Buckinghamshire (Bucks) is one of the last remaining Counties where education is fully selective. There are 13 grammar schools and 21 Upper Schools in the County. Admission into Year 7 at all schools is managed centrally by Buckinghamshire County Council (BCC).

Buckinghamshire operates an “opt out” system for the 11+, whereby children at Bucks state schools are automatically entered for the test unless their parents actively withdraw them from taking it. Children at private schools and at schools outside Buckinghamshire must actively apply to take the test.

Many private schools in the county and large schools outside the county, but close to the border, administer the Bucks 11 plus on behalf of the Buckinghamshire County Council. These are known as “Partner Schools”. The children will receive the application form for the test and the CAF (Common Application Form) via their school, the children are tested in school and the results are provided via the school in exactly the same way as for state school children in Bucks.

Approximately 30 percent of children qualify for a grammar school place each year. School places are allocated by distance from school gates with defined catchment areas that receive priority.

Buckinghamshire is also unusual, in that it has retained the 12+ and 13+ tests for grammar school entry. There is no guarantee that a successful candidate in Bucks 11 plus test will be allocated a school place, but for some children it offers a second bite of the cherry if they are unsuccessful in the 11+ tests.

Bucks 11 Plus Appropriate Practice Materials

Verbal Reasoning materials (multiple choice format) published by IPS, The Tutors (papers and CDs) and Susan Daughtrey Bright Sparks. GL Assessment 11 plus Verbal Reasoning – in the format of the real test. Walsh books provide more challenging material for use towards the end of tutoring.

Bucks 11 Plus School Information

Open evening information for all Bucks schools, including grammar schools, is published on the Buckinghamshire County Council website in July each year. Open evenings take place in the last two weeks of September.

N.B. Chesham Grammar School was known as Chesham High School until September 2010.