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London 11 Plus Consortium: 2024 entry guide

By Atom | Jun 21, 2023, 10:15 AM

London 11+ Consortium: 2024 entry guide

Are you considering a school that's a member of the London 11 Plus Consortium for your child? Discover all you need to know about the admissions process for this group of schools.

What is the London 11 Plus Consortium?

The London 11 Plus Consortium is a group of 14 independent day schools for girls, located across North, West and Central London. The schools aim to make the assessment process child-centred so it is more accessible and less stressful for candidates. They have streamlined their senior school entry process so that children only need to sit one assessment to apply to any member schools.

Which schools are in the London 11 Plus Consortium?

How to register for the London 11 Plus Consortium assessment

You can’t apply through the London 11 Plus Consortium directly. Instead, all you need to do is apply to your chosen school(s) via their websites. The schools will then register your child to take the assessment and will communicate the arrangements with you directly.

Key dates for entry in September 2024

  • Closing date for school applications: Friday 10th November 2023 (while your child is in Year 6)

  • Assessment dates: one of Thursday 30th November, Monday 4th December or Wednesday 6th December 2023

  • Interview dates: January 2024 (individual to each senior school)

  • Offer date: Friday 9th February 2024

  • Deadline to accept: 12 noon on Tuesday 5th March 2024

The London 11 Plus Consortium website

When will my child sit the assessment?

If you are applying for Year 7 entry in 2024, your child will take the assessment on one of three dates in late November and early December 2023 (while she is in Year 6). She only needs to take the assessment once, even if you are applying to multiple schools within the London 11 Plus Consortium.

The exact date depends on where your child is sitting the test, and will be communicated with you after you apply to the school(s). Your test centre will inform you of the exact start time.

Where will my child sit the assessment?

Your child will sit the assessment at her current school if possible. If your child's school is not able to offer this facility, she will be able to sit the test at one of her chosen senior schools. You'll be asked to select a first and second choice of location to take the assessment – these must be London 11 Plus Consortium schools which you have applied to.

Don’t worry if your child's current school can't host the assessment. The venue where your daughter takes the test has no bearing on the outcome of the application. There are no advantages to sitting the test at any particular school, other than the convenience of the location for you on exam day.

If you're applying from overseas, your child is invited to travel and sit the test in a London 11 Plus Consortium school. Alternatively, you can contact your chosen schools' admissions teams to enquire about arrangements for sitting the assessment overseas.

The admissions process for London 11 Plus Consortium schools

The admissions process consists of three stages:

  1. The assessment (all schools and all candidates)

  2. A reference from your child's current school (all schools and all candidates)

  3. An interview with the senior school (some candidates, depending on the school)

Alongside this process, your child may need to take part in an audition if they are applying for a music or sports scholarship. These will be individual to each senior school – see the schools’ websites for more information on scholarships.

References

After you apply to senior school, the London 11 Plus Consortium will request a reference from your child's current primary or prep school. The London 11 Plus Consortium requests that a common reference form is used, although feeder schools may use their own reference forms. This aims to gather contextual information on your child's attitude and character, along with detailed commentary on their academic performance.

Interviews

The third stage of the process consists of interviews with the schools in January of Year 6. The interviews are individual to each school and aim to explore children's skills, aptitudes and intellectual potential.

Francis Holland, Regent’s Park, South Hampstead High School and The Godolphin and Latymer School choose candidates to invite to interview based on their assessment results and headteacher references. The other schools in the London 11+ Consortium interview all candidates.

There is no need to prepare for the interview or bring anything with you. The interviewers are looking for creativity and independent thinking, and they are experienced at putting nervous candidates at ease. Contact your target school(s) for more information about their interview process.

Getting an offer

The London 11 Plus Consortium schools consider the whole picture created by the entrance test, reference and interview to evaluate your child’s potential and determine whether they are likely to thrive at the schools. Children with a sibling already at one of the schools are not automatically offered a place, but may be given preference over an equally suited candidate.

You will get an email in the spring term of Year 6 with the results of your application to the London 11 Plus Consortium schools. If your daughter is offered a place, you must accept or decline the offer by the deadline in early March.

The London 11 Plus Consortium assessment

Recent changes to the exam

In 2022 the London 11 Plus Consortium decided to introduce a new bespoke assessment process provided by Atom Assessments. Your child will experience the new assessment if they are applying to enter Year 7 in September 2023 onwards.

With concern about the pressure the 11 plus application system can place on children, the new assessment is designed to discourage 'teaching to the test' and instead find a way to measure children's genuine intellectual curiosity, passion and enjoyment for learning. The new assessment aims to go beyond testing cognitive ability by seeking to discover a child’s potential in creative and critical thinking, analysis, synthesis and problem-solving:

"We are interested not only in verbal and mathematical potential, but also in non-verbal ability, which often signifies the sort of creative and visual intelligence relating to problem-solving and design. The changing landscape of work needs all these aptitudes."

With this innovative approach, the London 11 Plus Consortium aims to create a fair and holistic assessment process where the focus is on matching children to schools that will best fit their profile.

Subjects and timings

The London 11 Plus Consortium assessment covers:

  • Maths (20 minutes)

  • Non-verbal reasoning (10 minutes)

  • English (20 minutes)

  • Verbal reasoning (10 minutes)

(Break)

  • Puzzles and problem-solving (15 minutes)

  • Creative comprehension (25 minutes)

See the familiarisation materials for examples of questions from each subject.

The assessment totals 100 minutes (1 hour 40 minutes) with a break in the middle. During the assessment, your child will see a clock on the screen that will count down in minutes showing her how long she has left for each section. It will be visible but not so large as to be distracting.

Format

This is an online assessment taken electronically on a computer, laptop or tablet which will be provided by the test centre. There is no extended writing required, so typing ability will not have an impact on results.

Children are not expected to get through all the questions in the time available, and they are not penalised for not answering all the questions.

The first four parts of the assessment are adaptive, which means the questions are tailored to your child’s performance. If a child answers questions correctly, they will see more difficult questions. Adaptive testing meets each child where they are, so it's a shorter and more efficient process.

The final two sections are non-adaptive. Children see the same questions regardless of performance, although some will progress further through the questions than others.

The subjects in detail

Maths (20 minutes)

The maths questions cover the range of topics as set out in the Key Stage 2 national curriculum up to the end of Year 5. Students are tested on arithmetic, mathematical reasoning and problem-solving. Nothing from the Year 6 curriculum is tested – this is to make things fair, as primary schools teach the Year 6 curriculum in different orders.

The maths section is designed to stretch and challenge your child through both the style and depth of the questions. The questions adapt depending on your child's performance.

Maths LC example question.png

Non-verbal reasoning (10 minutes)

Non-verbal reasoning assesses your child's ability to identify patterns and think logically. This section is also adaptive, so the questions will get harder as your child answers them correctly.

Non-verbal reasoning questions can seem strange to children who are unfamiliar with them, so we recommend that you share the familiarisation materials with your child ahead of the assessment.

NVR LC example question

English (20 minutes)

The English section includes a comprehension exercise where your child will engage with an unseen text. They will be asked to answer adaptive questions about it. No extended writing is required.

Unfamiliar vocabulary should not be a problem here as the comprehension test aims to assess your child's ability to infer meaning from context. Reading widely will help your child to build these skills organically.

There are also spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPaG) questions which assess your child's ability to identify the correct use of standard English in context.

English LC example question

Verbal reasoning (10 minutes)

Verbal reasoning assesses your child's ability to reason and solve problems with written information, testing their reading fluency, vocabulary, logic and attention to detail. Children who read widely will be well-prepared for this section.

Verbal reasoning LC example question.png

Puzzles and problem-solving (15 minutes)

This section tests your child's ability to problem-solve and reason through a series of interactive puzzles. The section is non-adaptive, so all candidates will see the same questions regardless of their ability.

Puzzles and problem-solving LC example question

Creative comprehension (25 minutes)

In this section, your child will need to use information from a variety of different sources to answer questions. The information will be given to them in a range of formats. They may have to look at several different sources at the same time to answer questions.

The context is likely to be unfamiliar to all children taking the test. However, if a child is familiar with the context, they will not have any advantage in answering the questions. This section is also non-adaptive.

Creative comprehension LC example question

To make sure there's no advantage to sitting the test on a later date, the English comprehension passage and the non-adaptive sections of the test are different for each of the three assessment dates. The questions have been carefully pitched to make sure the three sittings are of equal difficulty. After the assessments are marked, the scores are standardised to make sure there is parity across the three sittings.

Preparing for the London 11 Plus Consortium

Here are our top tips to help your child feel confident during the admissions process and set them up for success at senior school.

Review the familiarisation exercise

The London 11 Plus familiarisation exercise is designed to introduce your child to the format and style of the questions. There are example questions from each of the subjects so your child will know what to expect on exam day.

Take a ‘whole child approach’ to learning

The assessment is designed to boost accessibility, ensuring that no one is given an unfair advantage due to excessive exam preparation. It provides a platform for children who are genuinely enthusiastic about learning to showcase their abilities at a deeper level.

While the assessment primarily evaluates a child's understanding of the Key Stage 2 material taught in school, familiarity with the different question styles can be an advantage. So, review the familiarisation exercise but don’t spend time on repeated practice papers. Instead, support your child’s broader learning, their intellectual curiosity and their passion for developing an understanding of the world.

  • Talk to them about the world we live in and engage in discussion about your viewpoints. Use ambitious vocabulary!

  • Inspire an interest in current affairs with age-appropriate journalism such as Newsround, The Week Junior and The Day.

  • Make sure they’re benefitting from a rich variety of experiences, such as visiting free museums and galleries.

  • Encourage them to read widely, particularly non-fiction. Try our top non-fiction picks to inspire young readers:

Brilliant books to build general knowledge

Download reading list

Develop resilience and independence

Your child will be well-served throughout their education by a willingness to try new challenges and adapt to the unexpected. As a parent, you can create a safe structure to help them become comfortable with exploring new concepts and trying different styles of problem-solving.

Puzzles such as crosswords and sudoku, and even toys such as Lego, can help your child develop their attention to detail, sustained thinking and visualisation. Another effective (and fun) activity is to hold regular family game nights. Many board games have fantastic educational value – take a look at our favourites here.

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