Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough 11+ guide

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

Key information for Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough

• Address: Queen Elizabeth’s High School, Morton Terrace, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, DN21 2ST
• Number of pupils: 1200+
• Admissions contact: [email protected]
• Number of places in Year 7: 186
• 11+ exam: Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools 11 plus exam
• Catchment area: no

Dates for your diary

• Friday 10th January 2025: Lincolnshire Grammar School 11+ registration opens
• Monday 31st March 2025: Lincolnshire Grammar Schools 11+ registration closes
• Saturday 13th September 2025: Lincolnshire Grammar Schools 11+ verbal reasoning paper
• Saturday 20th September 2025: Lincolnshire Grammar Schools 11+ non-verbal reasoning paper
• Friday 10th October 2025: Lincolnshire Grammar Schools 11+ results day
• Friday 31st October 2025: secondary school common application deadline
• Monday 2nd March 2026: national school offers day

About Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough

Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough (QEHS) is a co-educational grammar school dating back to 1589. It was originally based in All Saints Church and offered a boys-only education. After several relocations, the school settled at its present site in 1984 and merged with the local girls' school.

Students at Queen Elizabeth’s High School, Gainsborough learn a core body of knowledge through their ‘Knowledge Book’ programme in Year 6. This is further developed in Year 8 with projects including an Extended Project. The school also works in harmony with the Lincolnshire Music Service, with many of its students achieving high grades in their chosen musical instruments.

How to apply to Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough

Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough 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.

Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough is a member of the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools. There are 15 grammar schools in the Consortium and they share the same entrance test. This means that your child will only need to take the test once, even if you’re applying to more than one school in the Consortium.

Registration for the 2025 exam opens on Friday 10th January 2025 and closes on Monday 31st March 2025. You’ll be able to register your child for the test via the website of any of the participating schools.

The 11 plus exam is taken over two dates. The first paper will take place on Saturday 13th September and the second paper will take place a week later on Saturday 20th September. You’ll receive your child’s results on Friday 10th October 2025.

To apply to Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough, 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. We’ve included the admissions criteria for Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough below.

What subjects are on the entrance exam?

Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough uses the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools 11 plus. This consists of two papers which are taken on consecutive Saturdays in September:

• Verbal reasoning: this paper consists of 80 questions split across 15 sections. The paper has a time limit of 50 minutes.
• Non-verbal and spatial reasoning: this paper consists of 70 questions split across 5 sections. Each section is timed individually by the invigilator.

All of the questions in the Lincolnshire 11 plus are multiple-choice. Your child will have separate answer sheets which they will use to mark their answers. These are marked electronically.

How does place allocation work at Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough?

The pass mark for the Lincolnshire 11 plus can’t be decided until after the tests. The grammar schools in the Consortium usually select children working within the top 25% of their year group, so the top 25% depends on the scores achieved by the cohort. However, as a guide, children who achieve a total standardised score of 220 or above are likely to be working within this range based on national data.

If more than 150 applying to Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough achieve the qualifying score, the school applies oversubscription criteria. Children are prioritised for places in the following order:

1. Looked after and previously looked after children
2. Any remaining places will then be awarded to other children who have qualified for entry in rank standardised score order.

Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough does not have a catchment area.

Atom’s top tips for 11 plus preparation

The Lincolnshire 11 plus is designed to select the most academically able children in the 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 Lincolnshire Consortium 11 plus entrance test. 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.