11+ Results 2026: What to Do When They Arrive, Whether Your Child Passed or Not
11+ results arrive in October, a week or two before the deadline to apply. The dates by area, what a pass means, and every option if it did not go well.
11+ results arrive in October, and for most families they land a week or two before the national deadline to name your secondary schools, which is Saturday 31 October 2026. That short window is what this post is about.
I have written it for both kinds of evening, the one where the email says your child has qualified and the one where it does not. The options are different, and knowing them in advance makes the evening easier.
When results arrive in 2026
Each area sends results on its own date. These are the dates published by councils and schools for the tests sat this September.
| Area or school | Results |
|---|---|
| Buckinghamshire | Friday 9 October |
| Lincolnshire | Friday 9 October, by email at midday |
| Kent | Thursday 15 October, by email after 4pm |
| Birmingham, King Edward VI schools | By Friday 16 October |
| Ripon Grammar School | By Friday 16 October |
| Heckmondwike Grammar School | Saturday 17 October (target date) |
| Wirral | Wednesday 21 October |
| Trafford | Before 31 October |
If your area is not listed, the admissions page for your council or school will have the date. Every admission authority is expected to tell families the outcome before 31 October, so you can use it when you fill in the form.
A pass is not the same as a place
This is the part that surprises most families. Qualifying means your child has reached the standard for a grammar school. It does not guarantee a place at any particular one.
Some grammar schools offer places to the highest scorers. Others set a pass mark and then use their normal admission rules, such as distance from the school, to choose between everyone who reached it.
Two examples show the difference. In Birmingham, a score of 205 qualifies for a King Edward VI school for 2027 entry, but children scoring 224 or more are given priority, and popular schools fill with higher scores than that. In Buckinghamshire, 3,648 children qualified for September 2026 entry, for 2,369 grammar school places, so schools then ranked qualified children by their admission rules.
The practical point is simple. The score tells you where you stand, and the school's own admissions policy tells you what that score is likely to get you.
If your child passed
- List every school in your real order of preference. Putting a grammar school first does not harm your chances at the schools further down the list. Every school on the form is considered equally, and your child is offered the highest one on your list that has a place for them.
- Include a school your child is very likely to get. A good local school lower down the list protects you if the grammar schools fill with higher scores.
- Send the form by 31 October. Late applications are usually dealt with after the on time ones, which can cost a place.
- Wait for 1 March. Offers go out on Monday 1 March 2027. Nothing else needs doing before then.
Keep some maths going in the meantime. Children who stop completely in October arrive at secondary school rusty, and Year 6 still has plenty to learn.
If your child did not pass
Start with your child, not the options. Tell them it was one test on one morning, and that it says nothing about how clever they are or how well they will do at secondary school. Children take their cue from how calm you are.
Then, when you are ready, there are five routes worth knowing about.
1. A review of the decision, in some areas. Buckinghamshire runs a Selection Review, where a panel of head teachers looks at your child's school work and any exceptional circumstances on the test day. If you receive your score on 9 October, the case must be submitted by 30 October, and outcomes arrive on 12 February 2027. The council says most successful reviews have been for children who scored between 110 and 120. Kent works differently, with a head teacher assessment that happens before results and is already included in the decision you receive.
2. An appeal after offers. If your child is not offered a grammar school place on 1 March, you can appeal. You have at least 20 school days from the offer to lodge it. For a grammar school, the panel needs evidence that your child is of grammar school ability, usually from school reports or a letter from the head teacher, and panels often want to know why the test result did not show it.
Be realistic about the odds. Across England, 19.5% of secondary school appeals that were heard succeeded in the latest figures, for 2025/26, and that includes all types of school. Buckinghamshire publishes figures for grammar schools, and in 2025 7% of appeals by qualified children succeeded and 2% by children who had not qualified.
3. Waiting lists. Schools keep a waiting list until at least 31 December of the year your child starts, and places do come up as other families move or change their minds. The list is ranked by the school's admission rules, not by the date you joined it, so joining late does not count against you.
4. Independent schools. Many independent schools test for Year 7 between November and January, and some deadlines are close. The London 11+ Consortium of girls' schools closes registration on 6 November 2026, and City of London School closes on 2 November. If this is a route you are considering, check the deadlines this week.
5. Later entry. Some grammar schools test again for Year 8 or Year 9, including Buckinghamshire's late transfer test, which opens for registration on 5 October 2026, and Ripon Grammar School. Places are few. Buckinghamshire offered no Year 8 or Year 9 places in the first round for September 2026, so treat this as a possibility rather than a plan.
My honest view
Reviews and appeals are worth doing when you have strong evidence, and a waiting list costs nothing. But the numbers above show that most families who miss out will not change the outcome, and the months spent chasing it can be hard on a child.
What makes the biggest difference is how your child starts Year 7, wherever they go. The maths your child learned for the 11+ is not wasted. Much of it comes straight back in Year 7 and Year 8, and a child who arrives confident in maths starts secondary school with a real head start.
If you want to know where your child is now, the free Maths Level Finder checks 16 topics and shows which ones are secure. If you would like to talk it through with a teacher, book a free consultation and we will help you plan the next year.
For younger brothers and sisters
If you have a younger child heading for the 11+, two areas are changing their test. The seven Gloucestershire grammar schools move to the FSCE test for September 2028 entry, and the test moves to the end of Year 5, on Saturday 3 July 2027. The Trafford grammar schools also move to FSCE for 2028 entry, with their test moving to the summer of Year 5 from 2029 entry. Our post on the FSCE 11+ exam explains what that test looks like, and when to start preparing covers the timeline.
Our free 11+ past papers directory lists papers for over 140 schools and boards, so you can see what the test looks like at the schools on your list.
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