How to prepare for the Highclare School 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, Highclare School uses its own paper. the working assumption for this guide, not yet verified with the school, is a GL Assessment-style paper covering Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. That means preparation should be balanced across all four areas rather than heavily focused on just one or two.

Because this is an independent school assessment rather than a local-authority grammar test, families should expect the process to sit within the school’s own admissions arrangements. Highclare’s admissions page makes clear that the school welcomes enquiries throughout the year, so it is sensible to ask directly how the current assessment day is organised for your child’s cohort.

The school’s website also says that pupils may be invited for a taster day and that, after registration, children sit an entrance examination. The school then reviews performance and confirms whether a place can be offered. For families aiming at Year 7 entry in 2028, the practical takeaway is simple:

prepare steadily for all four tested subjects;
build confidence with timed work in short sections;
check directly with the school nearer the time for the exact test-day format, arrival arrangements and whether anything else forms part of assessment.

As the school does not appear to publish a detailed public breakdown of timing by section, the safest preparation is to assume standard timed sections and to help your child become comfortable switching quickly between question styles while staying accurate.

Registration and key dates

Highclare School runs its own admissions process. The admissions page invites parents to make direct contact with the school and says enquiries are welcome at any time of year. For an 11+ applicant, that usually means starting with the school’s admissions team, arranging a visit if helpful, and then completing the school’s own registration process when advised.

The website page for joining Highclare explains the broad sequence as registration, an entrance examination, and then an offer letter if the child is successful. It also states that a copy of the child’s birth certificate and the latest school report are requested as part of admission paperwork.

For 2028 entry, Highclare does not appear to publish a public Year 7 registration deadline or exam date on the admissions pages currently available. So parents should not rely on guessed dates. Instead, contact the school early in Year 5 or at the start of Year 6 and ask for the current Year 7 admissions timetable.

What is publicly confirmed now is:

the school says it welcomes admissions enquiries at any time of the year;
the Senior School has an Open Day on 8 October 2026, 4.00pm to 6.00pm;
Highclare Preparatory School St Paul’s has an Open Afternoon on 13 November 2026, 1.30pm to 3.00pm.

For families planning ahead to 2028 entry, that makes open events a useful starting point, but not a substitute for checking the exact admissions calendar for your child’s year group.

If you want a simple next step, use the school’s admissions page first, then keep a note of any dates the school gives you in writing. You can also track updates using /schools/highclare-school and sign up for /school-alerts?school=highclare-school.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

Highclare is an independent, coeducational school, so it does not operate like a state grammar school with a local-authority coordinated 11+ entrance route. ElevenReady’s directory (not yet verified with the school) for this guide states NoCatchment.

There is, however, one important published opportunity for external applicants: the school says the Governors’ Prize is available for one boy or girl currently at any local primary school. This matters for families because it confirms that children do not need to come from a named feeder school to be considered for that award.

The school’s admissions pages emphasise individual contact with families rather than a single published ranking or cut-off system. Highclare does not appear to publish a Year 7 pass mark, minimum standardised score, cut-off score or oversubscription distance. If you need that level of detail, the right approach is to ask the admissions team directly what they share with prospective families for your entry year.

For fees, the school’s published 2026/2027 schedule lists U3–U6 (Years 7–13) at £5,950 per term plus £1,190 VAT, total £7,140 per term. Families considering a 2028 start should remember that fees can change, so use this only as the currently published guide and check the latest schedule when applying.

In practice, the key admissions questions to ask Highclare directly are:

how many Year 7 places are expected for your child’s entry year;
whether all applicants sit the same paper on the same day;
whether interviews, school reports or a taster day form part of the final decision;
whether scholarship or prize assessments are separate from standard Year 7 entry.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For a child sitting in the autumn of Year 6 for 2028 entry, the most effective preparation is calm, consistent and spread over time. There is no need for very long study blocks. Short, regular practice nearly always works better.

January to March of Year 5

Start gently. Aim for 1 to 1.5 hours a week in total across two or three sessions. Focus on building secure core skills: arithmetic fluency, reading comprehension habits, vocabulary growth, and familiarity with verbal and non-verbal reasoning styles.

Maths: times tables, fractions, place value, written methods.
English: reading for meaning, inference, spelling patterns, punctuation.
Reasoning: learn common question types untimed.

April to June of Year 5

Increase to around 1.5 to 2 hours a week. This is a good point to make sure your child has seen all the main question styles in each subject. Keep work mostly untimed, but begin using short timed bursts of five to ten minutes so pace develops naturally.

Keep sessions varied so no one subject is neglected.
Begin an error log: one notebook page for mistakes, corrections and patterns.
Read widely and discuss vocabulary in context.

July to August before Year 6

Summer is the point to become more structured, but still not intense. Around 2 to 3 hours a week is realistic for most children. Use one short mixed paper or one timed section each week, then review it carefully. Accuracy matters more than rushing through lots of papers.

Move from learning question types to applying them under light time pressure.
Practise switching between Maths, English, VR and NVR.
Keep one day each week completely off.

September of Year 6

This is usually the most important month if the exam is in the autumn. Increase to 3 to 4 hours a week, split across manageable sessions. Start doing fuller timed practice. Review should take as long as the paper itself: children improve by understanding mistakes, not just by completing another test.

Use timed sections first, then occasional full mixed practice.
Work on answer-sheet discipline if the school confirms separate recording is used.
Practise calm starts, skipping hard questions and returning sensibly.

Final two weeks

Taper slightly. Do not try to cram. Keep to 2 to 3 hours a week with short, confident sessions. Revisit familiar question types, mental maths, vocabulary and straightforward reasoning drills. Prioritise sleep, routine and confidence.

If your child is also applying elsewhere, make one combined timetable. Because Highclare’s paper covers four standard 11+ areas, balanced preparation often works well across several independent-school applications.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For a GL-style independent school paper, focus on secure Key Stage 2 maths presented in short, timed questions. Children should be able to work accurately without too much written scaffolding. Practise arithmetic fluency, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics, perimeter, area, time, money, data handling and worded problems.

Use short timed drills for number accuracy.
Practise selecting the right method quickly.
Teach your child to underline key information in word problems.
Review errors by topic so weak areas are obvious.

English

English preparation should cover both comprehension and technical accuracy. Build confidence in retrieving information, making inferences, explaining word choices and understanding tone. Alongside this, keep working on grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary.

Read fiction and non-fiction regularly.
Ask short verbal questions about meaning, evidence and author choice.
Revise common spelling rules, punctuation marks and sentence structure.
Keep a vocabulary notebook with new words in context.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning rewards familiarity. Many children improve quickly once they recognise recurring question types. Practise codes, letter sequences, word relationships, vocabulary-based items, hidden words, paired words and logical language patterns.

Learn one question type at a time before mixing them.
Build speed only after methods are secure.
Strengthen vocabulary, because that supports several VR styles.
Encourage neat rough work for sequence and code questions.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning is about spotting visual rules accurately under time pressure. Common practice areas include rotations, reflections, symmetry, shape combinations, odd-one-out, sequences, matrices and tracking changes in shape, shading or position.

Teach your child to look for one change at a time: shape, size, direction, shading, number.
Use the language of transformation clearly: rotate, reflect, enlarge, move.
Practise mentally comparing options before committing to an answer.
Revisit mistakes slowly, because NVR errors are often pattern-reading errors rather than knowledge gaps.

Across all four subjects, a balanced routine matters more than over-practising a favourite area. Highclare’s published structure for this guide points families towards steady preparation across the full range.

Practice papers and mock exams

The best use of practice papers is not to do as many as possible. It is to use a small number well. Start with untimed familiarisation, move to timed sections, then use occasional full papers to build stamina. After every paper, spend time reviewing:

which questions were wrong because of knowledge gaps;
which were wrong because of misreading or rushing;
which took too long and need a better method;
which should have been skipped and returned to later.

For this school, keep practice balanced across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Because the assessment is the school’s own paper in a GL-style format, broad preparation is usually wiser than trying to guess narrow topic patterns.

Use these resources as part of your preparation:

Free Highclare School practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers): /schools/highclare-school-mock-tests
The Highclare School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates): /schools/highclare-school
Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=highclare-school

If you book a mock exam elsewhere, treat it as practice in routine rather than a prediction. A useful mock helps your child experience timing, instructions and concentration in an unfamiliar room. It should leave you with clear next steps, not with unnecessary worry.

A simple pattern that works well is:

learn the question types;
practise them untimed;
introduce short timed sets;
sit an occasional mixed paper;
review thoroughly;
repeat only where the review shows it is needed.

On the day

Keep the morning calm and predictable. Lay out clothes, stationery and any confirmation email the night before. Allow plenty of travel time so your child does not arrive flustered.

Give a normal breakfast, not a special one they are not used to.
Avoid last-minute cramming on difficult topics.
If your child likes a brief warm-up, use five minutes of easy questions only.
Remind them that some questions will feel hard, and that is normal.

The most helpful tactical reminders are simple:

listen carefully to instructions;
keep an eye on time without panicking;
if stuck, move on and come back;
check for misreads, especially in reasoning questions;
stay steady rather than racing.

For parents, the calmest message is usually best: this is a chance to show what they can do, not a test they need to approach fearfully. Independent school assessments often look at the child as a whole over the admissions process, so one difficult question or one shaky section does not define the day.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

Highclare’s admissions page says that after the entrance examination and review process, families may receive an offer letter. As an independent school, the process is different from state secondary allocation on 1 March. If a place is offered, families are usually asked by the school to accept it directly and complete any further paperwork by the deadline given in the offer information.

The school pages currently available do not appear to publish a public results date for Year 7 entrance testing. They also do not appear to set out a public appeals system in the way a state school or admission authority would. If your child is assessed but not offered a place, the practical next step is to ask the admissions team whether there is a waiting list, whether any feedback is available, and whether later entry points are possible.

If you are applying to both independent and state schools, keep the two processes separate in your planning:

Highclare’s offer process is handled by the school;
state school allocations are handled through your local authority’s coordinated admissions system.

That distinction matters because deadlines, deposits and acceptance arrangements may not line up neatly. Read any offer letter carefully and ask the school if anything is unclear.

What has changed recently

Based on the sources reviewed for this guide, the school currently publishes admissions information in a broad, school-run format rather than a highly detailed public 11+ timetable. The clearest recent published updates visible on the school website are the current 2026/2027 senior fees and the listed 2026 open events. We did not find a publicly announced recent change to the Year 7 exam board, catchment rules, published places or entrance-test structure on the school pages reviewed.

If Highclare announces a new testing arrangement, scholarship process or Year 7 admissions timetable for 2028 entry, parents should expect that information to appear first on the school’s admissions or open-events pages. For now, there is no publicly confirmed recent change that parents should build preparation around beyond the currently published admissions information and event listings.

Frequently asked questions

Does Highclare School use the Birmingham grammar school 11+ test?

No. For 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s directory (not yet verified with the school) is that Highclare uses the school’s own paper in a GL-style format across Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is there a catchment area for Highclare School Year 7 entry?

No catchment is confirmed in ElevenReady’s directory (not yet verified with the school). Highclare is an independent school, and the Governors’ Prize is published as open to one boy or girl currently at any local primary school.

When should we contact Highclare about Year 7 entry?

Early is best. The school says it welcomes admissions enquiries at any time of the year, so many families will want to make contact in Year 5 or at the start of Year 6.

Does Highclare publish a pass mark or cut-off score?

We did not find a published pass mark, standardised score threshold or cut-off score on the school pages reviewed. Ask the admissions team directly if you want the most current information they share with families.

What documents might be needed for admission?

The admissions page says a copy of the child’s birth certificate and latest school report are requested as part of admission paperwork.

How much are Highclare senior school fees?

The published 2026/2027 fees for U3 to U6 (Years 7 to 13) are £5,950 per term plus £1,190 VAT, total £7,140 per term. Always check the latest fee schedule for your own entry year.

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Sources

Join Highclare School: School-run admissions process; enquiries welcome at any time of year; admissions sequence includes registration, entrance examination and offer letter; birth certificate and latest school report requested.
Highclare School: School identity and locations; Senior School at 10 Sutton Road, Erdington; open events listed including Senior School Open Day on 8 October 2026 and St Paul’s Open Afternoon on 13 November 2026.
Highclare School Fees: 2026/2027 fees for U3–U6 (Years 7–13): £5,950 per term plus £1,190 VAT, total £7,140 per term.
Scholarships and Bursaries: Governors’ Prize available for one boy or girl currently at any local primary school.

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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.