The exam at a glance
For September 2028 entry into Year 7, Ratcliffe College uses its own entrance assessment. The school assesses Maths and English only. Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning are not part of the test, so preparation is best kept focused on secure core skills in those two subjects.
For families, that has one big practical implication: preparation should go deeper rather than wider. In Maths, that usually means fluent arithmetic, clear methods and confidence applying knowledge to unfamiliar problems. In English, it means reading with care, writing accurately and expressing ideas clearly.
Ratcliffe College welcomes applications throughout the year, and its admissions process is run by the school itself rather than by a local authority 11+ system. The school says that entrance assessments for Year 7 usually take place in January or February before the September start date, with offers usually sent within one week.
The school’s admissions page does not give a detailed published breakdown of the test length or exactly how the day is structured for Year 7 applicants. In practice, parents should expect a school-run assessment day or session organised directly by admissions, with instructions confirmed after registration.
- Exam board: Ratcliffe College’s own paper
- Subjects: Maths and English
- Reasoning papers: Not tested
- Who runs the process: Ratcliffe College admissions
- Typical assessment timing: January or February before September entry
- Offer timing: Usually within one week
Because the school does not publish a standardised score, pass mark or cut-off threshold on the admissions page we found, it is best to treat preparation as a case of building strong Year 5 and early Year 6 literacy and numeracy, rather than chasing an assumed target score.
Registration and key dates
Ratcliffe College handles admissions directly. The school’s application process page says families should submit a registration form and pay a registration fee before moving through the admissions process. It also states that applications are welcomed all year round, which is different from grammar-school style 11+ systems with one fixed county deadline.
For Year 7 entry, the school says entrance assessments usually take place in January or February ahead of the September start. It also says offers are usually sent within one week, and are typically sent in January to those joining that September. That gives families a useful broad timetable, even though a full 2028-specific schedule is not yet published.
The same admissions page notes that Open Mornings take place each Autumn and Spring, and that scholarship applications for Year 7 and Year 12 have a deadline at the end of November.
The school’s fees page lists the current registration charges as £125 for day pupils and £150 for boarding pupils per child, with £99 for Nursery applicants. For a Year 7 day applicant, parents should therefore expect the day registration fee unless the school advises otherwise.
What to do in practice:
- Visit the admissions page and complete the school’s registration process.
- Book a visit or Open Morning if you want to see the school before assessing fit.
- Ask admissions what documents they want for your child’s application, as the published page gives the process but not a full public checklist for every age group.
- Ask when the next Year 7 assessment date is being held.
- If applying for a scholarship, check the end-of-November deadline directly with the school.
For updates, parents can also use The Ratcliffe College 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) and Free email alerts for this school's key dates.
Who can apply: catchment and admissions
Ratcliffe College is an independent coeducational school, so there is no state-school catchment system in the grammar-school sense. The school welcomes applications from families across a wide area, and its website says that places are in high demand, so early application is advised.
The school’s website describes Ratcliffe College as covering Nursery, Prep, Senior and Sixth Form, with Senior for ages 11 to 16 and Sixth Form for ages 16 to 18. It also states that international boarding is available from Year 6.
What matters most for Year 7 applicants is therefore not a postcode boundary but the school’s own admissions process: registration, assessment, school fit and the availability of places.
The public admissions pages we found do not publish a Year 7 intake number, oversubscription ranking list, cut-off score or a detailed order of priority in the way many state admissions authorities do. If you need a precise picture of current availability, scholarships, boarding routes or waiting-list practice, ask the admissions team directly.
- Catchment: none published
- Admissions authority: Ratcliffe College
- Age of entry for Senior school: 11+
- Competition: the school says places are in high demand
- Boarding: international boarding available from Year 6
A month-by-month preparation plan
Because Ratcliffe College tests only Maths and English, a calm, consistent plan works better than trying to cram lots of different paper types. For a child aiming for assessment in January or February of Year 6, most families do well by starting gently in Year 5 and increasing structure as autumn turns to winter.
Spring term of Year 5
Keep it light: around 1 to 2 hours a week is usually enough at this stage. Focus on reading every day, quick mental maths, times tables fluency and neat written methods. In English, encourage full-sentence answers about what your child has read. In Maths, notice any weak spots early, especially place value, the four operations and fractions.
Summer term of Year 5
Move to 2 to 3 hours a week. Start doing one short English task and one short Maths task each week. English work should include comprehension, vocabulary and a little writing. Maths should include arithmetic plus worded problems. This is a good point to introduce occasional untimed practice papers so your child gets used to layout and expectations without pressure.
Summer holiday before Year 6
A steady routine helps more than long sessions. Aim for 2 to 3 hours a week, split into short chunks. Keep reading going, revise core Maths facts and complete a small amount of written work each week. If your child has never done formal entrance-style papers before, this is the moment to try a first full paper at home, untimed or only lightly timed.
September of Year 6
Increase to 3 to 4 hours a week. Build a clear weekly structure: one Maths paper or paper section, one English comprehension task, one writing task and one review session. Start timing some work now, but do not make every task a race. Accuracy still matters more than speed in the early autumn.
October of Year 6
Keep to 3 to 4 hours a week. Use results to diagnose patterns. Is your child missing marks through weak vocabulary, careless reading, forgotten methods or rushing? Fix one problem at a time. This is also the month to make sure school application steps, visits and scholarship questions are not left to the last minute.
November of Year 6
Move to 4 hours a week if your child is coping well. Timed papers should now appear regularly, but followed by careful review. For English, spend as much time going through answers as doing the task itself. For Maths, insist on showing workings clearly and checking answers.
December of Year 6
Do not overdo it. Around 3 hours a week is often enough around end-of-term tiredness. Alternate one full paper with lighter consolidation. Focus on confidence, routine and sleep. If the school has confirmed a January assessment date, use the final fortnight to rehearse the pace of the morning rather than trying to teach lots of new content.
January to February of Year 6
In the run-up to the assessment, keep work short and purposeful. One or two final timed papers per subject, plus review, is usually plenty. In the last few days, reduce workload, keep reading, revise key Maths facts and avoid creating anxiety by constantly discussing the test.
Subject by subject: what to practise
Maths
With a school-written Maths paper, the safest preparation is broad confidence in the Key Stage 2 curriculum and strong problem-solving habits. Prioritise the four operations, place value, fractions, decimals, percentages, measures, time, area and perimeter, ratio basics where taught, and multi-step word problems.
Children should practise:
- accurate written methods
- mental arithmetic and number facts
- worded questions that require selecting the right operation
- showing workings clearly
- checking answers for reasonableness
A common weakness in independent school papers is not the calculation itself but misunderstanding the question. Encourage your child to underline key information, decide what is being asked and estimate before solving.
English
For English, prepare across comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation, grammar and writing. The school does not publicly publish a detailed paper specification on its admissions page, so the sensible approach is to build secure all-round English rather than training narrowly for one format.
Children should practise:
- reading passages carefully and answering in full sentences where needed
- retrieval, inference and explaining word choices
- vocabulary building through regular reading
- accurate punctuation and sentence control
- short descriptive and narrative writing under time limits
- planning quickly before writing
In comprehension, train your child to return to the passage and support answers with evidence. In writing, focus on clarity and technical accuracy first, then style. A neat, well-structured answer with sound punctuation usually scores better than ambitious but error-filled writing.
Practice papers and mock exams
Practice papers are most useful when they are used sparingly and reviewed properly. One carefully reviewed paper can teach more than three rushed ones.
A good routine is:
- choose one paper in a single subject
- set realistic conditions
- mark it promptly
- separate errors into knowledge gaps, misunderstanding and rushing
- redo tricky questions a day or two later
Because Ratcliffe College tests only Maths and English, there is no need to spend time on Verbal or Non-Verbal Reasoning materials for this school. Put your effort into stronger comprehension, clearer writing and more secure Maths methods.
Use these resources:
- Free Ratcliffe College practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers): /schools/ratcliffe-college-mock-tests
- The Ratcliffe College 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates): /schools/ratcliffe-college
- Free email alerts for this school's key dates: /school-alerts?school=ratcliffe-college
If you use mocks, treat them as a confidence-building rehearsal, not a verdict. For this kind of school assessment, the most valuable mock experience is often simply learning to pace two academic papers calmly and recover after one hard question.
On the day
Keep the morning straightforward. Lay out clothes, stationery and travel plans the night before. Give your child a familiar breakfast and leave plenty of time so the day does not begin in a rush.
Emotionally, the best message is simple: this is a chance to show what they can do, not a test of their worth. Children usually perform better when they feel steady rather than over-briefed.
- arrive in good time
- bring anything the school has asked for
- avoid last-minute cramming in the car
- remind your child to read carefully and check work
- encourage them to move on if one question feels difficult
For Maths, remind them to show workings and keep an eye on time. For English, encourage neat handwriting, careful reading and leaving a minute or two to check punctuation and spelling if there is writing involved.
Afterwards, try not to do a full post-mortem. A calm drink, a snack and a change of subject are usually more helpful than analysing every answer.
After the exam: results, allocation and appeals
Ratcliffe College’s process is not the same as the state secondary allocation system. The school says that offers are usually sent within one week of the entrance assessment, and are typically sent in January to those joining the following September.
If your child is offered a place, the school will explain the next steps directly. As with most independent schools, that may include an acceptance deadline and deposit arrangements, but parents should check the exact terms given in their offer paperwork.
If your child is not offered a place immediately, ask the admissions team whether a waiting list operates and whether there is any later assessment opportunity. The public admissions page we found does not set out a formal published appeals system in the way maintained schools and academies do. In independent schools, the next step is usually a direct conversation with admissions rather than a statutory school admission appeal.
Where scholarships are relevant, make sure you have checked the school’s separate scholarship process and deadline.
What has changed recently
From the sources reviewed, we did not find a publicly announced recent change in the last two years to Ratcliffe College’s Year 7 entrance subjects, catchment arrangements or admissions structure beyond the school’s published ongoing admissions guidance. Parents should check the school’s admissions page for the latest Year 7 assessment arrangements for their child’s entry year.
Frequently asked questions
Does Ratcliffe College use GL Assessment for 11+ entry?
No. For 2028 entry, Ratcliffe College uses its own entrance assessment rather than a GL paper.
What subjects are tested for Ratcliffe College Year 7 entry?
Maths and English only. Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning are not part of the test.
Is there a catchment area for Ratcliffe College?
No catchment area is published in the state-school sense. It is an independent school and admissions are handled directly by the school.
When is the Ratcliffe College entrance assessment usually held?
The school says Year 7 entrance assessments usually take place in January or February before the September start.
How quickly does Ratcliffe College send offers?
The admissions page says offers are usually sent within one week.
How much is the registration fee?
The published registration fee is £125 per child for day applicants and £150 for boarding applicants. The school also lists £99 for Nursery applications.
Sources
- Ratcliffe College admissions - application process: Applications are welcomed all year round; places are in high demand and early application is advised; Year 7 entrance assessments usually take place in January or February ahead of September entry; offers are usually sent within one week; offers are typically sent in January to those joining that Se
- Ratcliffe College website: Ratcliffe College is an independent coeducational school with Nursery, Prep, Senior and Sixth Form sections.
- Ratcliffe College fees: Registration fee of £99 for Nursery, £125 for day pupils and £150 for boarding pupils per child.
- Ratcliffe College Sixth Form: Sixth Form is for ages 16 to 18.
Preparing for other schools in Leicestershire
- Brooke House College · practice papers
- Brooke House Day School · practice papers
- Dixie Grammar School · practice papers
- Leicester Grammar School Trust · practice papers
- LGS Stoneygate · practice papers
- Loughborough Grammar School · practice papers
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.