For families living in and around Slough, the four grammar schools that make up the Slough Consortium share one 11+ entrance examination. Herschel Grammar School, Langley Grammar School, Upton Court Grammar School, and St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School make up the Consortium. Securing a place at one of these schools can genuinely shape a child's educational trajectory — but it requires focused, well-informed preparation. This guide explains exactly what the Slough SET involves, how competitive entry really is, and what a serious preparation plan looks like.
Checked October 2026
The Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' registration portal shows registration closed, and the Upton Court and St Bernard's Year 7 entry pages record that the 11+ examination was held on Saturday 19 September 2026. Its key dates give results in mid-October 2026, the Common Application Form closing on Saturday 31 October 2026 and allocation on Monday 1 March 2027.
The four Slough Consortium grammar schools - Herschel, Langley, St Bernard's Catholic and Upton Court - are selective: a score of 111 or above in the Consortium 11+ examination makes a child eligible for consideration at any of them. St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School completes the four; the Consortium's own guide lists contact details for exactly these schools and no others.
For parents in Slough and the surrounding areas of Berkshire, entry to all four schools runs through one shared examination and one eligibility score of 111. The Consortium's guide notes that an oversubscribed school may allocate its last places in rank order of score, which is why preparation must be taken seriously from the outset.
All four schools use the same entrance exam, administered centrally, so your child sits one test, whichever of the four schools you go on to apply to. We use the shorthand Slough SET for the test; the Consortium's own guide calls it the Consortium 11+ entrance examination, which is the name to look for in official information.
The Consortium's own guide for September 2027 entry states that the examination is provided by GL Assessment and consists of two separate papers, each of approximately 60 to 65 minutes, containing a variety of questions which test verbal, numerical and non-verbal ability. Questions use a range of answer formats and are answered on a separate answer sheet, marked by computer; the question booklet itself is not marked, and a child who writes answers in the booklet scores nothing for them.
There is no separate English paper and no separate maths paper. Guidance telling Slough families to concentrate preparation on English and Maths and to skip reasoning is describing a different test from the one the Consortium's guide sets out. Numerical and verbal questions build on primary-school maths and English — but non-verbal reasoning is a third strand in its own right, and it is the one a child prepared only on school-style English and maths is likely to meet for the first time on the morning of the exam.
The practical consequence is that mock practice has to look like the real thing in two ways at once: all three strands mixed within a paper, and the answer-sheet mechanics. Marks can be lost on the Consortium paper to transcription slips, because the sheet must be filled in exactly as directed and the question booklet is not marked.
A realistic Slough mock differs from a plain English-and-maths paper in two ways.
The first is composition. The examination consists of two papers, each of approximately 60 to 65 minutes, and each contains a mixture of verbal, numerical and non-verbal questions. A mock that gives a child a clean English paper and a clean maths paper trains the wrong thing: it never asks them to switch question type mid-paper. If a child has only ever done single-subject practice, the first time they meet a non-verbal sequence sitting between a comprehension question and a ratio question will be in the examination hall.
The second is the answer sheet. Candidates mark a separate sheet which is read by computer, and the Consortium's guidance is explicit that it must be completed exactly as directed and that the question booklet itself is not marked. A child who works neatly in the booklet and transfers answers in the last two minutes is at risk of losing marks that have nothing to do with what they know. Practising on a separate answer sheet, under the clock, is worth as much as another topic-revision session.
Neither of these is about ability. They are about format familiarity, and format familiarity is the cheapest set of marks available to a well-prepared child. A useful test of any mock you buy: open it and count the non-verbal questions. If there are none, it is not a Slough Consortium mock, whatever the cover says.
Entry is selective: St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School's admissions page says pupils who score 111 or above will be in the top 35% of the cohort sitting the examination, and the Consortium's guide notes that an oversubscribed school may allocate its last places in rank order of score, so eligibility does not guarantee a place.
Key facts parents should understand about the admissions process:
Our 11+ specialists work with Slough grammar school applicants in the GL Assessment format the Consortium uses, building the verbal, non-verbal, and numerical reasoning skills the Slough selective schools' entry process rewards. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry. Book a free consultation to discuss a preparation plan for the Slough grammar school 11+.
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Structured preparation is best begun in Year 5, typically around January or February, which leaves roughly seven to eight months before the September exam. Starting earlier than this is rarely necessary for most children; starting later than the summer term of Year 5 makes thorough preparation very difficult.
In the early stages, the focus should be on identifying and closing gaps in core Maths and English knowledge. This means working systematically through the primary curriculum — fractions, ratio, algebra, written methods — and building reading comprehension skills through regular, varied reading and structured question practice. Children should be reading widely and analytically, not just for pleasure.
From around the summer term of Year 5, preparation should shift towards timed practice under exam conditions. Practice papers in the GL Assessment format, including the familiarisation material the Consortium schools publish on their websites, should be used regularly, with careful review of errors rather than simply moving on. The goal is not to complete as many papers as possible — it is to understand why mistakes happen and correct the underlying gaps.
In the final weeks before the September exam, children should be sitting full mock papers under timed, exam-like conditions, reviewing their performance, and consolidating their strongest areas. Anxiety management and exam technique — reading questions carefully, managing time across sections, checking work — deserve explicit attention at this stage.
Leading Tuition provides specialist 1-to-1 tutoring for children preparing for the Slough SET. Our tutors are experienced with the specific demands of the GL Assessment format used in the Slough Consortium and understand what distinguishes a borderline performance from a competitive one. We work with each child individually — assessing their current level, building a structured preparation plan, and adapting as their skills develop. Preparation is paced carefully to avoid burnout while ensuring children are genuinely ready when September arrives.
For the official guide and key dates, see the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' guide to the 11+ test and key dates for September 2027 entry; results are published on the Consortium portal.
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These are the steps in the Slough Consortium's published timetable once the examination has been sat.
Reviewed October 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' guide to the 11+ test and key dates for September 2027 entry, its registration portal, the Upton Court and St Bernard's Year 7 entry pages and Slough Borough Council's secondary admissions page.
For most children, beginning structured preparation in Year 5 — ideally between January and Easter — provides enough time to build skills thoroughly without creating unnecessary pressure. Children who have significant gaps in Maths or English may benefit from starting slightly earlier. Beginning in September of Year 6, just weeks before the exam, is too late for meaningful preparation.
There is a published eligibility score, and it is 111. Upton Court Grammar School's Year 7 entry page states that all children must achieve a minimum eligibility score of 111 or above in the 11+ examination to be considered for admission. Eligibility is not an offer: GL Assessment standardises scores by age, and each school then considers the eligible children on its own oversubscription criteria. So 111 is the number to clear; at an oversubscribed school a place can depend on rank order of score, so the score that secures one can be higher than 111.
Herschel Grammar School, Langley Grammar School, St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School and Upton Court Grammar School. The Consortium's own guide for September 2027 entry states that the four grammar schools in Slough operate as a consortium and lists contact details for exactly those four. Khalsa is not a Consortium grammar school: the Consortium consists of those four schools.
For September 2027 entry the examination was sat on Saturday 19 September 2026 by all candidates, whatever their home address or current primary school. Registration opened at 10.00am on Friday 1 May 2026 and closed at 10.00am on Friday 5 June 2026; the Consortium guide says late applications are not accepted unless there are exceptional circumstances. There were four test centres, one at each of the four grammar schools, and a preferred centre could not be guaranteed because the venues differ in capacity. Results are published through the Consortium portal in mid-October 2026, ahead of the Common Application Form deadline of Saturday 31 October 2026.
No. A child sits just one 11+ examination: for September 2027 entry it was held on Saturday 19 September 2026, with a single alternative date for applicants who could not attend for religious or medical reasons. The Consortium's guide said alternative arrangements would be made for a child who was ill on the day to sit the test at a later date, and that supporting medical evidence such as a doctor's note may be required. This makes thorough preparation before the single sitting essential.
If a child scores below 111, they are not eligible for consideration at the Consortium grammar schools, so the Common Application Form should also name the non-selective schools you want your child considered for; the local authority makes offers using each school's admission criteria. Parents cannot appeal the 11+ score itself, but they can appeal against a school's decision not to admit their child; to appeal after a score below 111 you must name at least one grammar school on the Common Application Form. Eligible children who miss out on a higher-ranked school are placed on its waiting list automatically. The SET outcome is not the only path to an excellent secondary education.
Leading Tuition provides specialist one-to-one tutoring for children preparing for the Slough Consortium entrance examination. Our specialist tutors teach the verbal, numerical and non-verbal strands on the GL answer-sheet format, build timing for the two papers, and plan preparation around each child's current level. If your child is waiting for results or preparing for the next Slough Consortium entrance examination, book a free consultation to talk through the next steps.
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Our 11+ tutors teach all three strands the Consortium papers actually test — verbal, numerical and non-verbal reasoning — on the GL answer-sheet format, and build timing to two papers of 60 to 65 minutes.
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