How to prepare for The Gregg School 11+ exam

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

The Gregg School is an independent co-educational senior school in Southampton for children aged 11–16. For 2028 entry, our working assumption, not yet verified with the school, is that the school uses its own 11+ paper, with a GL Assessment-style format covering Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. For families, that means balanced preparation across all four areas rather than focusing heavily on just one.

The school’s website makes clear that admission to Year 7 involves an entrance assessment as part of the admissions process. However, from the publicly available information we found, the school does not publish a detailed paper-by-paper timetable, exact section lengths or whether the test is sat on paper or on screen. Parents should therefore treat the published process as an assessment-based entry route and check the school’s admissions page directly for the latest arrangements.

In practical terms, children preparing for The Gregg School should be ready for:

Maths: secure Key Stage 2 arithmetic and problem solving under time pressure.
English: reading comprehension, vocabulary and writing accuracy.
Verbal Reasoning: word-based logic, codes, sequences and relationships.
Non-Verbal Reasoning: pattern recognition, shapes, rotations and visual sequences.

Because the format is described by ElevenReady as standard timed sections, the sensible approach is to build calm familiarity with short, timed practice in every subject. Children do not need endless hours; they do need steady exposure, careful review of mistakes and confidence in switching between question styles.

The school also promotes opportunities for families to visit, including open events and a Year 6 Activities Morning. These can be useful because they help a child connect the test with a real school environment, which often reduces nerves and makes preparation feel more purposeful.

Registration and key dates

The Gregg School handles admissions directly through the school rather than through a local authority grammar-school testing system. The admissions section on the school website says families should contact the Registrar and complete the school’s admissions process, which includes registration and an entrance assessment.

For 2028 entry, we could not find a publicly published 11+ registration opening date, entrance-test deadline or exact test date on the school’s website. The homepage and admissions information promote visits and enquiry routes, but do not give a full published calendar for the Year 7 assessment round. So the safest advice is:

make contact with the school during Year 5;
book an open event if available;
ask the Registrar when registration opens for your child’s cohort;
request written confirmation of the assessment date, any documents required and when decisions are expected.

Because this is an independent-school process, families should not assume the timetable will match grammar-school consortium dates. In many independent schools, registrations and assessments happen over several months, but for The Gregg School you should rely only on dates the school gives you directly.

What to prepare when registering:

your child’s basic details and current school information;
parent contact details;
any school forms requested by the Registrar;
if asked, copies of recent school reports or supporting information.

If exact 2028 entry dates are not yet published when you are reading this, set a reminder to check the school site regularly and sign up for alerts here: Free email alerts for this school's key dates.

You can also bookmark The The Gregg School 11+ guide (format, catchment, dates) for updates when the school publishes more detail.

Who can apply: catchment and admissions

The Gregg School is an independent school, so its admissions process is different from state grammar-school systems with published catchment maps and local-authority allocation rules. From the sources reviewed, we did not find a published catchment area, distance priority rule or feeder-school rule for Year 7 entry.

What the school does publish is the broad admissions structure: children apply to the school directly, sit an entrance assessment and are considered through the school’s own admissions process.

The school website describes The Gregg School as a co-educational senior school for ages 11–16. It also states that the school was founded in 1901 and has approximately 350 students in the senior school. Those details give families a sense of scale: this is a relatively small senior school, which often matters when thinking about class sizes, pastoral care and how visible each pupil is in school life.

Because we did not find published figures for Year 7 places, oversubscription levels or a ranked order of priority, it would be wrong to guess. If these details are important for your decision-making, ask the school directly:

how many pupils they usually admit into Year 7;
whether there is any priority for siblings;
whether all applicants sit the same assessment;
how soon offers are normally made after testing.

For independent schools, competition can vary from year to year. The most useful parent strategy is to engage early, attend an event if possible and make sure your child is comfortably prepared across all four tested subjects.

A month-by-month preparation plan

For a child starting Year 7 in September 2028, the most likely preparation window is Year 5 into the start of Year 6, working towards an autumn assessment. Since the school does not currently publish the exact test date, this plan assumes an exam in the autumn of Year 6 and works backwards sensibly.

January to March of Year 5

Keep it light and steady: around 1 to 1.5 hours a week in total is enough at this stage. The aim is diagnosis, not pressure.

Check your child’s current level in Maths and English.
Introduce one short Verbal Reasoning session and one short Non-Verbal Reasoning session each week.
Read widely for vocabulary and comprehension.
Focus on neat methods, showing workings and careful checking.

April to June of Year 5

Increase gently to about 2 hours a week. By now, your child should know the main question types, even if speed is still developing.

Build arithmetic fluency: the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages and basic problem solving.
Practise comprehension with inference as well as retrieval.
Teach the standard VR and NVR question families one by one.
Use short timed drills, but keep most work untimed while methods are still being learned.

July to August before Year 6

This is often the most productive period because school pressure is lower. Aim for 2.5 to 3 hours a week, split over several shorter sessions.

Start mixing subjects in one sitting, so your child practises switching focus.
Introduce timed sections rather than full papers at first.
Review mistakes carefully and keep a notebook of patterns: missed keywords, careless arithmetic, rushing, weak vocabulary, difficult NVR rotations.
Do not let preparation become all-consuming; confidence matters more than volume.

September of Year 6

Move to 3 to 4 hours a week if your child is coping well. This is the stage for realistic exam practice.

Use timed papers or paper sections under calm conditions.
Practise answer-sheet discipline if required by the paper format.
Keep one session each week for corrections and reteaching, not just testing.
Maintain schoolwork and sleep routines; tired children rarely perform at their true level.

The final two to three weeks

Refine rather than cram.

Redo familiar question types.
Keep Maths methods clear and tidy.
Practise comprehension and vocabulary little and often.
Use one or two final timed papers, then taper down.
Visit the school if possible, or talk positively about what the day will look like.

A good rule for this school is balance: because all four subjects matter, avoid spending all your time on Maths and English while neglecting reasoning.

Subject by subject: what to practise

Maths

For a GL-style independent-school paper, children should be fluent in the core Key Stage 2 curriculum and able to work accurately under time pressure. Useful areas to cover include number bonds, multiplication tables, the four operations, fractions, decimals, percentages, simple ratio ideas, measures, perimeter, area, data handling and multi-step word problems.

Practise mental arithmetic daily in short bursts.
Teach your child to underline key information in word problems.
Encourage tidy workings so they can check quickly.
Include mixed-topic practice rather than blocks of only one skill.

English

Preparation should cover both reading and writing accuracy. In GL-style English work, children often need strong comprehension, secure spelling and punctuation, and a confident vocabulary.

Use short comprehension passages and discuss why an answer is supported by the text.
Build vocabulary through reading, word lists and conversation.
Revise punctuation, grammar basics and common spelling patterns.
If the school includes a writing element within English, focus on clear structure, accurate sentences and thoughtful vocabulary rather than overblown style.

Verbal Reasoning

Verbal Reasoning rewards familiarity. Many children improve quickly once they learn the main question types and the shortcuts that go with them.

Cover codes, letter sequences, number-letter patterns, related words, hidden words, opposites, analogies and logical word relationships.
Teach one question family at a time before mixing them.
Keep a bank of new vocabulary, because language knowledge helps in several VR types.
Use timed sets only after your child understands the method.

Non-Verbal Reasoning

Non-Verbal Reasoning is usually the least familiar area, so it is worth starting it early. Children need to recognise visual rules quickly and stay calm when shapes look unusual.

Practise sequences, similarities and differences, rotations, reflections, nets, codes and pattern completion.
Teach your child to look for one change at a time: shape, size, shading, position or number.
Use pencil annotations sparingly if allowed, especially for rotations and reflections.
Return to mistakes a day later; NVR improves with repeated pattern recognition.

Across all subjects, the key is not doing the most work, but doing the right work consistently. A child who knows the question types, keeps calm and checks carefully will usually perform much better than a child who has simply rushed through piles of papers.

Practice papers and mock exams

Practice papers are most useful when they are used as a learning tool rather than a score-chasing exercise. For The Gregg School, choose materials that reflect a GL-style mix of Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Start with skills practice, then move to timed sections, then full papers closer to the exam. After each paper, spend at least as long reviewing as you did completing it. Ask:

Which questions were genuinely not understood?
Which were lost through rushing or misreading?
Are there patterns across subjects?
Is timing the issue, or knowledge?

For this school, use these free resources:

If you use a mock exam, treat it as preparation, not judgement. A mock can help with stamina, timings and nerves, but one low score should never be taken as a final prediction. For many children, the biggest value of a mock is simply learning how it feels to keep going when a section seems difficult.

A practical rhythm is:

Learn the method.
Practise short sets.
Do a timed section.
Review errors carefully.
Repeat the weak area a few days later.

That cycle is far more effective than racing through paper after paper.

On the day

The most helpful thing you can give your child on the day is calm routine. If the school provides timings and arrival instructions, follow them closely and avoid adding any last-minute pressure.

Have everything ready the night before: clothes, water, any allowed stationery and travel plan.
Make sure breakfast is familiar rather than special.
Arrive in good time so there is no sense of rushing.
Keep conversation light; avoid quizzing your child on facts in the car.

Useful reminders for your child:

Listen carefully to instructions at the start of each section.
If one question feels hard, move on and come back if there is time.
Do not panic if a section feels quick; it may feel the same for everyone.
Check for skipped lines or misread words.
Focus only on the question in front of you.

For an independent-school assessment, the atmosphere is often more personal than in a large consortium test. That can be reassuring. If your child has visited the school beforehand, remind them that the assessment is simply one part of getting to know whether the school is the right fit.

After the exam: results, allocation and appeals

For The Gregg School, the post-exam process is handled by the school rather than through National Offer Day for state secondary admissions. In general, independent-school admissions follow this pattern:

the child sits the entrance assessment;
the school reviews performance, and sometimes school reports or other admissions information;
offers are made directly by the school;
families accept or decline within the school’s stated timescale.

We did not find a published results date or a detailed public timeline for Year 7 decisions on the school website, so parents should ask the Registrar when results are usually issued for their cohort.

If your child is not offered a place, ask politely whether there is a waiting list and whether any feedback can be given. Independent schools do not run appeals in the same way as state-school admission appeals, so the relevant process is usually the school’s own admissions and waiting-list procedure.

If you are applying to both independent and state schools, keep the two systems clearly separate in your diary. Independent-school deadlines, deposits and acceptance dates may arrive well before state-school allocations.

What has changed recently

From the sources reviewed, we did not find a clearly published announcement in the last two years of a change to The Gregg School’s Year 7 entrance-testing board, catchment, place numbers or admissions policy. The main point for families is that the school’s website promotes open events and enquiry routes, but does not publish a detailed 11+ test calendar on the pages we found.

the information in our directory (not yet verified with the school) for 2028 entry is that preparation should be based on the school’s own paper using a GL Assessment-style mix of Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. If the school publishes a fuller admissions schedule for your child’s cohort, use that as your live reference point.

Frequently asked questions

Does The Gregg School use the local grammar-school 11+ test?

No. The Gregg School is an independent school and runs its own admissions process, including an entrance assessment.

What subjects should my child prepare for?

For 2028 entry, our working assumption, not yet verified with the school, is Maths, English, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning.

Is there a catchment area for The Gregg School?

We did not find a published catchment area or distance rule. Check directly with the school if you want confirmation about any priority criteria.

When is The Gregg School entrance exam?

We could not find a published exam date for the 2028 cohort on the school website. Contact the Registrar and sign up for key-date alerts for the latest information.

How early should we start preparing?

For most children, a gentle start in Year 5 is sensible, with more timed practice in the summer before Year 6 and early autumn.

Does The Gregg School publish pass marks?

We did not find any published pass mark or score threshold. The school does not appear to publish this information publicly on the sources reviewed.

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Sources

The Gregg School website: The Gregg School is a co-educational independent school in Southampton for ages 11-16; the site states it was founded in 1901; the site states there are approximately 350 students in the senior school; the homepage promotes open days and a Year 6 Activities Morning; families can contact the school d

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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.