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Applying to Kendrick School for September 2028? This guide covers the Kendrick School admission tests, the qualifying score, how the 128 Year 7 places are allocated and the key dates for September 2028 entry.
Number of places in Year 7: 128 (2027-entry figure — Kendrick School confirms each year's admission number in its determined arrangements, published the spring before entry.)
Qualifying score: No fixed pass mark is published. Kendrick sets a qualifying score each year from the ranked results. Looked after girls, and girls in the designated area who receive Pupil Premium or Service Premium, qualify with a score 5 points lower.
11+ test:Kendrick School admission tests (two multiple-choice papers of about one hour each, set by GL Assessment for 2027 entry)
Catchment or priority area: yes — two priority areas defined by postcode
Source: Kendrick School Year 7 Admissions Policy 2027 Entry (ratified 15 January 2026). Last checked October 2026.
Key dates for September 2028 entry
Kendrick School confirms its exact dates in the spring before each cycle. The windows below follow the 2027-entry timetable: registration ran from Friday 1 May 2026 to midnight on Wednesday 1 July 2026, the test took place on Friday 18 September 2026 and results were due by email before 31 October 2026. We'll update this page as soon as the school publishes its 2028-entry dates.
Key dates for Kendrick School 11+ entry in September 2028, with expected windows where the school has not yet confirmed exact dates.
Date
What happens
Early May 2027
Test registration expected to open
Early July 2027
Test registration expected to close (at midnight)
Mid-September 2027
Admission tests expected at Kendrick School
By late October 2027
Results expected by email, before the application deadline
Sunday 31 October 2027
Deadline to apply for secondary school places through your home local authority. This date falls on a Sunday.
Wednesday 1 March 2028
National offer day for secondary school places
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Kendrick School is selective, so your child needs to sit the 11+ test to be considered for a place.
You register your daughter for the admission tests directly with Kendrick School, using the online form on the school's Year 7 admissions page during the registration window.
Once you have your child's result, you apply by naming Kendrick School on your common application form, which goes to your home local authority. For September 2028 entry the deadline is Sunday 31 October 2027. As it falls on a Sunday, you may find it easier to submit your form in the days before.
Reaching the qualifying score makes your child eligible, but it doesn't guarantee a place. If more qualifying children apply than there are places, the school uses its oversubscription criteria, set out further down this page.
What will my child be tested on?
Kendrick runs its own admission tests at the school. For 2027 entry, your daughter sat two tests of about one hour each, with a short break between them. The tests covered English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning.
All marking and standardisation for 2027 entry was carried out by GL Assessment, and the school recommends getting familiar with the multiple-choice layout. There is no creative writing element. Raw scores are age-standardised, and girls are ranked on the total of their standardised scores from both papers.
For 2027 entry, the school published GL Assessment as its test provider. Kendrick confirms the 2028-entry test in its familiarisation material, released before the test; paper lengths and question formats are published there.
The school doesn't offer an alternative date to girls who want to sit another grammar school's test on the same day.
How are places allocated at Kendrick School?
If more children reach the qualifying standard than there are 128 Year 7 places, Kendrick School offers places in the order below. This order comes from the school's admissions policy for September 2027 entry. The school sets its 2028-entry policy separately, and we'll update this table if anything changes.
Kendrick School oversubscription criteria in priority order, from the September 2027 entry admissions policy.
Priority
Who it covers
1
Looked after and previously looked after girls
2
Girls living in Priority Area 1 or 2 who receive Pupil Premium or Service Premium
3
Girls living in Priority Area 1 or 2, by test rank, until up to 75% of places (96) have been offered across categories 1 to 3
4
Remaining 25% of places (32): girls living in Priority Area 1, by test rank
5
Then girls living in Priority Area 2, by test rank
6
Then girls living outside the designated area, by test rank
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Places in categories 1 to 3 are offered from the ranked list until up to 96 places (75%) have gone. The remaining 32 places (25%) go to categories 4, 5 and 6 in that order. Girls in categories 1 and 2 qualify with a score 5 points below the main qualifying score.
Does Kendrick School have a catchment area?
Kendrick's designated area has two priority areas defined by postcode. Priority Area 1: RG1, RG2 0, RG2 6, RG2 7, RG2 8, RG30 1, RG30 2, RG30 3, RG30 4, RG30 6, RG31 4, RG31 5, RG31 6, RG31 7, RG4 5, RG4 6, RG4 7, RG4 8, RG5 3, RG6 1, RG6 5, RG6 6 and RG6 7. Priority Area 2: RG2 9, RG4 9, RG5 4, RG6 3, RG6 4, RG7, RG8, RG9, RG10, RG12, RG27 0, RG40, RG41, RG42, RG45, GU17 0, GU46, GU47, SL6 3, SL6 4, SL6 5 and SL6 6. For 2027 entry, the address had to be your daughter's permanent home on 31 August 2026, and she should still live there when she starts. The school says no girl living outside the designated area has been offered a place since it was introduced in 2013, and it advises families outside the area not to register.
Where girls have exactly the same overall score, those living nearest the school and within the designated area are ranked higher, measured from home to the school's front gate using Reading Borough Council's mapping software. If they live the same distance away, random allocation supervised by an independent person decides.
If you don't live close to the school, it's worth thinking about how your child will get there every day. How long will the journey take? What transport options are available? Will they be travelling independently or with support?
A longer or more complex journey can affect your child's daily routine, including how much time they have for homework, rest and after-school activities. It's a good idea to think about how manageable the school run will be and whether it will work for your family day to day.
How can I help my daughter prepare for the test?
The Kendrick School entrance exam can feel like a big milestone, but preparation doesn't have to be overwhelming. Here's how you can help your daughter prepare for test day.
Stay on track with a clear plan
One of the hardest parts of 11+ preparation is knowing what to focus on, when, and how to make steady progress without it taking over family life.
A clear, structured plan helps your daughter feel less overwhelmed and more in control. It ensures she builds skills in the right order, covers everything she needs, and avoids last-minute cramming.
Atom's exam plan makes this easier. Enter your daughter's target schools and exam dates, and we'll create a personalised weekly plan tailored to the topics she'll be tested on. It shows her what to work on and when, adapts as she improves, and helps her build progress in a calm, manageable way — little and often.
That means less guesswork for you, less stress for her, and a clearer path all the way to exam day.
Build smart exam technique
As your daughter's knowledge grows, practice tests can help her feel more comfortable with the real exam format.
Atom's 11+ practice papers are built to match the format, timing and question styles of real 11+ exams. They're also unlimited — you can download the same paper again and again, and your daughter will get new questions each time. This helps her practise without repeating the same content.
We've made marking easy for you, too. Simply photograph your daughter's answer sheets and upload them to Atom. The papers are marked instantly, showing her standardised age score (SAS), where she's doing well, and what she should focus on next. You'll also learn how she compares to other children applying to the same school.
Encourage regular reading
Strong reading skills play a big role in 11+ preparation.
Encourage your daughter to read every day, even for just 10–15 minutes. The key is variety. Mix fiction and non-fiction, different genres, and a range of authors. This helps her become more confident in understanding tone, purpose, and meaning across different texts.
Over time, regular reading will broaden her vocabulary, improve comprehension and inference, and build confidence in tackling unseen texts.
When you're supporting your daughter through 11+ preparation, what really matters is knowing she's moving in the right direction — not just how she scored on a single test.
Atom's progress tracking gives you a clear, simple picture of how your daughter is doing in each topic and the direction she's moving in. You can see where she's on track, where she might need more practice, and spot progress as it happens.
That makes it easier to give meaningful encouragement, keep motivation steady, and focus on what matters most: consistent improvement, not just one-off results.
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Take control of your child’s 11+ preparation.
Not sure if your child is on track for the grammar school 11+? You don’t need to guess what to cover or whether they’re ready. Atom shows you exactly what to practise each week and how they’re performing, so you can stay ahead of the process without the stress.
