

Felixstowe International College is an independent co-educational school. On its admissions page, the school says it welcomes applications from pupils from a wide range of backgrounds and does not state a geographical catchment area. That is helpful for families because it suggests entry is not tied to a defined catchment boundary in the way many state grammar-school admissions arrangements are.

The school’s website says it was founded in 1996 and is for pupils aged 9 to 19. It also presents admissions information for both British and overseas students, which indicates a broad intake rather than a local-area-only model.

What we could not find in the published admissions information is just as important:

No published Year 7 catchment map.
No published priority areas or postcode rules.
No published number of Year 7 places for 2028 entry.
No published oversubscription criteria in the style used by maintained schools and academies.
No published pass mark, qualifying score or cut-off score.

For independent schools, admissions can be more individual than in state-sector selective systems. That often means decisions are based on a combination of assessment, interview, school reports and whether the school believes it can meet the child’s needs well. The safest next step is to ask the school directly how Year 7 offers are made, whether places are limited in a particular year group, and whether there is any order of priority if more children apply than there are spaces.

If you are comparing this school with state selective options, remember that the process is different: you are dealing with the school’s own admissions route rather than a standardised local-authority allocation framework.

A month-by-month preparation plan

Because the school has not published a dated 11+ testing calendar, the best approach is to work backwards from autumn of Year 6, which is when selective assessments are commonly sat. The plan below keeps preparation steady and manageable for a child aiming for Year 7 entry in September 2028.

January to March of Year 5

Keep things light. Around 1 to 2 hours a week is enough at this stage. Focus on building secure basics:

times tables and number bonds
careful reading habits
vocabulary building through regular reading
short reasoning tasks for enjoyment rather than pressure

This is the right time to spot weak areas early, especially in arithmetic fluency and comprehension.

April to June of Year 5

Increase to about 2 to 3 hours a week. Introduce each subject separately so your child learns the style of questions before they meet mixed papers.

Maths: short problem-solving sets and mental arithmetic.
English: comprehension, grammar review and precise vocabulary work.
Verbal Reasoning: one or two question types at a time.
Non-Verbal Reasoning: pattern recognition and visual logic.

Keep sessions short. Two or three focused blocks each week is usually more effective than one long weekend session.

July to August before Year 6

This is often the most useful stretch for building momentum. Aim for roughly 3 hours a week, but keep some holiday flexibility. By now, your child should be familiar with all four subjects.

Start mixing subjects in the same week.
Use short timed exercises, not full papers every time.
Review mistakes carefully and keep a notebook of recurring errors.
Read widely to strengthen vocabulary and comprehension stamina.

If the school has still not published test details by late summer, contact admissions directly so you are not preparing in the dark.

September of Year 6

Move to around 3 to 4 hours a week. This is the point to begin timed papers in earnest, once your child already understands the question types.

Do one mixed paper or one timed section at a time.
Practise pacing: not getting stuck, marking and moving on, checking if time allows.
Keep one session each week for error correction only.

If the assessment date falls early, scale back new content and focus on accuracy, timing and confidence.

October onwards of Year 6

If the school tests later in the autumn or uses rolling admissions, continue at 2 to 3 hours a week with a maintenance approach:

one timed paper or section
one review session
one lighter skills session

Once an assessment or interview date is confirmed, shift attention to calm routine, sleep, travel planning and confidence rather than squeezing in lots of last-minute work.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For a GL-style school paper, focus on secure Key Stage 2 maths with speed and accuracy. Children should be comfortable with the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, measures, area and perimeter, and multi-step word problems.

Practise mental arithmetic daily in short bursts.
Teach your child to underline key information in word problems.
Encourage neat working so marks are not lost through avoidable slips.
Use timed mini-sections once methods are secure.

The goal is not just getting the right answer, but doing so calmly under time pressure.

English

English preparation should cover both comprehension and technical accuracy. In GL-style assessments, children often need to read carefully, choose evidence from a passage, and handle grammar, punctuation and spelling accurately.

Practise retrieving information quickly from short passages.
Work on inference using simple evidence-based explanations.
Build vocabulary steadily through reading and discussion.
Revise sentence punctuation, verb forms, tenses and common spelling patterns.

If there is any written task as part of the school’s own process, clear structure matters more than fancy vocabulary used badly.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning rewards familiarity. Many children improve significantly once they learn the common task types and the exact instructions attached to each one.

Practise codes, letter sequences, word relationships and structured language puzzles.
Teach your child to identify the rule first before answering quickly.
Keep a list of any question types that repeatedly cause trouble.
Use short timed drills because speed matters once the method is understood.

Strong vocabulary helps here too, especially for synonyms, antonyms and word-pattern tasks.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning is often the most unfamiliar area, so regular exposure helps. Children need to spot visual rules involving shape, size, shading, rotation, reflection and sequence.

Start untimed so your child can talk through the pattern.
Then move to timed sets to improve speed.
Pay special attention to rotations and mirror images, which many pupils confuse at first.
Encourage methodical checking of each option rather than guessing from a quick glance.

Because this is a visual subject, progress often comes from steady, repeated practice rather than long explanations.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used sparingly and reviewed properly. A paper should tell you what to improve next; it should not simply become a score-chasing exercise.

Start with untimed familiarisation so your child learns the question styles.
Move gradually to timed sections.
Keep an error log: rushing, misunderstanding instructions, weak vocabulary, arithmetic slips and so on.
Redo difficult questions a few days later to check that the lesson has stuck.
Avoid doing too many full papers too early; save some for the final run-up.

For this school, use these free ElevenReady resources:

If you decide to book a mock exam elsewhere, treat it as a rehearsal rather than a verdict. It can help with stamina, timing and nerves, but one mock score does not predict a final outcome neatly, especially when a school uses its own admissions process and may also interview applicants.

On the day

If your child is sitting an assessment or attending an interview at Felixstowe International College, aim for a calm, ordinary tone. The practical basics matter more than last-minute cramming.

Check the start time, location and any paperwork the day before.
Allow extra travel time so arrival feels unhurried.
Make sure your child has eaten and is well hydrated.
Bring any items the school has requested, and avoid assuming equipment rules if they have not been stated.

For your child, keep the message simple:

read the instructions carefully
do the easy questions first if allowed by the format
do not panic over one difficult section
keep moving and come back if there is time

If there is an interview, encourage your child to answer naturally and politely rather than trying to sound overly rehearsed. Schools are usually looking for readiness to learn, interest, and the ability to communicate clearly.

The evening before, stop formal preparation early. A short confidence-boosting review is fine; a heavy paper the night before usually is not.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

Because Felixstowe International College is an independent school using its own admissions process, the post-exam route is not the same as the state grammar-school offer system. We did not find a published page giving a fixed results date, national allocation-day link, or a formal appeals timetable for Year 7 entry.

In general, families should expect the process to work more like this:

You register with the school and complete any required forms.
Your child sits any assessment and may attend an interview.
The school then communicates its decision directly to you.
If a place is offered, you may be asked to accept it and complete further admissions paperwork.

If your child is unsuccessful, ask politely whether feedback is available and whether there is a waiting list or any later point in the year when places are reviewed. Independent schools do not necessarily run appeals in the same formal way as local-authority school admissions appeals, so it is important to ask the school about its own review or reconsideration process if needed.

Because the school’s public admissions page is broad rather than date-specific, keep copies of all emails and forms and make sure you understand any acceptance deadlines once an offer is made.

What has changed recently

We found no clearly dated public announcement from the school in the last two years setting out a change to the Year 7 entrance exam format, catchment, places or admissions timeline.

What is visible on the school’s current admissions information is that the published process is framed broadly around registration forms and interviews for British and overseas applicants, rather than a detailed, date-led 11+ admissions schedule. If the school publishes a more specific Year 7 testing process for 2028 entry, that would be worth checking carefully because it may add practical detail that is not currently available online.

Frequently asked questions

Does Felixstowe International College have a catchment area?

We found no published catchment area on the school’s admissions information. The school says it welcomes applicants from a wide range of backgrounds.

What subjects are in the Felixstowe International College 11+?

the working assumption for this guide, not yet verified with the school, is Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning in a GL-style school paper.

When is the Felixstowe International College 11+ exam?

We could not find a published exam date for 2028 entry on the school’s website. Check the school’s admissions page and contact admissions directly for the latest timeline.

How do I register for Year 7 entry?

Registration appears to be through the school rather than a local-authority 11+ portal. The admissions page refers to a registration form and interview-based admissions process.

Does the school publish a pass mark?

We did not find a published pass mark, qualifying score or cut-off score. If you need the latest entry criteria, ask the school directly.

Is there an interview as well as a test?

The school’s admissions page describes interview-based admissions processes for applicants. It is sensible to expect that interview may form part of Year 7 entry, but confirm the exact process with the school.

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Sources

Felixstowe International College Admissions: The school runs its own admissions process; admissions information refers to registration forms and interviews for British and overseas students; no dated 11+ timeline, catchment map, pass mark or Year 7 test schedule is published on the admissions page.
Felixstowe International College website: The school says it was founded in 1996 and is a co-educational school for students aged 9 to 19.

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Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 4 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.