Check your own area. Results dates, scoring, review processes and appeal timetables are set locally and change from year to year. This post describes the general rules in England for September 2027 entry. Your council’s admissions pages and each school’s published admission arrangements are the authoritative source.
If your child sat an 11+ test in September, the result has probably arrived by now, or will very soon. In Buckinghamshire, most families had results on 9 October 2026; Kent’s results date for the Kent Test was 15 October. Other areas and consortia have their own dates, and the School Admissions Code asks admission authorities to take all reasonable steps to tell parents the outcome before the 31 October application deadline.
Whatever the letter or email says, the next few weeks follow a fairly standard pattern. Here is what the result means, what you need to do before the deadline, and how reviews and appeals work if you need them.
What the result actually tells you
Most 11+ tests report a standardised score. The raw mark is converted onto a scale and adjusted for your child’s age in years and months on the test day, so a child born in August isn’t penalised for being nearly a year younger than a September-born classmate.
The scales differ by area, which is why comparing numbers between friends in different counties rarely makes sense. Buckinghamshire adds the standardised scores from two papers, and a total of 121 or more means a child has qualified for its grammar schools. Kent combines three section scores and sets a minimum for each. Some schools don’t publish a pass mark at all and simply rank applicants.
That points to the most important distinction in the whole process:
- Qualifying means your child has reached the standard to be considered. If the school is oversubscribed with qualified children, places then go by its published oversubscription criteria, often distance or a catchment area.
- Ranked (sometimes called super-selective) schools offer places to the highest scorers, so the score needed depends on how many children apply that year.
The School Admission Appeals Code describes both models, and the Admissions Code is clear that a result is not a guarantee of a selective place. If you’re unsure which model your preferred school uses, its admission arrangements (on the school or council website) will say.
Before 31 October: the application form
Whatever the result, you still need to make a secondary application. In England, gov.uk says you must apply by 31 October, through your home council, even for schools in another council’s area. This year 31 October is a Saturday. A few councils have set a slightly later closing date (Kent’s is Monday 2 November 2026), and some online systems close at a set time, so check your council’s page and don’t leave it to the last evening.
A few things that help:
- Rank schools in your genuine order of preference. Schools must not give extra priority to families who put them first, so you don’t gain anything by tactical ordering.
- Use your preferences. gov.uk notes that listing only one school does not improve your chances. Include at least one school you would be happy with and where your child is likely to get a place.
- Keep a grammar school on the form if you plan to ask for a review or appeal. You can only appeal for a school you applied for, so leaving it off closes that door.
- Results still to come? If your child tested late and the result may arrive after the deadline, apply on time anyway and list schools in your real order.
Offers for secondary schools are sent on 1 March, or the next working day. For September 2027 entry, 1 March 2027 is a Monday.
Talking to your child
Your child will take their cue from you. A result that feels huge to adults can be absorbed surprisingly calmly by a ten-year-old if the grown-ups stay steady. Praise the effort and the courage of sitting a test at all, keep the score in proportion, and avoid discussing appeals or “what went wrong” in front of them. We wrote a short script for the three most common situations in How to talk to your child about a CAT4 or 11+ result.
Reviews: a second look before offers
Some areas run a local review for children who narrowly missed the standard, so that a child deemed to be of grammar school standard can be considered alongside everyone else when places are allocated. The names and timings vary:
- Buckinghamshire runs a Selection Review, with reviews taking place in December and January for this cycle.
- In Kent, a headteacher assessment panel considers referred children before results are sent out, so the result you receive already reflects it.
If your area has a review, the request usually comes with a deadline and often relies on evidence from your child’s primary school. Talk to the school early. A review does not replace your right to appeal later.
How grammar school appeals work
Appeals happen after offers, once you have been refused a place at a school you applied for. They follow the School Admission Appeals Code 2022, and gov.uk has a plain-English guide to appealing. The main rules:
- Time to appeal: at least 20 school days from the date you are told your application was unsuccessful. Each admission authority publishes its own timetable.
- The hearing: at least 10 school days’ notice, and appeals lodged on time must be heard within 40 school days of the appeal deadline. Decision letters should follow within five school days where possible.
- The panel: a chair and at least two others, independent of the school, including at least one lay member and at least one person with experience in education or who is a parent of a pupil at school.
For grammar schools, the Code sets out what the panel can consider when a parent believes their child didn’t perform at their best on the day:
- If there was no local review, the panel can only uphold the appeal if there is evidence that your child is of the required academic standard. The Code’s examples are school reports with attainment results, or a letter from the current or previous school clearly explaining why the child is considered to be of grammar school ability. Where the school is full, your case must also outweigh the school’s case that admitting another child would cause prejudice.
- If a review was carried out, the panel looks first at whether the review was fair, consistent and objective. Only if it wasn’t does it go on to consider the evidence of ability itself.
- The panel must not set its own test or invent its own way of judging suitability. It works from the evidence in front of it.
In practice, the strongest appeals are specific. They explain what happened on the day, if anything did (illness, a bereavement, a disrupted test room), include whatever evidence you have, and are backed by the primary school’s view of your child’s ability. A general sense that your child is bright, without supporting evidence, gives the panel little to work with.
Realistic expectations
Outcomes vary a great deal between schools and areas, and there is no reliable national success rate for grammar school appeals. The Department for Education publishes admission appeals statistics, but they aren’t broken down by whether a school is selective, so be wary of anyone quoting precise odds. If you are unhappy with how an appeal was run (rather than the decision itself), you can complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for maintained schools, or to the Department for Education for academies. Neither can overturn a panel’s decision.
If grammar school isn’t the route, that’s fine
Plenty of children do brilliantly at non-selective schools, and a test score at ten says very little about what a child will achieve at sixteen or eighteen. If the result has closed one door, use the next fortnight to look properly at the others: go to open evenings, ask about setting, clubs, pastoral care and how the school stretches high attainers, and listen to what your child notices. The school that feels right to them often matters more than the label.
A checklist for the next two weeks
- Read the result letter carefully and note what it says about your area’s next steps.
- Check whether your preferred grammar schools rank by score or use a qualifying standard plus oversubscription criteria.
- Find your council’s application deadline and closing time, and submit early.
- List schools in your genuine order of preference, including a realistic option you’d be happy with.
- If you may ask for a review or appeal, keep the grammar school on your form and speak to your child’s primary school.
- Keep copies of school reports and any evidence about the test day.
- Talk to your child calmly, and keep the score in proportion.
Useful next reads
- How to talk to your child about a CAT4 or 11+ result
- 11+ in 2026 to 27: a parent’s guide by region
- 11+ in Buckinghamshire: a parent’s deep-dive
- Younger child still to come? Our 11+-style practice hub covers verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and 11+-style maths, and the free practice check needs no sign-up.