Birmingham 11+: The King Edward VI Consortium Explained
· 10 min read
A parent's guide to the Birmingham 11+ and the King Edward VI grammar consortium — what the test covers, the two-stage process, key dates and how to prepare.
Birmingham's grammar schools and the consortium
Birmingham and the wider West Midlands hold one of the largest concentrations of grammar schools in England, and most of the city's selective places run through a shared entrance test. The King Edward VI Foundation operates several of the best-known grammar schools — including King Edward VI Camp Hill (boys and girls), Five Ways, Handsworth and Aston — and these, together with a number of other Birmingham-area grammar schools, use a common 11+ assessment administered as a consortium. Sitting one test can therefore put your child in the running for multiple schools, which you then rank in order of preference. A point of frequent confusion worth settling early: 'Sutton Coldfield', whose grammar schools sit within this West Midlands landscape, is a district of Birmingham and has nothing to do with the London Borough of Sutton, which runs its own separate super-selective tests. If your child is aiming at Birmingham schools, you are preparing for the West Midlands GL-style consortium test, not the London one. The full set of regions, each with its board and admissions notes, is on the 11+ by area index; the Birmingham region page summarises the local picture.
What does the Birmingham 11+ test?
The consortium uses a GL Assessment-style test covering the four classic 11+ subjects: English, Mathematics, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Papers are predominantly multiple-choice and machine-marked, with raw scores converted to a standardised age score that adjusts for how old each child is within the year group — so a summer-born child is not penalised for being younger than an autumn-born classmate. Because it follows the GL family of formats, the question types are stable year to year and respond well to structured practice, which is good news for organised families. The two subjects parents most often underestimate are the reasoning papers: verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning are not taught in primary school, so a bright child who has never met them can score poorly purely through unfamiliarity. The maths and English papers build on the Key Stage 2 curriculum but test at the upper end of it, often a year or more above standard Year 5 depth. Our exam boards comparison sets out exactly how GL-style papers behave and what that means for preparation.
How does the two-stage process work?
The consortium runs its entrance assessment in September of Year 6, and results are reported as a standardised score that determines whether a child meets each school's qualifying threshold. Families then express preferences for schools, and offers are made through the normal national process on 1 March of Year 6 (National Offer Day), with grammar places allocated to qualifying children according to each school's published admissions criteria — which can include catchment, distance, or simply rank order of score at the most over-subscribed schools. Because precise arrangements, qualifying scores and any school-specific stages change from year to year, you should confirm the current process on the official consortium website and on each target school's own admissions page rather than relying on summaries — including this one. The broad shape, though, is consistent: one test in September, a standardised score, a preference form, and offers on 1 March. Our results day guide walks through what happens in the months between the September test and the March offer.
Key dates for 2027 entry
The Birmingham timetable follows the familiar 11+ rhythm. Registration for the consortium test typically opens in late spring of Year 5 and closes around late June — this is a hard deadline, and missing it generally means no test that cycle, so diarise it early; our 11+ registration and deadlines guide explains the process and the separate school-application deadline. The entrance test itself is sat in September of Year 6. Results follow in October. The secondary-school application via your home local authority's Common Application Form is due by 31 October of Year 6, and offers land on National Offer Day, 1 March. The exact registration window and test date move slightly each year, so treat these as the shape of the calendar and confirm the specifics on the official consortium page by April of Year 5. The practical implication is that meaningful preparation needs to be well underway through Year 5, not started in the summer before the test.
How competitive is it, and what score do you need?
Birmingham's grammar schools are among the most sought-after in the country, and the most popular — Camp Hill and Five Ways in particular — function much like super-selectives, where a qualifying score alone does not guarantee a place and children are effectively ranked. There is no single fixed pass mark: thresholds are set in standardised-score terms and vary by school and by year according to the strength of the cohort and the number of applicants. As a rough mental model, qualifying for the consortium is achievable for a well-prepared, able child, but securing one of the most over-subscribed schools requires a score comfortably above the qualifying line. Our guide to 11+ pass marks and standardised age scores explains how these scores are calculated and why a raw mark tells you very little on its own, and our super-selective grammar schools guide covers the strategy for targets where rank, not just qualification, decides the outcome. Be honest with yourself about the gap between qualifying and being competitive at the school you actually want.
How to prepare for the Birmingham 11+
Because the consortium uses GL-style papers across four subjects, a balanced plan covers all four without over-weighting any one. In maths, work through the full topic list — our complete list of 11+ maths topics and worked examples show the range and depth expected. In English, build comprehension and vocabulary through wide reading; our comprehension techniques and reading list are the place to start. For the reasoning papers, the priority is question-type fluency: a child who is solid on eighteen of the twenty-one verbal-reasoning types but cold on the other three will leak marks every paper. Build a weekly rhythm using our Year 5 and 6 revision timetable, and confirm exactly what your target schools test before committing — the West Midlands consortium covers a wide area and arrangements differ. As ever, the biggest avoidable mistake is uneven coverage; the standardised score rewards breadth.
How GrammarPrep fits a West Midlands plan
GrammarPrep configures itself to the GL-style format that Birmingham and the wider West Midlands consortium use, so your child practises the question types they will actually meet rather than a generic mix. The free 15-minute diagnostic at grammarprep.uk/onboarding maps strengths and weaknesses across all four subjects in one sitting — no account required — and the FocusPlan adaptive engine then keeps each session at the productive challenge level and regenerates a dated weekly plan every Monday. Timed mock exams report the standardised age score grammar schools actually use to set their thresholds, not just a raw percentage, which is exactly the number that matters in a ranked, over-subscribed region like Birmingham. For families weighing the cost of preparation against tutoring, our tutoring cost guide sets out the trade-offs; many Birmingham families combine an adaptive platform for daily practice with a short, targeted tutoring block for any question type that stays stubbornly weak.