Kendrick School

• The Kendrick School 11 Plus entrance exam consists of two papers, taken on the same day, each 50 to 60 minutes in duration and testing three areas – verbal, numerical and non-verbal reasoning.
• All questions on both papers are multiple choice and pupils indicate their answers on a separate answer sheet.

A Familiarisation booklet, produced by the CEM, contains information about the content of the Kenrick 11 Plus tests, some advice about taking the tests and a few sample questions.  The latest version will be published on the Kendrick School website as soon as it is available, but no later than when registration opens.  You can see the most recent versions below:

• Kendrick School Entrance Test Familiarisation Booklet
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Word Choice
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Non Verbal Reasoning
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Maths
• CEM Grammar School Entrance Test Familiarisation Guide – Comprehension

• You need to register your child for the Kendrick School Admission Test by completing the online registration form on the school website.
• The purpose of registration is for your child to take the entrance test, not apply for a place at Kendrick School. Based on the results, you will still need to provide your child’s school preferences to your local authority on the Common Application Form (CAF).
• Online registration for the 2021 exam opened on Saturday 1st May 2021 on the website of Kendrick School and closes at midnight on Thursday 1st July 2021.
• Kendrick School use the same Admission Test as a number of other Grammar Schools, including Reading School, Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools, Ilford County High School, Woodford County High School and Chelmsford County High School.
• The test takes place on the same day and therefore your child can only sit the test at one school.

Registering for more than one school using the CEM 11+ test

• If your child wishes to apply for Kendrick School and one of the other schools, you will need to submit an application to both schools, indicating where your child is sitting the test.  This will ensure that the raw marks are shared with the other school(s).  Your child’s scores will only be shared with the schools they are registered with so it is important that you apply to all schools you wish your child to be considered for. For example, if your child wants to apply to Kendrick and a Slough grammar school:
  • You will need to complete the Kendrick School and Slough Consortium online application forms. 
  • If they are sitting the exam at Kendrick School, you will need to indicate on the Slough Consortium form that they are sitting the exam in Reading. 
  • If they are sitting the exam in Slough, you will need to indicate on the Kendrick School form that they are sitting the exam in Slough.  
• If your child is applying to more than one school that uses the same admissions test, it is very important that you use the same details for them when registering at each school.  If you fail to do this, it could severely delay their application and risk your child’s scores not being matched and shared.  Therefore, make sure you correctly record your child’s first name, surname, date of birth, address and primary school, on each application.

It is extremely challenging to secure entry to Kendrick School, with over 8 girls applying for every place and less than 29.09% of those achieving a qualifying score (104 or above) likely to gain admission.*

The qualifying score of Kendrick School pupils who sat the entrance exam in 2020 for entry in 2021 is 104 (compared with 105 in 2019); excluding those on pupil premium, service premium, or a child in care or previously in care and residing in Kendrick School’s designated area.

Even if your daughter achieves and exceeds the qualifying score, she is not guaranteed a space.  The exam is highly competitive, with places offered to the highest scoring candidates.  If the number of students that meet or exceed the the qualifying score is higher than the admission number for 2021 (128), the school’s oversubscription criteria is applied.  In other words, places are allocated in order priority based on the criteria set by the school.  Please see the school’s admission policy for further information.

In the 2020 exam, 440 students achieved Kendrick’s qualifying score of 104 or above (compared with 382 in 2019 achieving 105 or more), with only 128 places available. The highest scoring candidate in the 2020 exam achieved a standardised score of 128.58 (compared with 126.92 in 2019).  Kendrick School does not publish the lowest qualifying score of a child that was admitted until a year after the exam.

The lowest qualifying score of a child that was admitted in September 2020 was 106.68 (compared to 114.17 in 2019). This does not include candidates who qualify in categories 1 or 2 of the oversubscription criteria, such as those in care or in receipt of pupil premium. The student admitted with a score of 106.68 resides in Kendrick School’s Priority Area 1.

For pupils in care or previously in care, or pupils with a permanent address in Kendrick’s Priority Areas 1 and 2 and in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium, the qualifying score for September 2020 is 99 (compared with 100.00 in 2019).  Students that meet or exceed this score are offered a place at Kendrick School providing they named the school as their first choice on their Common Application Form.  According to Freedom of Information requests, no children in care, 8 children in receipt of pupil premium and 1 in receipt of service premium, were offered a place at Kendrick School for September 2020.

* For September 2021 entry, 1032 girls applied to Kendrick School, including 775 who sat the test at the school and 257 that sat the test at another venue and requested that their results were shared with Kendrick.  That is more than 8 girls applying for each of the 128 spaces available.  Only 440 of the 1032 girls that applied achieved the qualifying score of 104.  Therefore, as some pupils in care or previously in care, or pupils with a permanent address in Kendrick’s Priority Areas 1 and 2 and in receipt of Pupil Premium or Service Premium, may be admitted with a qualifying score of 99, we can assume that less than 29.09% (i.e. less than 128) of the 440 girls that achieved the qualifying score of 104 will secure a 2020 place at Kendrick School.

The results date for 2021 Kendrick School 11 Plus exam has not yet been announced.

• If you wish your child to be considered for entry to Kendrick School, you are required to name the school on the Common Application Form (CAF).
• Common Application Forms open online on Wednesday 1st September 2021 and you will have until the end of 31st October 2021 to submit it to your Local Authority.
• School places for September 2022 will be confirmed on 1st March 2022.
• In whichever year you are applying, you can name up to 6 schools on your CAF.
• If you live outside Reading, you must apply through your own Local Authority – even if your child currently attends a Reading primary school.