What age do children sit the 11 Plus? A guide to 2027 exams

Children usually take the 11 Plus at age 10 or 11 when testing happens near the start of Year 6. However, some tests take place in the summer of Year 5, when children in the usual cohort can be 9 or 10. The school’s test date and age eligibility rule matter more than the name “11 Plus”.

Which birth dates normally belong to the 2027 test cohort?

Buckinghamshire’s published September 2028 entry timeline identifies the normal cohort as children born from 1 September 2016 to 31 August 2017. These children are normally in Year 5 during the 2026–27 school year and Year 6 during 2027–28. Confirm the eligibility wording for each test, especially if your child is educated outside their normal year group.

An August 2017 birthday means a child is still nine in July 2027, then ten at the start of Year 6. That does not itself make a published Year 5 test too early for them. Check the cohort, not whether their eleventh birthday has arrived.

Confirmed differences for tests taken in 2027

Do not assume that two areas changing exam provider will change their test dates in the same way. Independent schools also set their own admission calendars; an assessment described as “11+ entry” is not necessarily held on the local grammar-school test date.

Registration can be much earlier than the test

For Gloucestershire’s July 2027 test, The Crypt School publishes registration from noon on 8 February to noon on 19 March 2027. Waiting until your child starts Year 6 would miss both the registration window and the main test. Make a calendar from the chosen school’s current admissions page, including any access-arrangement deadline.

What if my child is summer-born or in a different year group?

Being summer-born does not automatically give a child an extra year before selective entry. Department for Education guidance distinguishes a request for admission outside the normal age group from an application for a place. It says selective schools should make arrangements for children educated outside their normal age group to take the entry test.

Contact each intended school’s admission authority early, explain the child’s date of birth and actual year group, and ask which test cycle and admission request apply. Agreement at primary school does not remove the need to settle the secondary-school arrangements. Keep the written decision and use the correct date of birth when registering.

Does this apply across the UK?

The year-group examples above concern England. In Northern Ireland, SEAG provides its Entrance Assessment for Primary 7 pupils transferring to post-primary education. Do not apply an English Year 6 calendar or birth-date assumption to that process.

Your next steps are to confirm the intended school-entry year, match the official cohort, record the test and registration dates, and resolve any age-group exception. Then use the grammar-school application guide or the 11 Plus registration checklist.