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Area guide · entry in September 2027The 11+ in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is the one area where most families do not have to register at all — children at state-funded Buckinghamshire primary schools are entered automatically. That is a relief and a trap: it means the decision gets made by default, and the families who do have to act are the ones least likely to realise it.
On this page
Buckinghamshire at a glance
- Secondary Transfer Test 8 and 10 September 2026. Children at Bucks state primaries are registered automatically.
- The score that matters: 121 121 or more makes your child eligible. Results emailed after 4pm on 9 October 2026.
- Apply by 31 October 2026 Name the grammar schools on your application form. Registering for the test is not applying.
- Eligible is not an offer Places depend on each school's oversubscription criteria. Offers on 1 March 2027.
What the test covers
One paper of verbal skills (comprehension, technical English and verbal reasoning) and one of maths and non-verbal skills, including spatial reasoning. All multiple choice.
Good places to start: comprehension, word classes, punctuation, closest meaning, letter codes, compound words, number sequences, long multiplication, fractions of amounts, percentages, ratio and proportion, rotation sequences, figure analogies, odd one out.
For children in Year 5 now · starting secondary school in September 2028
Entry in September 2028: what is published so far
Buckinghamshire has published the shape of the year in months, but not yet the exact dates. Children at Buckinghamshire state primaries will again be registered automatically.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| May to June 2027 | Registration |
| Early September 2027 | Practice test and Secondary Transfer Test |
| Mid-October 2027 | Results |
| 31 October 2027 | Secondary school application deadline |
Only what has been published. From: Buckinghamshire Council — Timeline for 2028 entry.
The calendar
Every date for entry in September 2027, from the published arrangements. Dates that have passed are in grey.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| 1 May 2026 | Registration opened |
| 3pm on Tuesday 2 June 2026 | Registration closed Only for children who were not automatically registered. |
| By 7 August 2026 | Test invitations emailed Venue and time, for children sitting outside their own school. |
| 8 and 10 September 2026 | Secondary Transfer Test A practice test is taken shortly beforehand and is not marked. |
| After 4pm on 9 October 2026 | Results emailed |
| 31 October 2026 | Secondary school application deadline The national deadline. Buckinghamshire's own published timeline gives 31 October for the following round too. |
| 1 March 2027 | Offers made |
Who is registered automatically, and who is not
If your child attends a state-funded Buckinghamshire primary school, they are registered for the Secondary Transfer Test automatically. You do not need to do anything to enter them, and they sit the test in their own school.
If your child attends a Partner school, an independent school, or any school outside Buckinghamshire — and the council is explicit that this includes state-funded schools in Milton Keynes — you have to register them yourself. Those children are invited to sit the test at a grammar school or a central test venue instead.
- Families who move into Buckinghamshire by 18 June 2027 are offered late testing for their child, provided they can produce evidence of the move.
- Automatic registration is not the same as a decision. A child is entered whether or not the family has thought about grammar school, and opting out is a conversation to have with the primary school.
What is in the papers
The test is produced by GL Assessment. There are two papers, both multiple choice, with a short break between them.
One paper covers verbal skills — comprehension, technical English and verbal reasoning. The other covers mathematics and non-verbal skills, including spatial reasoning.
- Each paper
- About 45 minutes of testing, or about 60 minutes including the introduction and the worked examples.
- Practice test
- Two multiple-choice practice papers sat under test conditions, about 40 minutes each. They are not marked and they are not sent home. Their purpose is to teach the format and the separate answer sheet, not to predict anything.
- Where
- Children at Buckinghamshire state primaries and Partner schools sit the test in their own school during the school day. Everyone else is invited to a grammar school or a central venue.
The part most families need
The score that matters is 121
A child needs a standardised score of at least 121 to be eligible for consideration at a Buckinghamshire grammar school. Standardisation adjusts for age, so a child born in August is not measured against a September-born child as though they were the same age.
Eligibility is not an offer. It means the grammar schools you have named can consider your child; whether a place follows depends on each school's oversubscription criteria.
- A child scoring below 121 can still reach a grammar school by three routes: a successful Selection Review, a successful admission appeal, or qualifying under the Pupil Premium arrangements.
- The council publishes the Selection Review process and its deadlines in its grammar schools guide. Those deadlines fall quickly after results, so it is worth knowing the process before results day rather than after it.
Things that catch families out
- Registering for the test is not applying for a school. A grammar school can only consider your child if you have named it on your home authority's common application form by 31 October.
- Automatic registration only covers state-funded Buckinghamshire primaries. Milton Keynes is not included, and that surprises people every year.
- The test is sat at the very start of Year 6, which means the preparation happens in Year 5 and the decision happens earlier still.
- Buckinghamshire Council has not published a results date or a threshold for the 2028 round yet. Anything you read giving exact 2028 dates today is a guess.
Sources
7 official pages, checked 22 September 2026
Admissions rules are set again every year, so check the council's own pages before you rely on a date, and tell us if you find something out of date.
When the Buckinghamshire dates change
An email when a new area guide is written or a new year of papers goes up. A few times a year, no more — and nothing else, ever.
We send a confirmation email first, and the address does nothing until you click the link in it. One click to leave, any time. What we do with it.