Ermysted's Grammar School 11+ guide

Atom Learning is partnered with Ermysted's Grammar School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Thinking about applying to Ermysted's Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions in 2025–2026 and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus entrance exam.

Key information for Ermysted's Grammar School

• Address: Ermysted’s Grammar School, Gargrave Rd, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1PL
• Number of pupils: 800+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 128
• 11+ exam: GL Assessment 11 plus
• Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

• Tuesday 22nd April 2025: 11+ registration opens for Ermysted's Grammar School
• Tuesday 1st July 2025: Ermysted's Grammar School open evening
• Monday 1st September 2025: 11+ registration closes for Ermysted's Grammar School
• Saturday 27th September 2025: entrance exam day at Ermstyed's Grammar School
• Week of 13th October 2025: parents receive exam results
• Friday 31st October 2025: national deadline to apply for secondary school places
• Monday 2nd March 2026: national secondary school offers day

About Ermysted's Grammar School

Ermysted’s Grammar School is a boys' grammar school in Skipton, North Yorkshire. It was founded around 1492, making it one of the oldest state schools in the country. The school holds an annual Founders' Day every autumn to celebrate its long history.

Students at Ermysted's Grammar School have access to a wide range of extracurricular activities. This includes nearly 60 clubs each week, as well as sports, music and debating. The school's newspaper, 'The Reason', has won national awards.

How to apply to Ermysted's Grammar School

Ermysted's Grammar School is a selective state school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place in Year 7.

Registration for the Ermysted's Grammar School 11 plus opens on the school website on Tuesday 22nd April 2025 and closes on Monday 1st September. Your child will take the exam on Saturday 27th September 2025 and you’ll receive their results by mid-October.

To apply to Ermysted's Grammar School, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted by 31st October 2025.

Remember – passing the 11 plus doesn’t guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Many grammar schools are often oversubscribed with qualified children. Schools and their admissions authorities work through admissions criteria to prioritise children for places.

If you would like your child to be considered for a place under one of the school’s oversubscription criteria, you’ll need to complete a Supplementary Information Form (SIF). This is available to download from the school website and must be returned by 28th November 2025. We’ve included more information about the oversubscription criteria for Ermysted’s Grammar School below.

What subjects are on the 11 plus?

Ermysted's Grammar School uses 11 plus papers supplied by GL Assessment. This is one of the leading 11 plus providers in England.

All GL Assessment papers are multiple-choice. Your child will have separate answer sheets which they will use to mark their answers. These are marked electronically.

Children applying to Ermysted’s Grammar School will take two 11 plus papers in September 2025. Each paper lasts around 50 minutes. There are individually-timed sections in each paper, so your child will need to follow the invigilator’s instructions carefully.

One paper contains a mix of questions in English and verbal reasoning. The English questions will test Key Stage 2 concepts, such as reading comprehension, grammar, spelling and punctuation. Verbal reasoning isn’t taught at school, but assesses your child’s ability to use logic and reasoning to solve problems with written information.

The other paper contains a mix of questions in maths and non-verbal reasoning. Maths questions assess Key Stage 2 concepts such as number, measurement, geometry and statistics. Like verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning isn’t taught on the national curriculum. This tests how well your child can use logic and reasoning to solve problems with visual information.

How does place allocation work at Ermysted's Grammar School?

After the test, your child’s answer sheets are marked using Optical Mark Recognition (OMR). This technology picks up the marks your child has made to indicate which answers they think are correct. Your child receives a mark for every correct answer.

Each paper is then age-standardised. Age-standardisation is a common practice in 11 plus scoring and ensures younger children aren’t disadvantaged. Standardised age scores for each paper normally range from 60 at the lowest end, to 142 at the highest end. 100 is the average score for the year group. The standardised scores for each paper are added together to produce your child’s total mark.

All children’s scores are then placed in rank order from highest to lowest. The qualifying score for entry to Ermysted’s Grammar School is the score attained by the 150th ranked child.

If the number of children who achieve this score exceeds the 128 places available, the school uses oversubscription criteria to prioritise places. Ermysted’s allocates places to qualifying children in this order:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children
2. Children who live in the catchment area at the time of application
3. Children who live outside the catchment area at the time of application

Priority is given to children in the second and third categories in this order:

1. Children who receive pupil premium
2. Children who have a sibling at Ermysted’s Grammar School when they are due to start Year 7
3. Children who live closest to the school

Does Ermysted’s Grammar School have a catchment area?

Ermysted’s Grammar School does have a catchment area. This area is served by the primary schools in Beamsley, Bradley, Burnsall, Carleton, Cracoe, Embsay, Gargrave, Grassington, Kettlewell, Kirkby-in-Malhamdale, Skipton, Thornton-in-Craven and Threshfield.

A detailed map is available here.

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the local area. Here are our top tips to help you and your child feel confident for exam day!

Bitesize learning

It’s important to build a good knowledge base before the 11 plus. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when learning is key – our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. For children aged 10–11, child psychologists recommend regular study sessions of 20–30 minutes.

Atom Home makes learning a more enjoyable process for your child. They'll explore exciting worlds full of interactive questions, earning coins to spend in the Atom shop. Atom adapts to your child, showing them questions at just the right level of difficulty to keep them motivated.

Read widely

11 plus exams test your child’s ability to analyse and interpret written information. Regular reading is a great way to help your child build these skills.

Encourage them to read books from different genres and by a diverse range of authors. Increasing the variety of your child’s reading will help them understand different styles, tones and purposes. Meanwhile, reading a little every day will help widen their vocabulary, sharpen their analytical thinking, and enhance their imagination.

Refine exam technique

When your child feels confident with the topics they’ve learnt in Year 5, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge to the test.

Practice tests can help your child develop problem-solving skills and build confidence working under test conditions. They’re also a great way to consolidate learning and highlight knowledge gaps for further improvement.

With Atom Home, you'll unlock online mock tests and printable practice papers for the 11 plus. Enjoy automatic marking and progress tracking with the online tests, and help your child get familiar with the real exam experience with printable practice papers.

Celebrate progress

Setting regular, achievable goals and celebrating your child’s progress – no matter how big or small – will help keep their motivation high.

Make sure to encourage a growth mindset. This means celebrating effort, as well as achievement! When your child makes mistakes or struggles to understand a particular topic, help them understand that they’ll improve through practice. Regular praise will help your child improve their resilience when tackling new and challenging topics.