How to prepare for the St Mary's School 11+

The exam at a glance

For September 2028 entry to Year 7, St Mary’s School in Gerrards Cross uses its own admissions assessment. The school’s admissions information for Senior School entry explains that girls are invited to an assessment as part of the admissions process, but the school page we found does not set out a full public breakdown of the paper format, exact timing, delivery method or tested subjects for 2028 entry.

That means parents should treat this as a school-set assessment and avoid assuming it follows a standard grammar-school format. The most reliable next step is to check the school’s admissions page directly and ask admissions what the assessment currently includes for Year 7 applicants.

What the day usually looks like at an independent school such as St Mary’s is straightforward: registration, the assessment itself, and then some combination of interview, observation or a school visit depending on the school’s process for that year. However, because St Mary’s does not appear to publish a detailed public timetable for the assessment day on the pages we found, it is best to confirm the exact arrangements with the admissions team once your child is registered.

One important point for 2028 entry is that St Mary’s has announced a move to co-education from September 2027 for Prep School and Year 7, so the 2028 Year 7 intake sits within that newer co-educational admissions context rather than the older girls-only one.

Registration and key dates

St Mary’s appears to run its own admissions process rather than using a local-authority 11+ testing portal. The school’s admissions pages direct families to make contact with the school and arrange a visit or progress an application through the school’s own admissions team.

For 2028 entry, we did not find a published set of confirmed Year 7 registration deadlines, assessment dates or results dates on the pages available at the time of research. Because of that, it would be wrong to give a precise deadline or exam date here.

What you can do now is:

check the school’s admissions page regularly: /schools/st-marys-school
sign up for updates: /school-alerts?school=st-marys-school
contact St Mary’s admissions directly and ask when registration opens for September 2028 Year 7 entry

When you contact the school, ask specifically:

when applications for Year 7 2028 open
whether there is a registration form and registration fee
what documents are needed
when the assessment takes place
whether interviews form part of the process
when offers are issued

Because this is an independent school, the process is separate from Buckinghamshire’s grammar-school secondary transfer testing. Families applying here should follow St Mary’s own timetable for assessment and offers, while also keeping an eye on any other schools they are applying to.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

As an independent school, St Mary’s does not appear on the pages we found to operate a state-school style catchment system in the way Buckinghamshire grammar schools do. We did not find an official published Year 7 catchment map or distance-based priority area for the Senior School admissions process.

We also did not find a publicly stated number of Year 7 places for 2028 entry on the pages reviewed, so we are not going to guess. If place numbers matter to your planning, ask admissions directly how many places are usually available in Year 7 and how oversubscription is handled.

The key admissions point we can verify is the school’s announced move to co-education. The school homepage states that St Mary’s will become co-educational from September 2027 for Prep School and Year 7 and Year 12, with Nursery becoming co-educational from January 2027. For families looking at 2028 entry, that means Year 7 applicants are applying into the new co-educational model.

If you are comparing St Mary’s with selective state schools, remember that independent-school admissions often take a more rounded view of the child. Assessment matters, but schools may also consider interview performance, school reports, references or how well the child seems likely to thrive in the school’s setting. Only the school can confirm exactly which of these are used in a given year.

A month-by-month preparation plan

Because St Mary’s sets its own assessment and does not publicly spell out a full paper specification on the pages we found, the best preparation is broad, calm and rooted in strong Year 5 and early Year 6 skills. Below is a sensible plan working back from an autumn assessment in Year 6.

Time before exam	What to do
January to March of Year 5	Keep preparation light: around 1 to 2 hours a week in short sessions. Focus on reading fluency, secure arithmetic, vocabulary growth, spelling accuracy and clear written expression. If your child enjoys puzzle-style work, add a little reasoning practice, but do not over-specialise yet.
April to June of Year 5	Increase to 2 to 3 hours a week. Start structured practice in comprehension, core maths, problem solving and writing from prompts. Build habits: reading questions carefully, showing method neatly and checking work. If the school later confirms subjects, you can narrow the focus.
Summer holiday before Year 6	Aim for 2 to 4 hours a week, spread across the week. This is a good time to strengthen weaker areas without school-day fatigue. Use one longer session for mixed practice and a few short sessions for fluency: times tables, mental arithmetic, vocabulary and reading. Keep some weeks lighter if your child is tired.
September of Year 6	Move to 3 to 4 hours a week. Begin timed sections only once your child is comfortable with untimed work. Practise working under gentle time pressure, moving on from a difficult question and returning later if needed.
Final 2 to 3 weeks	Do fewer new tasks and more consolidation. Use short mixed papers, error review and confidence-building revision. Keep evenings calm. Sleep, routine and steady confidence matter more than cramming.

If the school confirms an interview, add light preparation from late summer: conversation about hobbies, current reading, school life and why your child is interested in St Mary’s. Keep it natural rather than rehearsed.

Subject by subject: what to practise

St Mary’s does not publicly confirm the exact tested subjects for 2028 entry on the pages we found, so parents should not assume a fixed 11+ subject list. In practice, independent-school Year 7 assessments often draw on some combination of English, mathematics and reasoning, sometimes alongside writing or interview tasks. Until the school confirms otherwise, broad preparation is the safest route.

English

Prioritise reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and clear written answers. Your child should practise retrieving information from a passage, making simple inferences, explaining word choice and writing in full sentences. Regular reading at home is one of the best ways to support this.

For writing, focus on planning briefly, organising ideas clearly and checking accuracy. Independent schools often value thoughtful, well-structured writing more than flashy but rushed work.

Mathematics

Build secure number skills first: place value, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, ratio basics and worded problem solving appropriate for upper Key Stage 2. Encourage neat layout and checking methods. A child who understands core maths deeply will usually cope better with unfamiliar questions than one who has only learned shortcuts.

Reasoning

If the school later confirms verbal, non-verbal or other reasoning elements, add targeted practice. Until then, keep this broad: patterns, sequences, logic, careful reading of instructions and spotting relationships. The main skill is not a particular publisher’s style but staying accurate when a question looks unfamiliar.

Writing and interview readiness

Because many independent schools use a broader admissions process, it is sensible to keep writing and communication skills warm even if they are not labelled as separate test subjects. Short written responses to prompts, discussing a book your child has read and speaking confidently to an adult are all useful forms of preparation.

Once St Mary’s publishes or confirms the current assessment content, adapt practice quickly. Do not let your child spend months on the wrong thing simply because another school uses a different format.

Practice papers and mock exams

When a school sets its own assessment, practice papers should be used to strengthen core skills rather than to mimic an exact unpublished paper. Start with untimed work so your child learns method and accuracy. Move to timed practice only when they can already do the question types with reasonable confidence.

A sensible routine is:

do a short mixed paper or section
mark it carefully
sort mistakes into types: knowledge gap, rushed reading, poor checking, timing or nerves
redo only the mistakes a day or two later
keep a small notebook of recurring errors

For school-specific support, use these ElevenReady resources:

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

If you use mock exams, choose them carefully. A mock is most useful when your child already has some familiarity with the material and needs practice with timing, stamina and staying calm in a formal setting. It is less useful very early on, when a poor score can knock confidence without teaching much.

After any mock or paper, spend more time reviewing than testing. That is where most progress happens.

On the day

Keep the morning simple. Aim for an ordinary breakfast, comfortable uniform or clothes if the school has advised them, and a calm journey with extra time built in. Last-minute drilling rarely helps.

Remind your child of a few practical habits:

listen carefully to the instructions before starting
read each question slowly once before answering
if stuck, stay calm and move on rather than freezing
keep working steadily; one hard question does not mean the whole paper is going badly
check answers if there is time, especially missed words, signs and simple arithmetic slips

For parents, the most helpful tone is matter-of-fact and confident. Try to present the day as a chance to show what your child can do, not as a judgement on their future. Independent-school assessments are only one part of a broader admissions process, and children usually perform best when they feel supported rather than scrutinised.

If an interview is part of the day, encourage your child to speak naturally, make eye contact and ask for a question to be repeated if needed. Schools are not looking for polished speeches from ten- and eleven-year-olds; they want to meet a child who can engage thoughtfully and courteously.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

For St Mary’s, the post-exam process is handled by the school, not by Buckinghamshire Council’s grammar-school allocation system. Independent schools typically review the assessment alongside any other admissions evidence, then issue decisions directly to families.

We did not find a published 2028 results date or offer date on the school pages reviewed, so parents should ask admissions when outcomes are usually sent and whether there is a reply deadline.

If your child is offered a place, check:

the acceptance deadline
any deposit due
whether there are waiting list arrangements
what happens if you are also waiting on state-school allocations

If your child is not offered a place, ask politely whether the school operates a waiting list and whether there is any formal review or appeal route. Independent schools do not use the same statutory appeal system as state schools, so the process can differ from school to school.

If you are applying to both independent and state schools, keep those timelines separate in your diary. Missing a school-specific acceptance deadline can be an expensive mistake.

What has changed recently

The clearest recent change is St Mary’s announced move to co-education. On the school homepage, St Mary’s states that it will become co-educational from January 2027 for Nursery and from September 2027 for Prep School and Years 7 and 12. For families considering 2028 Year 7 entry, this is a significant admissions change because applicants are applying into the new co-educational Year 7 intake.

We did not find any other clearly announced recent public change on the pages reviewed to the Year 7 assessment format, exam board, catchment, place numbers or published key dates. If the school updates those later, parents should rely on the admissions page first.

Frequently asked questions

Is St Mary's School still girls-only for Year 7 entry?

No. The school homepage states that St Mary’s becomes co-educational for Year 7 from September 2027, so 2028 entry falls within the co-educational model.

Does St Mary's use the Buckinghamshire 11+ test?

The school runs its own admissions process. For 2028 entry, ElevenReady’s verified information is that St Mary’s uses its own paper rather than a consortium grammar-school test.

What subjects are in the St Mary's School 11+?

The school pages we found did not publicly confirm the full tested-subject list for 2028 entry. Check the school’s admissions page or contact admissions directly for the current assessment details.

When is the St Mary's School Year 7 exam for 2028 entry?

We did not find a published assessment date for 2028 entry on the pages reviewed. The safest approach is to ask St Mary’s admissions directly and sign up for alerts.

Is there a catchment area for St Mary's School?

We did not find an official published catchment or distance-based priority system on the pages reviewed. As an independent school, it may not use state-school style catchment rules, but parents should confirm this with admissions.

How should my child prepare if the paper format is not published?

Focus on broad Year 5 and early Year 6 skills: reading comprehension, vocabulary, secure maths, problem solving, clear writing and calm timed practice later on. Once the school confirms the current format, narrow your preparation.

📄 Free St Mary's School practice papers Start free and track readiness for St Mary's School 🔔 Email me this school's key dates

Sources

St Mary's School Gerrards Cross homepage: The school is St Mary’s School in Gerrards Cross; the homepage states it will become co-educational from January 2027 for Nursery and from September 2027 for Prep School and Years 7 and 12; the homepage mentions a Sixth Form Open Evening on Tuesday 6 October.

Preparing for other schools in Buckinghamshire

Written by ElevenReady from the school's published information and reviewed by a person before publishing. Last reviewed 20 October 2026. Exam arrangements change. Check the school's admissions page for the current year.