The Latymer School 11+ guide

Atom Learning is partnered with The Latymer School. You can read more about our partnership here.

Thinking about applying to The Latymer School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions and how to prepare your child for success in the 11 plus.

Key information about The Latymer School

• Address: The Latymer School, Haselbury Road, Edmonton, London, N9 9TN
• Number of pupils: 1,350+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 192
• 11+ exam: GL Assessment and school’s own
• Catchment area: yes

Dates for your diary

• 11+ registration opens: Monday 17th March 2025
• 11+ registration closes: Monday 16th June 2025
• 11+ exam date: Wednesday 3rd, Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th September 2025 (your child will be invited to one exam day)
• 11+ results released: Late October 2025
• Secondary school application deadline: 31st October 2025
• School allocations: Monday 2nd March 2026

About The Latymer School

The Latymer School is a grammar school for boys and girls aged 11 to 18 in Edmonton, northeast London. It was founded in 1624 and is dedicated to providing a liberal first-class education.

Students at The Latymer School study a broad and balanced curriculum. Subjects on offer include business studies, media studies, computer science, and four languages. There are also plenty of extracurricular activities for students to explore new interests. There are around 400 instrumental lessons each week and the school has its own bespoke Saturday Music Centre.

How to apply to The Latymer School

The Latymer School is a selective school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place.

The deadline to register for the 11 plus exam at The Latymer School is Monday 16th June 2025. To apply, complete the Supplementary Information Form (SIF) on The Latymer School website.

The exam will take place in September 2025 (your child will be invited to attend one of three exam days). You’ll receive your child’s results in Late October 2025. You can then use these results to decide whether to apply for a place at The Latymer School.

To apply, 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.

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. We’ve included the admissions criteria for The Latymer School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

Children applying to The Latymer School take two exam papers. Both papers have a time limit of 60 minutes.

Maths and verbal reasoning

The maths and verbal reasoning test is set by GL Assessment. It is divided into two parts:

• Maths (30 minutes)
• Verbal reasoning (30 minutes)

All of the questions in this paper are multiple-choice. The maths section will test your child’s knowledge and understanding of content taught on the maths national curriculum in Key Stage 2. Verbal reasoning questions assess your child’s ability to use logic and solve problems with written information.

English

The English paper is set by The Latymer School. It is divided into two parts:

• English comprehension (30 minutes)
• Creative writing (30 minutes)

In the comprehension section, your child will need to read a passage of text and answer questions about it. The creative writing section will test your child’s spelling, punctuation, grammar and creativity.

How does place allocation work at The Latymer School?

After the exam, your child’s maths and verbal reasoning paper are marked by GL Assessment. They use a type of technology called Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) to assign marks for correct answers. The total mark is age-standardised to ensure that younger children aren’t disadvantaged.

Each child’s standardised score is then put in rank order (rank 1 being the highest position). Children ranked between 1 and 700 have their English papers marked by The Latymer School. The English mark is added to the raw mark from the maths and verbal reasoning test to produce re-standardised results for the top 700 children.

Children whose rank in the maths and verbal reasoning test is below 700 are not eligible for a place. Their English papers will not be marked. The only exception to this rule is for children applying under oversubscription criteria 1, 2 and 3. We’ve listed these below.

If more than 192 eligible children name The Latymer School as their preferred school on their application form, the school applies oversubscription criteria. The school only admits children who live within the Inner Area (see below). Children are prioritised for places in the following order:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children (within the top 900)
2. Up to 20 places for children who receive Free School Meals/Universal Credit (within the top 900)
3. Up to 20 places for children who show exceptional musical talent (within the top 700). A separate music form with supporting evidence needs to be completed for this criterion
4. Children living in the Inner Area, prioritised in rank order

The Latymer School has a catchment area. The school only accepts applications from children who live within its published ‘Inner Area’. This means children whose main address (i.e. spends week nights) is in one of the following postcode areas:

E2, E4, E5, E8, E9, E17, EN1, EN2, EN3, EN4, EN5 (Sectors 1, 2, 4, 5 only), EN8 (Sectors 7, 8, 9 only), N1 (not N1C), N2, N3, N4, N5, N6, N7, N8, N9, N10, N11, N12, N13, N14, N15, N16, N17, N18, N19, N20, N21, N22

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the country. 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. 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.