Churston Ferrers Grammar School 11+ Preparation

Churston Ferrers Grammar School is a state selective grammar school in Galmpton, on the outskirts of Brixham in Torbay, South Devon. Founded in 1957 to replace the closing Dartmouth Grammar School, it converted to academy status in 2011 and today educates 1,062 pupils across Years 7 to 13, including an established sixth form. Entry to Year 7 is through the Torbay consortium 11+ test, sat in September of Year 6, alongside pupils applying to Torquay Boys' Grammar School and Torquay Girls' Grammar School. With an admission number of 160 for September 2026 entry — of which 88 places (55%) were awarded specifically under its named-feeder-school priority — understanding exactly how Churston's own admissions process works, including the eligibility score it now sets and controls itself, is essential for families considering Churston Ferrers.

What Are the Key Facts and Dates for Churston Ferrers 11+ Entry 2027?

The table below sets out the essential facts about Churston Ferrers and the key dates for the 2026/2027 admissions cycle, based on the school's own admissions pages, its published admissions policy and Torbay Council's local authority data.

Registration is completed directly with the school, who will confirm the exact test date and registration window each year on their admissions pages. Because a child sits the test once and the result is shared, families applying to more than one Torbay selective school (Churston Ferrers, Torquay Boys', Torquay Girls' or the selective stream at The Spires College) need to check the specific rules on shared results, as guidance letters confirm whether a child has met the standard for each school from that single sitting.

What Does the Torbay Consortium 11+ Test Involve?

Unlike many grammar school entrance tests elsewhere in England, the Churston Ferrers 11+ does not include verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning papers. This is worth stating plainly, because several generic 11+ preparation guides describe the Torbay test as including a reasoning component — it does not. The school's own admissions pages are explicit that the assessment covers English and Maths only, both drawn from content "any child, in any primary school, would be expected to have learned by the end of Year 5."

Both papers are sat on the same day, as the school's own admissions pages confirm. The school's own admissions pages describe the test as standardised "so every child sits the same paper under the same conditions," and it is a child's ranked position — not the raw number of correct answers — that determines whether the qualifying threshold is met.

Because the test is English and Maths only, preparation should be weighted accordingly. Families who default to a generic "11+ pack" built around verbal and non-verbal reasoning — the format used by many grammar school consortia elsewhere in the country — risk spending valuable preparation time on question types that will not appear in the Churston Ferrers test at all. A tuition plan built specifically around comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and Year 5 maths content is a far more efficient use of a child's time between Year 4 and the September Year 6 sitting.

How Are Places Allocated at Churston Ferrers?

Churston Ferrers does not publish a single fixed pass mark. Instead, results are ranked in score order and the qualifying threshold is set each year by where that ranked list meets the number of available places — 160 for September 2026 entry — and will always vary with the strength of the cohort sitting the test.

Torbay Council publishes exactly how many of Churston's places are awarded under each admissions criterion. For September 2026 entry, in descending order of priority:

The breakdown above is for September 2026 entry, the year before Churston's latest change, which takes effect for September 2027 entry. Two changes stand out. First, sibling priority (which accounted for 20 of the 160 places above) has been removed entirely — previously, having an older brother or sister already at the school gave automatic priority, but this is no longer the case for September 2027 entry. Second, Churston now controls how it sets the eligible "pass mark" itself specifically to manage how many of its 15 named feeder-school children qualify, aiming — in the school's own words — to keep a more reasonable proportion of places accessible to students from beyond these schools.

Which Primary Schools Get Feeder Priority at Churston Ferrers?

Fifteen primary schools across Torbay are named as feeder schools in Churston's admissions arrangements, and children attending one of them receive a dedicated priority once higher categories (EHCP, children in care, top-scoring, free-school-meals-eligible and, for September 2026 entry, sibling) have been applied. Torbay Council's own published data shows 88 of the 160 places offered for September 2026 entry (55%) were awarded specifically under this feeder-school priority.

Families outside these 15 schools are not excluded from applying, and the priority for children scoring at or above the 50th-ranked child (14 of the 160 places, priority group 2 above) sits ahead of the feeder-school priority, so a very strong score can still secure a place regardless of primary school. But in practice, competition for places outside the feeder-school priority remains intense, and families outside the feeder-school catchment should treat thorough, early preparation as essential rather than optional.

How Competitive Is Entry to Churston Ferrers?

For September 2026 entry, Torbay Council's own admissions data shows 442 total preferences were submitted across first, second and third choices, with 230 families naming Churston Ferrers as their first preference. Of those first-preference applicants, 148 were offered a place — a first-preference offer rate of 64.35%. A further 12 second-preference applicants (7.45% of those considered) and no third-preference applicants (0 of 51 considered) were offered a place, and the council's data confirms zero places remained available on National Offer Day, underlining just how tightly the intake is managed against demand.

This competition sits within a broader context. Churston Ferrers is one of Torbay's grammar schools, alongside Torquay Boys' Grammar School and Torquay Girls' Grammar School; the same September testing day also covers the selective stream at The Spires College, and families across Torbay frequently apply to more than one as insurance. Because Churston Ferrers is co-educational — unlike the single-sex Torquay grammars — it draws applications from boys and girls across the whole borough, which adds to the pressure on its 160 available places for September 2026 entry.

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What Results and Reputation Does Churston Ferrers Have?

Ofsted rated Churston Ferrers "Good" following an inspection on 18 October 2022, with the report published on 5 December 2022, covering quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth form provision. This followed an "Outstanding" rating in 2009, and the change is worth noting for families weighing the school against others that have retained their top grade.

Beyond the classroom, Churston Ferrers has a strong extracurricular record. The school organises pupils into five houses — Brunel, Christie, Gilbert, Singer and Thompson — named after figures with strong ties to South Devon, and more than 200 pupils take part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award scheme each year. Its basketball team was crowned national champions on two separate occasions, and alumni include Olympic gold medallist Giselle Ansley. See also our overview of 11+ Tuition for how we support families across all selective and grammar school entrance routes, and our 11+ School Guides hub for other schools you may be considering alongside Churston Ferrers.

How Should You Prepare for the Churston Ferrers 11+?

Because the Churston Ferrers test is English and Maths only, preparation looks noticeably different from a typical GL Assessment reasoning test used elsewhere. The following timeline reflects the approach Leading Tuition recommends for families targeting Churston Ferrers.

Year 4 (Optional Early Start): Focus on building genuine enjoyment of reading across a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, since vocabulary depth and comprehension speed are the strongest long-term predictors of performance in the English paper. Strengthen core arithmetic and number fluency through games and puzzles rather than formal practice. No timed tests at this stage.

Year 5, September (Structured Preparation): Begin systematic work on comprehension technique — skimming for structure, answering inference questions, and identifying vocabulary in context. Introduce spelling, grammar and punctuation practice explicitly, since these are marked components of the English paper rather than incidental skills. In Maths, work through the Year 5 curriculum in full, with particular attention to multi-step word problems, which are where children typically lose the most marks.

Year 5, January onward: Increase the volume and difficulty of both English and Maths practice. Begin introducing timed sections so your child becomes comfortable working at pace under mild pressure. Track performance by question type to identify whether comprehension, technical English (spelling/grammar/punctuation) or a specific area of maths is the priority for the coming months.

Year 6, September–June: Run full timed mock papers under exam conditions at least monthly, replicating the same two-papers-in-one-day format used in the real test. Ensure your child is comfortable with time management across two papers sat back-to-back on the same day. Confirm registration by the school's published deadline (midday, in early September of the year before entry, per Torbay Council's timetable) — do not leave this to the final days of the window, and confirm the exact date directly with the school once published.

Summer before the exam: Maintain a light, consistent schedule of two to three sessions per week through the summer holidays. Avoid over-intensive cramming in the final weeks — the test measures developed comprehension and mathematical fluency, not last-minute memorisation, and children generally perform best when they arrive for the September sitting well-rested rather than exhausted from an intensive final push.

Understanding Age Standardisation and Score Ranking

A frequent source of confusion for families is the difference between a child's raw mark and their standardised score. Churston Ferrers does not publish a fixed pass mark: as the school's own FAQs explain, there is a standardised pass mark, but the exact threshold changes year on year depending on the cohort. This standardised figure — not the raw number of correct answers — is what appears on the guidance letter and what determines a child's ranked position against the qualifying threshold.

Because Churston Ferrers ranks every child rather than applying a fixed score, families should be wary of any website that quotes a single "pass mark" for the school with confidence. The genuinely useful preparation goal is to maximise your child's standardised score relative to their peers, not to hit an arbitrary published number that changes from one September to the next.

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Reviewed September 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against Churston Ferrers Grammar School's own entry-requirements, admissions FAQ and history pages, Torbay Council's secondary application timetable and published Churston Ferrers school place allocations data, Ofsted, and GIAS (URN 136388).

Frequently Asked Questions

For families weighing Churston Ferrers against other selective options in the South West or considering wider preparation support, visit our guide to what the 11+ exam involves or explore our full range of 11+ tuition services. You can also read Churston Ferrers Grammar School's own entry requirements page directly for the latest official updates on test dates and registration.