Can one 11+ test be used for multiple schools?

What a shared test does

A shared assessment avoids asking a child to sit a separate entrance test for each participating school. For example, Bexley uses one selection test for its four grammar schools. The CSSE guide identifies the Essex and Southend schools using its examination.

The exact membership matters. A school in the same county may use another test, and a shared group can include selective places at a school that is not wholly selective.

Check these four things before relying on one sitting

• Coverage: find the named school on the official participant list for your entry year.
• Registration: check whether you must identify schools or request score sharing by a separate deadline.
• Further assessment: establish whether the result completes testing or only qualifies your child for another stage.
• School evidence: check SIFs, priority evidence and access-arrangement forms separately.

Use the route directory to group schools, then confirm the detail in the current official guide. Keep the completed registration and any sharing confirmation.

One first stage can still lead to another test

The Sutton Selective Eligibility Test is a useful example. For 2027 entry, successful candidates for its grammar schools proceed to the relevant second-stage examination. The boys’ schools share one further examination, and Nonsuch and Wallington High School for Girls share another.

That does not mean every participating school applies identical criteria or that passing a stage reserves a place. Read the outcome for each school named in the result.

Name each school separately on your CAF

The consortium or test route is not the school preference. If you want consideration by several schools, name each individual school on your home council’s CAF and order them by your preference.

Compare their admissions policies after the result. One may prioritise a catchment, another may use score ranking within a category, and another may have a different distance tie-break. A shared examination does not erase those differences.

If you are unsure whether a school received a shared score, ask the test organiser before the relevant deadline. Do not send a second registration or a score report to another school on the assumption that it will be accepted.