11+ Access Arrangements: Extra Time and SEN Support

In short

• Access arrangements — including extra time, rest breaks, modified papers and a separate room — are available for 11+ tests where a child has a documented need.
• They are granted by the test administrator (a local authority, consortium or individual school), not by the child's primary school, and each publishes its own process and deadline.
• Applications almost always require evidence of a normal way of working plus professional documentation, so gather school and specialist reports well before the registration window.
• Deadlines for access arrangements usually fall alongside or before test registration in the spring or summer of Year 5 — late requests are frequently refused.
• Extra time is not automatic with a diagnosis: administrators assess the specific impact on test access, and the arrangement granted may differ from what a school provides day to day.

The short answer

Yes, access arrangements exist for the 11+, and a child with a genuine documented need can be granted extra time, supervised rest breaks, a separate or smaller room, modified papers such as enlarged print or coloured overlays, or the use of a reader or scribe where the format allows. What surprises many parents is who decides. Access arrangements for a selective test are granted by whoever administers that test — a local authority, a grammar-school consortium, or an individual school — and not by your child's primary school, whose own arrangements carry weight as evidence but do not transfer automatically. Each administrator publishes its own criteria, its own evidence requirements and its own deadline, and those deadlines usually sit alongside or before the test registration window in the spring or summer of Year 5. Applying late is the most common reason a well-founded request fails.

What arrangements are typically available?

The menu varies by administrator but usually covers a recognisable set. Extra time is the best known, commonly granted as a percentage uplift where a child's processing speed or a specific difficulty demonstrably slows their access to the paper. Supervised rest breaks stop the clock for a defined period, which suits children whose need is about sustained concentration, fatigue or a medical condition rather than raw speed. A separate or smaller room helps children with anxiety, sensory sensitivities or conditions requiring discreet management. Modified papers cover enlarged print, particular fonts, coloured paper or overlays for visual stress. A reader or a scribe is more limited at 11+ than at GCSE, partly because reading is often the very thing being assessed, so administrators tend to be more restrictive here and may offer an alternative. Some administrators also allow specific medical equipment, prompts for children who lose focus, or permission to take medication during the test. The right request is the one matching your child's genuine normal way of working — asking for everything weakens an application rather than strengthening it.

What evidence will we need to provide?

Two strands, and both matter. The first is evidence of your child's normal way of working: documentation from their primary school showing that the requested arrangement is what they routinely receive for internal assessments and classwork. Administrators are looking for an established pattern rather than an arrangement invented for the 11+, so a letter from the SENCo describing current provision carries real weight. The second is professional evidence of the underlying need: an Education, Health and Care Plan where one exists, a specialist assessment from an educational psychologist or a suitably qualified specialist teacher, or medical documentation from a consultant or GP for health-related needs. Reports usually need to be reasonably recent — many administrators specify a window — and to state the functional impact rather than just naming a diagnosis. That last point is the one families most often miss: a report saying a child has dyslexia is less useful than one quantifying how their reading speed or working memory affects timed written work. Gather both strands early, because obtaining a specialist assessment can take months.

When do we need to apply by?

Earlier than most families expect. Access-arrangement deadlines commonly fall at the same time as, or before, the test registration window — which for a September Year 6 test typically means spring or early summer of Year 5. Some administrators require the request at the point of registration; others run a separate application with its own earlier cut-off. Because the evidence often has to be commissioned rather than simply collected, the practical planning point is to start the conversation with your child's school at the beginning of Year 5, not when registration opens. Two dates belong in your diary as soon as they are published: the access-arrangements deadline for each administrator you are applying to, and the test registration deadline itself, which is separate again from the 31 October Common Application Form covered in our registration and deadlines guide. Where a need is identified late — a diagnosis arriving in Year 6, for instance — contact the administrator immediately rather than assuming the door is closed; many have a process for late-arising needs, though it is discretionary.

Will a diagnosis automatically mean extra time?

No, and this is the expectation most worth adjusting early. Administrators assess the functional impact on access to that particular test rather than awarding arrangements on the basis of a label. A child with a dyslexia diagnosis whose reading speed sits within the typical range may not receive extra time; a child without a formal diagnosis but with strong documented evidence of slow processing may. The arrangement granted may also differ from what the primary school provides day to day, because the school is meeting broad classroom needs while the administrator is deciding what is required for fair access to a specific timed paper. It is worth preparing your child gently for this: a request being partly granted or refused is a decision about a test format, not a judgment about them. If a request is refused and you believe the evidence was misread, ask the administrator about its review process — most have one — and check whether a different arrangement, such as rest breaks rather than extra time, would meet the need and be more readily granted.

How should preparation differ for a child with additional needs?

Practise in the conditions your child will actually sit in, whatever those turn out to be. If extra time is granted, mock papers should be timed with that uplift included, because a child who has only ever practised at standard timing will not know how to use the additional minutes and may simply finish early and stop checking. If rest breaks are granted, rehearse taking them, since an unpractised break can break concentration rather than restore it. Beyond format, the general principles hold with more emphasis: shorter sessions, mastery before speed, and an errors log that separates a genuine method gap from a difficulty-related access problem — the two need completely different responses, and conflating them is discouraging for the child. Our weaknesses diagnostic guide covers that classification habit. Be realistic too about whether the 11+ is the right target at all: for some children a strong local comprehensive with excellent SEN provision is a better outcome than a selective place, and that is a legitimate conclusion rather than a failure.

Where can we get help with an application?

Start with your child's school SENCo, who will usually have supported similar applications and can produce the normal-way-of-working evidence that administrators require. The test administrator's own admissions team is the authoritative source for criteria and deadlines, and is generally willing to clarify what evidence they will accept before you commission a report — a phone call there can save considerable expense. Your local authority's SEND information, advice and support service offers free, impartial guidance and can help with wording a request or challenging a refusal. National charities in the relevant condition area often publish practical guidance on evidencing functional impact. Because arrangements and criteria change between years and differ between administrators, treat this article as orientation and confirm every specific requirement against the current published policy of each body your child is applying to.