How to prepare for the Sir Thomas Rich's School 11+

The exam at a glance

For children applying for Year 7 entry in September 2028, Sir Thomas Rich’s School is part of the Gloucestershire grammar-schools admissions test run for the G7 schools using FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise). The school’s Year 7 admissions page says the seven Gloucestershire grammar schools have appointed FSCE as the new admissions test provider for entry from 2028 onwards.

The test format for 2028 entry is curriculum-based rather than reasoning-based. According to the verified format for this school, children will face Maths, English and Wider Curriculum content, with English including a creative-writing task. There is no Verbal Reasoning or Non-Verbal Reasoning. The wider-curriculum element can draw on Key Stage 2 subjects such as Science, History and Geography.

That matters for preparation. This is not an exam where children gain a big advantage from learning obscure question tricks. Secure Year 5 classroom knowledge, confident arithmetic, careful reading, accurate spelling and punctuation, and real writing practice are far more useful.

Delivery is described as mixed. The school has announced that the test for 2028 entry will be completed in July 2027, which is a change from the old September timing. The school also says familiarisation materials will be available from the end of September, with further details published at the start of the next academic year.

On the day itself, parents should expect a selective-school admissions test designed around Key Stage 2 learning rather than a normal primary-school lesson. The exact running order and session structure for 2028 entry had not been fully published on the pages reviewed, so it is sensible to watch the school’s admissions page and the Gloucestershire grammar-schools information closely as Year 5 progresses.

Registration and key dates

For Sir Thomas Rich’s School, the admissions test is part of the shared Gloucestershire grammar-schools process rather than a school-only exam. The school’s Year 7 admissions page links families to the Gloucestershire grammar-schools registration process and explains that further details for 2028 entry will be released as the new FSCE arrangements are confirmed.

For 2028 entry, not all dates were yet published on the sources reviewed. What has been announced is that the test will be completed in July 2027, moving from the old pattern of a September test in Year 6 to the latter part of the summer term of Year 5.

The school page also gives previous-cycle dates for 2027 entry, which are useful only as a guide to the likely registration window. Those dates were:

• registration opened on 18 May 2026 at noon
• registration closed on 26 June 2026 at noon
• test day was 12 September 2026

Because the test timing changes for 2028 entry, parents should treat those older dates as background only, not as the dates for your child’s cohort.

In practical terms, the safest approach is:

1. check the Sir Thomas Rich’s School admissions page regularly from the start of the 2026/27 academic year;
2. look out for the promised familiarisation materials from the end of September;
3. register as soon as the shared Gloucestershire grammar-schools portal opens for your child’s cohort;
4. keep copies of any confirmation emails and note the Local Authority deadlines for the Common Application Form later on.

If you want a simple place to track updates, see The Sir Thomas Rich's School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) and Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

The school’s admissions policy and Year 7 page should confirm any documents or evidence needed when registration opens. If your child may qualify for widening-access support, the school says information is available on its Widening Access page, so it is worth checking that early rather than close to the deadline.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

Sir Thomas Rich’s School is an academically selective boys’ grammar school in Gloucester. The school states that it has a five-form intake and admits 150 boys to Year 7 each year.

For this school, there is no catchment guarantee in the sense many parents expect. The verified admissions note for this guide is that sitting the test and achieving the qualifying standard does not guarantee a place. The school says an offer depends on factors including how many pupils qualify, their rankings, and how many families place Sir Thomas Rich’s first on the Local Authority Common Application Form.

That means there are two separate stages to keep clear in your mind:

1. Test stage: your child sits the admissions test and seeks to reach the qualifying standard.
2. Allocation stage: if qualified, your child still needs to be high enough in the school’s admissions ranking, and the school must be listed appropriately on the Local Authority form.

The school’s published information also highlights widening-access arrangements for eligible families. If that may apply to your child, read the school’s Widening Access information early and keep an eye out for any deadlines or evidence requirements once the 2028-entry process is fully published.

Competition is significant across the Gloucestershire grammar-school system. The verified figure for the shared test is that around 3,000 children register each year and approximately 2,500 take part. That does not mean all of those children are applying to Sir Thomas Rich’s School specifically, but it does show that families should treat the process as competitive and stay organised.

The school and local authority pages reviewed did not publish a 2028-entry cut-off score, pass mark or rank threshold for Sir Thomas Rich’s School. Parents should be cautious of forum claims here. If the school does not publish a figure, assume it is not confirmed and rely on the school’s admissions page instead.

A month-by-month preparation plan

Because this cohort’s test moves to July of Year 5, preparation needs to start earlier and be steadier than it was under the old September timetable. The aim is not to turn Year 5 into constant exam practice. It is to build strong curriculum knowledge and calm familiarity over time.

September to October of Year 5

Keep it light: around 1 to 2 hours a week in short sessions is usually enough at this stage. Focus on reading comprehension, core number skills, times tables, fractions, and regular spelling review. Start a simple writing habit once a week: a description, diary entry, short story opening or response to a picture.

This is also the right time to check the school page for familiarisation materials and to understand the new FSCE format before doing anything timed.

November to December of Year 5

Move to 2 to 3 hours a week. Continue building Maths fluency and add more multi-step word problems. In English, work on inference, vocabulary in context, punctuation accuracy and paragraphing. For wider curriculum, do not try to teach an entire extra syllabus; instead, make sure your child can read confidently about age-appropriate Science, History and Geography topics and pull out key information.

Writing should become more deliberate: planning, using clear structure, and checking work afterwards.

January of Year 5

By now, you want steady routine rather than intensity. Around 3 hours a week is realistic for many children, split across several short sessions. Begin mixing subjects within one study week so your child practises switching focus. Continue reading high-quality fiction and non-fiction aloud and independently.

February to March of Year 5

This is a good point to introduce gentle timed practice, but only in small chunks. Time one comprehension section, one Maths section or one short writing task rather than whole papers every weekend. The goal is to help your child work accurately under light pressure, not to create fatigue.

Keep up school-led learning. Because FSCE is curriculum-based, ordinary Year 5 classwork matters a great deal.

April to May of Year 5

Increase to around 3 to 4 hours a week if your child is coping well. This is the point to start using fuller mixed practice tasks and occasional paper-like sessions. Review errors carefully: were they caused by weak knowledge, misreading, rushing or poor checking?

For writing, practise responding to a prompt and producing a complete piece within a sensible time limit. Afterwards, edit together for sentence control, punctuation, vocabulary choice and coherence.

June of Year 5

Now shift from content-building to performance habits. Sit some longer timed practice, but leave recovery days in between. Keep sleep, sport and normal family life steady. Last-minute cramming is rarely helpful for a curriculum-based test.

In the final weeks, focus on:

• accurate arithmetic and method marks;
• careful reading of instructions;
• clear, legible handwriting;
• planning before writing;
• checking answers without changing good work unnecessarily.

July of Year 5

In the last few days, taper down. Short reviews are better than heavy sessions. Aim for confidence and freshness, not one more frantic push.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For FSCE-style preparation, focus on secure Key Stage 2 Maths up to the end of Year 5. That means number fluency, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages at an age-appropriate level, measures, time, shape, data and straightforward problem solving. Expect questions that reward understanding of school Maths rather than rehearsed tricks.

Good practice includes:

• daily arithmetic review in short bursts;
• multi-step word problems with careful reading;
• explaining methods out loud;
• checking whether an answer is sensible;
• working neatly so errors are easier to spot.

If your child makes repeated mistakes, go back to the underlying concept rather than doing ten more similar questions at speed.

English

English preparation should cover reading and writing. In reading, prioritise comprehension across both fiction and non-fiction: retrieval, inference, vocabulary in context, author choice and following an argument or explanation. Children should get used to reading a passage carefully, locating evidence and writing concise answers that actually match the question.

For writing, the key point for this school’s format is the creative-writing task. Practise generating ideas from a prompt, planning a beginning-middle-end structure, writing vivid but controlled sentences, and proofreading for punctuation, spelling and tense consistency.

Useful habits include:

• reading widely at home;
• keeping a notebook of strong vocabulary used naturally;
• rewriting weaker sentences more clearly;
• practising paragraphing;
• editing one piece of writing each week.

Children do not need overblown vocabulary or dramatic plots. Examiners usually reward clarity, control and thoughtful detail.

Wider Curriculum

The wider-curriculum element can draw on subjects such as Science, History and Geography. This does not mean revising every primary topic in textbook fashion. A more useful approach is to make sure your child can read and think across the curriculum: understanding an explanation, interpreting information, noticing key facts, and applying common-sense classroom knowledge.

Practical ways to prepare include:

• reading child-friendly non-fiction articles regularly;
• talking about school topics in Science, History and Geography;
• practising short factual summaries;
• interpreting tables, diagrams or short extracts where available;
• building curiosity about how things work and why events happened.

Because no published past papers are available for this format, broad Key Stage 2 mastery is likely to be more valuable than narrow drilling.

Practice papers and mock exams

With a new FSCE format, parents need to use practice papers carefully. The aim is not to hunt for exact replicas of the real paper; it is to build the underlying skills the paper is designed to test.

A sensible approach is:

1. start with untimed work to secure knowledge;
2. move to short timed sections once accuracy is good;
3. use mixed papers later to build stamina;
4. review every mistake in detail;
5. repeat weak areas after a short gap.

For this school, use these resources as part of that process:

• Free Sir Thomas Rich's School practice papers (one per tested subject, with answers)
• The Sir Thomas Rich's School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates)
• Free email alerts for this school's key dates

If you use mocks, treat them as information, not judgement. One lower score often reflects timing, nerves or a bad day rather than true potential. After any mock, ask three questions:

• What does my child know securely?
• What is still weak?
• What one or two changes will we make next?

For writing, a marked piece with thoughtful feedback can be more useful than another generic paper. For wider curriculum, regular reading and discussion may help more than repeated formal testing.

On the day

Keep the day simple and calm. The best preparation in the final 24 hours is sleep, normal meals and a predictable routine.

• Set out everything needed the night before once the school or test organiser has confirmed requirements.
• Allow plenty of travel time so your child does not arrive flustered.
• Give a familiar breakfast and avoid introducing a "special" routine that adds pressure.
• Speak about the exam as a chance to show what they know, not as a life-defining event.
• Remind your child to listen carefully to instructions, read each question fully and keep an eye on time without panicking.

During the paper, the most helpful habits are usually the simplest: start promptly, keep handwriting legible, move on if stuck, and check work carefully if time remains.

After the exam, try not to conduct a full post-mortem in the car. Most children find that stressful and unhelpful. A snack, a bit of reassurance and then moving on is usually best.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

After the test, families normally move through three separate steps: test outcome, school preferences on the Local Authority application, and then National Offer Day allocation. For Sir Thomas Rich’s School, the precise 2028-entry results timeline was not fully published in the sources reviewed, so parents should check the school and Gloucestershire admissions pages for the confirmed schedule for this cohort.

What is already clear from the school’s admissions information is that meeting the qualifying standard is not itself a guarantee of a place. Offers depend on the school’s admissions rules, the number of qualified pupils, rankings, and how families order school preferences on the Local Authority Common Application Form.

That means parents should:

1. read the admissions policy carefully once the current version is published;
2. submit the Local Authority form on time;
3. list schools in your genuine order of preference;
4. keep all emails and letters about test outcomes and applications.

If a place is not offered, the usual next steps are waiting-list and appeal routes. The detailed appeal process is set out through the admissions authority and local authority framework rather than being unique to exam preparation. If you reach that stage, rely on the official appeals guidance for the relevant year rather than old forum advice.

What has changed recently

The main announced change is significant: for 2028 entry, the Gloucestershire G7 schools, including Sir Thomas Rich’s School, have moved to FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise) as the admissions test provider. The school says this applies from 2028 onwards.

The format has also changed. The verified information for this school is that the test is now based on Key Stage 2 Maths and English up to the end of Year 5, including a creative-writing task, plus short wider-curriculum questions. There is no Verbal Reasoning or Non-Verbal Reasoning.

The timing has changed too. The school states that, for 2028 entry, the test will be completed in July 2027, moving away from the previous pattern of a test in September of Year 6 to the latter part of the summer term of Year 5.

No other recent announced change to places or catchment arrangements was confirmed on the pages reviewed beyond the admissions reminders that qualifying in the test does not guarantee an offer and that widening-access information is available from the school.

Frequently asked questions

What exam does Sir Thomas Rich's School use for 2028 entry?

For 2028 entry, Sir Thomas Rich’s School is using the FSCE admissions test as part of the Gloucestershire G7 grammar-schools process.

Does Sir Thomas Rich's School test Verbal Reasoning or Non-Verbal Reasoning?

No. The verified format for 2028 entry is Maths, English and Wider Curriculum, with no Verbal Reasoning or Non-Verbal Reasoning.

When will the 2028-entry test take place?

The school says the test for 2028 entry will be completed in July 2027. The exact date should be checked on the official admissions page once published.

How many Year 7 places does Sir Thomas Rich's School offer?

The school states that it admits 150 boys into Year 7 each year.

If my child passes the test, do they automatically get a place?

No. The school says that achieving the qualifying standard is not a guarantee of a place. Offers also depend on rankings, the number of qualified pupils and preferences on the Local Authority form.

Are there official past papers for the new FSCE test?

Not from the sources reviewed for this guide. For this format, broad Key Stage 2 mastery and regular reading and writing practice are more useful than trying to drill exact paper types.

Sources

• Sir Thomas Rich's School – Year 7 Admissions: FSCE is the new admissions test provider for Gloucestershire grammar schools from 2028 entry; the test for 2028 entry will be completed in July 2027; familiarisation materials will be available from the end of September; further details will be available at the start of the next academic year; the t
• Sir Thomas Rich's School – Home: Sir Thomas Rich’s School is a grammar school in Gloucester.

Preparing for other schools in Gloucestershire

• Al-Ashraf Secondary School for Girls · practice papers
• Cheltenham College · practice papers
• Cheltenham Ladies' College · practice papers
• Dean Close School · practice papers
• How to prepare for the Denmark Road High School 11+ · practice papers
• Edward Jenner 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.