The Liverpool Blue Coat School 11+ guide

Thinking about applying to The Liverpool Blue Coat School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions in 2025–2026 and how to prepare your child for success in the Year 7 entrance exam.

Key information for The Liverpool Blue Coat School

• Address: The Liverpool Blue Coat School, Church Road, Wavertree, Liverpool, L15 9EE
• Number of pupils: 1,200+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 180
• 11+ exam: two-stage online exams
• Catchment area: no

Dates for your diary

• Thursday 24th April 2025: The Blue Coat School exam registration opens
• Monday 2nd June 2025: The Blue Coat School exam registration closes
• Friday 27th June 2025: The Blue Coat School open day
• Summer 2025: The Blue Coat School Year 7 entrance exam (Phase 1)
• Week of 25th August 2025: parents receive results from Phase 1 exam
• Saturday 20th September 2025: The Blue Coat School Year 7 entrance exam (Phase 2)
• Mid-October 2025: parents receive results from Phase 2 exam
• Friday 31st October 2025: national deadline to apply for school places
• Monday 2nd March 2026: national school offers day

About The Liverpool Blue Coat School

The Liverpool Blue Coat School is a grammar school for boys and girls in Liverpool. It was founded over 300 years ago and has a rich and distinctive history and heritage. The school is consistently named in the top three schools in the North West.

Ofsted rate The Blue Coat School 'good', with 'outstanding' behaviour and attitudes. The report mentions how the school maintains a culture where diversity is celebrated and " everyone can be themselves". Students are diligent and attentive in class and show genuine care for others.

The school has a vast extracurricular programme which helps students develop skills for life. Activities include multiple subject societies, debating, LAMDA, musical groups, and sports.

How to apply to The Liverpool Blue Coat School

The Liverpool Blue Coat School is a selective state school. This means that your child will need to take an entrance exam to be eligible for a place in Year 7. Children who were born between 1st September 2014 and 31st August 2015 can take The Liverpool Blue Coat School entrance exam to apply for a place in September 2026

The Liverpool Blue Coat School has a two-stage admissions process. First, you'll need to register your child for the entrance test. The application window is open between Thursday 24th April 2025 and Monday 2nd June 2025. When you register, you'll be able to book your child's slot for the first exam.

Approximately 400 children will be shortlisted from the Phase 1 exam. These children will be asked to complete the Phase 2 exam, which will take place on Saturday 20th September 2025. You’ll receive your child’s results a few weeks later.

If your child meets the required standard in the Phase 2 exam, they’ll be eligible for a place at the school. To apply to The Liverpool Blue Coat 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 exam 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 Liverpool Blue Coat School below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

The Year 7 entrance exam at The Liverpool Blue Coat School is split into two 'phases'.

Phase 1

All children who are registered to take the entrance exam at The Liverpool Blue Coat School take the Phase 1 exam. This is an online adaptive test.

The test takes around 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete. It consists of five modules, each 20 minutes in length:

1. Reading (word recognition, decoding and comprehension)
2. Spelling
3. General mathematics (numbers, measures, shape and space, and data handling)
4. Mental arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division)
5. Developed ability (picture vocabulary and non-verbal reasoning)

Phase 2

Approximately 400 children are selected to progress to Phase 2 based on their performance in Phase 1.

Like Phase 1, this exam is also taken online. It tests verbal ability, numerical ability and non-verbal ability.

How does place allocation work at The Liverpool Blue Coat School?

After the Phase 2 test, the school admissions authority will decide on an eligible score. Children who meet the eligible score can then apply for a place at The Liverpool Blue Coat School.

Up to 27 places are available to the highest scoring children who are eligible for free school meals by September. All remaining places are then available to the other highest scoring children.

Priority is given to children who reach an eligible score and are looked after children, previously looked after children, or who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC).

The Liverpool Blue Coat School does not have a catchment area.

How can I help my child prepare for the entrance exam?

The Liverpool Blue Coat School entrance exam is designed to be challenging. Here are our top tips to help your child prepare for the exam in September 2025.

Bitesize learning

It’s important to build a good knowledge base before Year 7 entrance exams. 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 11 plus exams. 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.