11+ results 2026: What to expect, timings and what's next

Results timings for the 11+ depend on which test your child sat and whether it was for a state grammar school or an independent school. The two systems run on different schedules, use different scoring approaches, and lead to different next steps.

This guide covers both. If you're juggling applications across state and independent routes, the calendar matters: State grammar results usually arrive in October, independent school decisions tend to land between January and March, and the secondary school offer day for state schools is 1 March. Knowing which date you're working towards stops the waiting from feeling open-ended.

Most state grammar school results arrive between mid and late October, a few weeks after the September test sittings. A handful of areas release earlier (Sutton issues initial results in the week of 23 September before a final mid-October release). Your local authority or test consortium handles the release, not the schools themselves.

Indicative consortium-specific release dates for autumn 2025 results (always confirm with your local authority for the current cycle):

Results are usually sent by email or post, occasionally through a parent portal. They arrive ahead of the 31 October Common Application Form (CAF) deadline so you have a week or two to put grammar schools on your CAF preference list with confidence in what your child scored. Sutton works on a two-stage process: initial results in late September followed by a second-stage release in mid-October, so families there see news earlier than most.

Offers for all state secondary places, grammar and non-grammar, are released on national offer day, which is 1 March each year (or the next working day if 1 March falls on a weekend). For the 2026 cycle that's Monday 2 March 2026.

Independent school results don't follow a single national calendar. Each school sets its own timeline, and the gap between test and decision can range from a few weeks to a few months.

The ISEB Common Pre-Test is taken in Year 6 (sometimes Year 5 for some schools), usually between October and December. Schools typically use the Pre-Test alongside their own assessments, school references, and interviews. A decision is usually communicated between January and March, with offers required to be accepted by mid to late March.

Schools that run their own entrance exams in January typically release results within four to six weeks. Schools using the London 11+ Consortium will write to families in mid to late February.

If your child is sitting both state grammar and independent exams, you'll usually have grammar results well before independent offers. That gives time to plan, but it also means you may need to hold an independent offer (or a deposit) while waiting on state grammar movement after national offer day.

State grammar results usually give you a standardised score, sometimes broken down by subject (English, maths, verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning), and a pass/fail flag against a qualifying score.

A standardised score adjusts for the age of the child (so a younger child within the year group isn't disadvantaged) and is reported on a scale where roughly 100 is the average. Pass marks for many grammar schools sit between 111 and 121, depending on the area and the school. London super-selectives such as Tiffin and Queen Elizabeth's School Barnet often need scores well above the local qualifying mark; outside London, schools such as Kendrick in Reading run their own competitive entry that sits separately from any London consortium.

Some consortiums give an aggregate score, others give a per-subject breakdown. Per-subject scores are useful because they show whether a near-miss was concentrated in one area (which is informative for next steps) or even across the paper.

Independent school letters look different. Most don't share a score at all. You'll typically get one of: An offer, a wait-list place, or a decline. Some schools share whether your child reached the qualifying standard but not the exact figure, and most won't share the cut-off they used.

Passing the 11+ for a state grammar isn't the same as having a place. It means your child is eligible to be considered, and your school preferences on the CAF determine which grammar (if any) they're offered.

For highly oversubscribed grammars, passing the qualifying mark is necessary but not sufficient. Places go to children with the highest scores, or to children meeting other criteria such as living within a defined catchment, having a sibling at the school, or attending a feeder primary.

Once you have the score, the practical next steps are: Confirm your CAF preferences (you can usually edit until the 31 October deadline), check the historical cut-off scores for the schools you're considering, and weigh up the chances of an offer at each. Most local authorities publish previous years' cut-offs, which gives a rough sense of how competitive a place is.

If the score is well above any local cut-off, the practical concern shifts to listing schools in the right order on the CAF and not wasting preferences on schools you wouldn't accept.

A near-miss feels worse than a clear no. Both deserve the same first response: Don't make decisions in the first 48 hours. Your child will be reading your reaction, and the gap between a pass and a near-miss often comes down to test-day factors that say very little about how a child will get on at secondary school.

There are usually three options to consider. First, appeal: If you believe there's a specific reason the score doesn't reflect your child's ability (illness on the day, a misadministration of the test), you can request the score be reviewed. Most local authorities have a tight deadline for appeals, often within 10 to 14 days of results.

Second, the waiting list. Many grammars run waiting lists after national offer day, and movement can be significant in the first few weeks of March as families decide between offers. Get on the waiting list for any school you'd accept.

Third, plan around a non-grammar route. A near-miss at 11+ doesn't close doors to a strong academic future. Many comprehensive schools, academy chains, and faith schools achieve outcomes comparable to grammar schools at GCSE and A-level, and the academic content of the curriculum is the same across all state schools. The right secondary depends on the specific school, not the label.

Some areas offer a re-sit or a late entry test for children who couldn't sit on the main date because of illness or moving into the area. These are usually held in October or November.

Late tests aren't a second chance at improving a low score from the main sitting. They're for children who missed the main test for a valid reason and have documentary evidence (a GP note, a move-in date). Your local authority's admissions page lists the conditions and the deadline to register.