St Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School
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With a proven track record in preparing pupils for the 11 Plus, Marie Redmond MEd and her team of exceptional, fully qualified and experienced primary teachers (not ‘tutors’) provide specialist tuition focused on your child’s individual learning needs.
Our unique 11 Plus courses in Amersham, Beaconsfield, Chalfont St Peter, Little Chalfont and Stoke Poges are structured to give children the confidence they need to sit and pass exams in a friendly, stress-free environment.
Introduction to the Slough Consortium 11 Plus exam
To be eligible to apply for a place at a Slough grammar school (Herschel Grammar School, Langley Grammar School, St Bernard’s Catholic Grammar School and Upton Court Grammar School), your child will need to pass the Slough Consortium 11 Plus exam. The Consortium operates a shared 11 Plus testing process with the four schools using the same test papers and common eligibility criteria for selection.
COVID-19 impact:The Slough admission test for entry into Year 7 in September 2021 was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday 12th September 2020
The test will now take place in the week beginning Monday 12th October 2020. The Slough Consortum of Grammar Schools cannot provide any further details at this stage other than to advise applicants to be prepared to be tested on any day of that week, and to confirm that the test will still take place at one of the four Slough grammar schools.
Testing day arrangements will be sent out mid-September 2020 and the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools ask that you do not contact the schools to request more information but to wait for your test day arrangements email.
The Slough Consortium test is provided by Durham University’s Centre for Evaluation & Monitoring (CEM). The tests identify the top 30% of the cohort as eligible for consideration for entry to grammar school and the eligibility mark is 111.111.
FAQs
The Slough 11 Plus 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 tests, some advice about taking the tests and a few sample questions. You can see the most recent booklet here >
- You need to register your child to take the Slough Consortium 11 Plus test. Online registration for the September 2020 exam will open at the beginning of May 2020 on the website of the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools and close in the middle of June 2020.
- The sole purpose of registration is to enable your son or daughter to sit the 11 Plus exam. The consortium will order one set of exam papers for them, therefore ensure that you complete the registration process once only.
By scoring 111 or more, your child will be eligible for consideration for a place at any Slough grammar school named on your Local Authority’s Common Application Form (CAF). However, this does not guarantee a place as the schools may be oversubscribed. Each school’s admissions policy will describe how places are allocated in the event of oversubscription.
The results for the 2019 Slough 11 Plus were released on Monday 14th October 2019. The results for the 2020 exam will be announced in the middle of October 2020 (the specific date will not be given in advance by the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools).
When you received your child’s 11 Plus results in October 2019, you had until Thursday 31st October 2019 to submit your Common Application Form to your Local Authority. You were able to name up to 6 schools when you applied. School places for September 2020 will be confirmed on 1st March 2020.
If you live outside Slough, you must apply through your own Local Authority – even if your child currently attends a Slough primary school.
What is required to pass the Slough Consortium 11 Plus?
Verbal Reasoning (approx. 50% of the mark)
- Comprehension
- Vocabulary
- Spelling
- Grammar
Numerical Reasoning (approx. 30% of the mark)
- Basic skills (addition, multiplication, division and subtraction)
- Mental maths development
- Problem solving techniques
- Extracting information from graphs and tables
- Fractions and ratios
- Foundation algebra concepts
Non-verbal Reasoning (approx. 20% of the mark)
- Spatial awareness
- Logical deduction skills
- Mathematical concepts such as symmetry, rotation and reflection
Get exam ready with Marie Redmond Tuition® CEM-style 11 Plus Mock Exams for the Slough Consortium 11 Plus. Students who sat our mock exams in 2019 said they were very similar to the actual CEM test, which made them feel prepared and confident when sitting the exam.
Our courses are led by qualified primary teachers and prepare pupils for all aspects of the Slough 11 Plus
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