How to register your child for the 11 Plus in 2027

To register your child for the 11 Plus, start on the admissions page of the school you are considering and follow its link to the official test organiser. There is no single national registration form. The organiser might be a council, a consortium of schools or the school itself.

1. Identify the correct test and admissions cycle

Write down your intended school, its entry year and the name of the accepted entrance test. Then check the relevant admissions policy and registration page. A commercial practice account, open-day booking or mailing-list subscription does not register a child for the real examination. You do not choose an exam board on the basis of which practice books you already own.

If you are considering several schools, use our shared-test registration checklist to record which tests and permissions each school requires. Do not assume that every school in the same county accepts the same result.

2. Check whether you need to register yourself

Automatic entry is a local exception, not something to assume. For example, Buckinghamshire’s published 2028-entry timeline says pupils at state-funded Buckinghamshire primary schools are entered automatically, while children attending school in Milton Keynes must be registered. Check your child’s own primary-school category with the organiser.

Check the permitted date-of-birth range and what to do if your child is educated outside their normal age group. Ask the admissions team before using a form intended for a different cohort. School-place eligibility, catchment priority and permission to sit a test are related questions, but they are not interchangeable.

3. Record every deadline before collecting documents

Do not wait until the summer to begin checking. The Gloucestershire timetable for September 2028 entry already sets out a registration window from noon on 8 February to noon on 19 March 2027. Where future details are absent, mark them “not yet confirmed” and check the official page again; do not copy the previous year’s dates.

4. Prepare what your actual form requests

• Your child’s name, date of birth, current school and the contact details you want the organiser to use.
• Any identity, address or photograph evidence requested by that organiser, in its specified file format.
• Forms supporting access arrangements or an admissions priority, where applicable. Check whether the primary school must complete part of them.
• Details of other schools or test groups with which you want the result shared, if the form provides that option.

This is a preparation checklist, not a universal document list. There is no national rule that everyone must upload six documents, provide a headteacher recommendation or use a particular photograph size. If an upload is unclear, ask the organiser rather than sending unrelated personal records.

5. Complete, submit and verify

1. 1Use the official link and create or sign into the parent account, if required.
2. 2Enter the child’s information carefully; check dates, postcode and email address before continuing.
3. 3Complete every relevant section, including result sharing and support requests.
4. 4Preview the form and attachments. Saving a draft may not submit it.
5. 5Submit using the final submission control and save the confirmation or application reference.
6. 6Check the portal status and the organiser’s stated confirmation process. Follow up if acknowledgement is missing.

Keep a copy of what you submitted and the official guidance used. For example, Warwickshire’s registration instructions explain that a submission confirmation is emailed after its form is completed successfully. Other organisers may use different arrangements; there is no universal 24- or 48-hour promise.

What if something goes wrong?

• Wrong information: contact the organiser promptly, quoting the reference and the correction needed. Avoid creating a duplicate application unless instructed.
• No internet access or upload difficulties: request the organiser’s available help or alternative application method before the deadline.
• Missed deadline: ask what the published late-registration policy permits. A payment does not create a right to a late sitting.
• Support needed: make the specific access-arrangements request; do not assume that ticking a SEND box alone completes it.

Do you have to pay?

Do not confuse official test entry with paid mocks, tutoring or independent-school registration. The King Edward VI Foundation explicitly states that Birmingham’s grammar schools cover the entrance-test costs. Paid preparation packages are separate from official registration. Check the official organiser if any payment request is unexpected.

Registration is only the first application

For a state secondary place in England you must also use the home-council application process. See when to apply for grammar school places and GOV.UK’s application guidance. A test acknowledgement confirms a test application, not an offer of a school place.

Once registration is secure, match preparation to the official familiarisation material and the subjects actually tested. Our subject guides and practice papers can support learning, but they do not replace the organiser’s instructions.