Selective Eligibility Test ('SET') 11+ testing & SET FAQs

Please ensure your child is dressed appropriately for winter weather as they may be standing outside of our premises before being admitted, and again when being dismissed and waiting for collection by a parent. 

Your child will need to bring to the test:

1. Their own bottle of hand sanitiser. Hand sanitiser will be available for candidates but it is preferable for all SET candidates to bring their own as well. 
2. Your child is requested to bring a face mask or face covering to wear when entering our site and walking to their exam room. Once sat at his exam desk this face covering may be removed. 
3. Their own packet of tissues.
4. A printout of the invitation email which will be sent to you before the test. This contains your child’s venue details, their 8 digit unique candidate number and the Gate Entrance you must report to at your designated centre.   
5. Two pencils (HB or B), a soft rubber, a pencil sharpener and a ruler in a clear plastic pencil case or bag. Please ensure spare resources are brought to the test (so spare pencils, a spare pencil sharpener and a spare ruler) as we are unable to lend out spare equipment.  
6. A fleece or jumper.
7. If desired, water in a clear plastic sports cap bottle with the label removed (no fizzy drinks) and a snack for break time (NO NUTS due to the number of children who suffer from nut allergies).
8. A reading book to help pass waiting time before the first test commences and during the break between tests. This book has no relevance at all to the examination.

Your child must not bring:

1. A mobile telephone or any other electronic device.
2. A calculator or calculator watch.
3. A watch that beeps
4. Any piece of stationery which displays times tables or other such information.
5. A dictionary
6. Any food containing nuts

Please do not send your child to the exam with a large backpack or any other large bag as space in the exam room is limited.

Do not show us your child’s candidate number on a smartphone. You must have a printout with his/her candidate number when you arrive for the test.

• UNWELL:  If your child is unwell on the day of the Selective Eligibility Test (SET) you must telephone the school ideally between 8.00am and 8.30am (or definitely before your son's test is due to start), where your son was allocated to sit the SET and quote your son's 8 digit unique candidate number. In order for your child to be invited to the Reserve Day Test you will be asked to provide a GP certificate covering illness on 11th November 2020.  If in doubt, please do not bring your son to the test and he can then be invited to the Reserve Day SET test. 
• COVID-19:  If your child or a family member are displaying Covid-19 symptoms and are having to self-isolate, please let the school know where they were due to sit the SET as soon as possible to inform them that your child will not be attending the test. Please telephone the relevant telephone number below and ensure you quote your son's 8 digit unique candidate number. We may ask for proof of self-isolation or shielding in order to invite your son or daughter to the Reserve Day test.  
• UNFIT:  It is important that your son or daughter is given the opportunity to do his/her very best in the Selective Eligibility Test which is not possible if he/she is not 'fit' to sit the test. Not being fit means that your son's/daughter's condition of well-being on the day of the test (other than suffering the normal and expected levels of nerves), is such that his/her performance during the test may be impaired. 

Please telephone the School your son/daughter is allocated to sit the SET to inform them that your child will not attending. 

Greenshaw High School                     -           020 8715 1001

Nonsuch High School for Girls           -           020 8394 3400

Sutton Grammar School                     -           020 8642 3821

Wallington County Grammar School -          020 8647 2235

Wallington High School for Girls        -           020 8647 2380

Wilson’s School                                     -           020 8773 2931

The Selective Eligibility Test (also referred to as the 'SET') is a common first stage 11+ entrance test used by the six selective and partially selective Schools in the London Borough of Sutton. 

Please note: Wallington County Grammar School do not hold a second stage test and set a higher pass mark from the SET and pass less boys from this test than the other participating schools. Please refer to the 'Why is WCGS not running a second stage entrance examination' section of this website for further information.

A link to register your child online to sit the Selective Eligibility Test  has been available from 1 May 2020.

The “participating schools” in the Selective Eligibility Test ('SET'), are:

• Greenshaw High School (who offer 60 places for students of selective ability) 
• Nonsuch High School for Girls
• Sutton Grammar School
• Wallington County Grammar School
• Wallington High School for Girls
• Wilson’s School

No.  If your child passes the Selective Eligibility Test for a particular school it means:

For Greenshaw High School – Greenshaw High School uses the outcome of the Selective Eligibility Test to determine those children who may be eligible to be considered for one of their 60 ability places.  You may wish to list this school on your CAF.  Please note that even if your child does not achieve the pass mark in the Selective Eligibility Test (SET) they may still be eligible for a place at Greenshaw under one of the school’s other criteria.

For Wallington County Grammar School – Wallington County Grammar School uses the outcome of the Selective Eligibility Test to determine boys who are eligible to be considered for a place at the School. You must list Wallington County Grammar School on your CAF if you are interested in a place at our School for your son. Please note that Wallington County Grammar School does not hold a second stage test. Further information about this is available to read in the Admissions, Year 7 Entry section of this website.

For Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton Grammar School, Wallington High School for Girls and Wilson’s School – your son or daughter is eligible to sit the second stage Entrance Examinations, details of which will be sent to you by email. 

A shared second stage test will be held by Sutton Grammar School and Wilson’s School after the SET on 11th November 2020. The test will be common to both schools, but the criteria applied to be of selective ability will be determined by each school individually. If your son is deemed to be of selective ability by one or the other or both schools, you will be able to name that school, or both schools on your CAF in your chosen order of preference.

Please note:

Greenshaw High School admits both boys and girls.

Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson's School admit only boys.

Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls admit only girls.

A joint second stage test will be held by Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls after the SET on 11th November 2020. Both the test and the criteria applied to be of selective ability will be common to both schools.  If your daughter is deemed to be of selective ability, you will be able to name either or both schools on your CAF in your chosen order of preference. 

The outcome of the second stage entrance examinations will be emailed to parents/carers by the end of October (in advance of the deadline for completion of the CAF).  Please note that success in the examinations does not mean that a place will be offered.

Please note:

Greenshaw High School admits both boys and girls.

Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School and Wilson's School admit only boys.

Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls admit only girls.

For a place at Wallington County Grammar School in Year 7 September 2021 you must register your child to take the Selective Eligibility Test by completing the online Registration Form which can be accessed via this website. This online Registration Form can also be accessed via the websites of Greenshaw High School, Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton Grammar School, Wallington High School for Girls and Wilson’s School.

The online Registration Form will be available to complete from 1 May 2020. The closing date for the completion of the Registration Form is midnight on Friday 14 August 2020.  No late registrations will be accepted under any circumstances. Please note there is an earlier deadline of 19 June 2020 for submission of requests for special adjustments for candidates with SEN, and for supporting evidence (see further information below).

In addition, if you are an overseas candidate and wish us to try to organise your child sit the SET at an overseas centre, you must also register online by 19 June 2020.  Failure to do so will result in an overseas test not being possible and overseas candidates will be expected to travel to the UK to take the Selective Eligibility Test.

When registering your interest for an overseas test, parents/carers will be expected to have already approached a possible overseas test centre to ascertain whether this centre are willing to host the SET on the day it will be held in the UK. Overseas centre details (the name of the centre, a contact name, this person's role at the centre and a contact email address must be provided). Only if all of this information is provided can we try to organise for your son/daughter to sit the SET at an overseas centre. All overseas centres will then be directly approached by one of the SET participating schools to confirm their willingness to hold the SET. All overseas centres will be provided with a Terms and Conditions sheet that will require signing and returning to the SET schools before they will be allowed to host the SET.

You must complete your registration using the online form in advance of this closing date. 

The CAF is provided by your home Local Authority when your child is in Year 6 and you use it to apply to any school regardless of the Local Authority in which the School is located.   

The closing date for submission of the CAF is 31 October 2020.  If you wish to apply for a place at Wallington County Grammar School you must name the school on the CAF.

In order to make a valid application to Wallington County Grammar School:

•  your son must reach the Wallington County Grammar School pass mark from the Selective Eligibility Test,

and

•  you must list Wallington County Grammar School as a preference on the CAF.

However, if you know you wish to lodge an appeal, you must ensure that you list Wallington county Grammar School on your CAF, even if your son was unsuccessful in reaching our pass mark. 

No. You only need to complete the online Registration Form once. This is the case no matter how many of the participating schools you are interested in.

The Online Registration Form for the Selective Eligibility Test serves as the Supplementary Form for all the schools in the SET group.

So there is no additional Supplementary Form that needs to be completed. 

That’s fine. Just complete the online Registration Form to sit the Selective Eligibility Test (accessed via the website of any of the participating schools). 

Your child must sit the Selective Eligibility Test in order to be considered by any of the following schools: Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School, Wallington High School for Girls, Wilson's School or for one of the 60 ability places available at Greenshaw High School. 

If you register your child for the SET (Selective Eligibility Test) but then decide that you do not want him or her to take the test after all, please let us know by emailing;  SET2021Entry@suttongrammar.sutton.sch.uk  as soon as you decide.

For 2020 entry we received 6100 registrations but only 5645 children attended. So we made unnecessary arrangements for 455 children: printing of test papers and personalised answer sheets, employing invigilators, printing desk cards and room plans, plus arranging test rooms and so on. This represents a significant cost to our schools at a time when financial resources are stretched.

Are you genuinely interested in applying for a place at one or more of the selective schools in the London Borough of Sutton? While any parent of a child who will be transferring to secondary school in September 2021 is entitled to register their child for the SET, we respectfully request that you only register if you are genuinely seeking a place in one or more of the SET participating schools.

Parents using our tests as a free “mock” for more distant grammar schools or for independent schools generate unnecessary costs for us as described above.

You will be asked when you start your registration how many children you are going to register. Your children will then be linked to your parental information so that we know they are from the same family group.  Please follow the instructions on the registration form.

No.

The Selective Eligibility Test is for children who will be in Year 6 of primary school at the date of the test being held on 11th November 2020 (expected date of birth range 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2010).  Children can only sit the Selective Eligibility Test once. A younger child cannot sit the test in earlier years as a practice. The participating schools will conduct year on year comparisons of the names of registered children. 

If your child is going to be in Year 6 at the time of the test but is out of date range (i.e. their birth date is not between 1 September 2009 and 31 August 2010) then there are instructions on the registration form on who to contact to complete the registration. You will be asked to provide supporting evidence from your child’s primary school confirming why the decision was taken to either promote them by a year group or hold them back before any registration can be made. 

You have been asked to complete these questions because your child’s eligibility for Free School Meals and/or your child’s Primary School receiving Pupil Premium in respect of him or her, forms part of the oversubscription criteria in the admissions policies of the following schools within the SET group:

Nonsuch High School for Girls

Wallington High School for Girls

Wallington County Grammar School

Wilson’s School

You should consult the Admissions Arrangements Policy of these specific schools for further information.

In the case of Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls, candidates who have triggered Pupil Premium are eligible to achieve up to 10% lower than the standardised pass mark for the SET (and the minimum standardised pass marks in the NWSSEE Maths and NWSSEE English).

Documentary evidence to support such an application will be required from the child’s current primary school or Local Authority prior to the closing date for test registration. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure this documentary evidence is available.  

For Wallington County Grammar School, there is an admissions band of upto 25 places available for students reaching the WCGS pass mark from the SET and who are eligible for Pupil Premium.

If your son reaches the Wallington County Grammar School pass mark from the SET, documentary evidence to confirm Pupil Premium eligibility will be required from your child's current primary school. It is the parents’ responsibility to ensure this documentary evidence is provided in order for your son to be considered for a place in this additional admissions band. 

Pupil Premium is triggered for children who at any time in the previous six years:-

·         were registered as eligible for free school meals at their primary school;

·         had been Looked After (registered in public care) for 1 day or more;

·         had been adopted from care;

·         had left care under a special guardianship order, a residence order or a child arrangements order.

You should speak to your child’s primary school who will be able to help answer this question. This link gives a list of the reasons why your child could be eligible for free school meals https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.

Please note: The online Registration Form for the SET closed on 14th August 2020 and no late registrations are accepted. 

The online form has been designed to be very straightforward to complete.  However, if you are having problems completing a registration, you may attend any one of the events listed below where there will be members of staff from the participating schools available to help you complete your registration, including taking and uploading a photograph of your child:

**This event may be cancelled and if it is, unfortunately there will be no provision for assisting visitors with their SET online registration. 

If it is not possible to attend one of the above events and you are still having problems with your registration please contact the admissions office at any of the participating schools.

The new date for the Selective Eligibility Test is Wednesday 11th November 2020 (postponed from 15th September 2020). There are no alternative dates available, unless your child is unwell on the day of the test, unfit to sit the test, or if he/she or a family member is showing symptoms of Covid-19 and is having to self-isolate.

Next year's Selective Eligibility Test will be held on Tuesday 14th September 2021 and this is for students transferring to secondary school in September 2022. 

The test consists of two papers; a multiple-choice Maths paper and a multiple-choice English paper. The tests do not include verbal reasoning or non-verbal reasoning. Candidates record their answers on a separate answer sheet by filling in a lozenge-shape for answer A, B, C, D or E.

You can see an example of the answer sheet below. If candidates change their mind about the answer, they need to rub out as fully as possible the wrong answer and replace it with the new answer. Each of the exam papers will take between 40 and 50 minutes and there will be a short rest and toilet break between the two tests.

An extract from a sample answer sheet

We do not provide specimen papers. The content of the Maths and English tests are broadly based on the Key Stage 2 curriculum.

You can find examples of the sorts of questions asked for both the English and Maths Selective Eligibility Tests by clicking on the links below:

English SET Sample Questions

Maths SET Sample Questions

There are no alternative dates to sit the Selective Eligibility Test except in the case of illness on the day, or if the candidate or a family member is showing Covid-19 symptoms and is having to self isolate or if you feel your child is unfit to sit the test.  

A medical certificate or letter covering the 11th November 2020 will be required for illness. A form of documentation confirming self-isolation will be asked for if the reason for absence is Covid-19 symptoms. 

All six participating schools will be hosting the Selective Eligibility Test at their schools during the same time periods on the same day. 

About a week before the test date you will be notified by email of the test centre your child should attend, along with other details needed to sit the test.  

Regardless of your preferences, girls will be allocated to sit the test at either Nonsuch High School for Girls, Wallington High School for Girls or Greenshaw High School.  Boys will be allocated to sit the test at one of Sutton Grammar School, Wallington County Grammar School, Wilson’s School or Greenshaw High School.  Boy/Girl twins or siblings will be allocated to sit the test at Greenshaw High School.

No.  In view of the number of candidates, it is not possible to manage requests for a specific venue.  

It does not matter. The school your child attends to sit the Selective Eligibility Test has no relevance to your preferences for a school place.

If you are resident overseas and your child is at school in your country of residence, we may be able to arrange for your child to sit the SET in his or her current school or at an overseas test centre. 

If you would like us to organise an overseas test for your child, please contact a potential test centre (likely to be your child’s current school, or if not another test centre or perhaps the British Council) before you register your child for the SET. Ascertain from them whether they may be willing to host the SET, and if yes, please ensure they understand the SET must be held on the same day as the UK. Then email the test centre’s details, the name and job title of a contact at this centre and their contact email address to admissions@wcgs.org.uk once you have registered for the SET.

Please ensure that you complete the SET registration form by Friday 19 June 2020 if you wish us to try to organise such a test. You should also refer to your request for an overseas test in the “Additional Information” box on the online SET registration form.

For advice about sitting the SET overseas please contact admissions@wcgs.org.uk

Late requests for overseas tests will not be accepted after this date and overseas candidate will be expected to travel to the UK to sit the Selective Eligibility Test.

Please be aware that applicants living outside of England may only submit an application to a Local Authority for a Sutton school place if they have a linked address within an English Local Authority area. Documentary evidence must be supplied to the Local Authority at the time of Common application Form submission to show that you will return to the address prior to September in the year of entry. If you wish to discuss your circumstances prior to making an application, you should contact the school admissions department of your likely future home Local Authority. Local Authority contact details in the local area are as follows:

Sutton              suttonadmissions@cognus.org.uk                  020 8770 5000           

Merton             admissions@merton.gov.uk                            020 8274 4901

Croydon          school.admissions@croydon.gov.uk               020 8726 6400

Surrey             schooladmissions@surreycc.gov.uk                0300 200 1004

No.  In view of the number of candidates, it is not possible to manage requests for a specific time during the test day. 

If your child has an EHCP, there are separate processes to be followed and you should speak first with your Local Authority who administer the process.  You still need to complete the online Registration Form for your child to be able to sit the Selective Eligibility Test.  Your child will need to pass the Selective Eligibility Test to be considered for a place at Wallington County Grammar School or Greenshaw High School and any second stage tests where applicable will need to be passed to be considered for a place at Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton Grammar School, Wallington High School for Girls or Wilson’s School.

Greenshaw High School have 60 places for students of selective ability. 

Please note that supporting documentary evidence must be submitted if you wish us to consider putting any special arrangement in place for the tests (for example, this may be extra time or rest breaks or sitting in a small exam room).  The required evidence must be submitted to Wilson’s School (for male candidates) and Nonsuch High School for Girls (for female candidates) no later than Friday 19 June 2020.  

Further guidance and information on the evidence that is required and the basis on which decisions on special arrangements will be made can be found by clicking on the link below. 

Guidance on requests for special arrangements 

The online registration form asks you to provide details of any special needs or medical conditions your child may have. It is particularly important that you tell us if your child has any physical/mobility, medical, sensory, learning or behavioural issues/conditions or is suffering from a temporary injury that may substantially disadvantage him/her in the context of an examination. Letting us know will not disadvantage your child in any way. It is also important that you tell us if your child has a disability in relation to mobility that has an impact upon their ability to access the exam venue so that appropriate arrangements can be made.

Please note that supporting documentary evidence must be submitted if you wish us to consider putting any special arrangement in place for the tests (for example, this may be extra time or rest breaks or sitting in a small exam room).  The required evidence must be submitted to Wilson’s School (for male candidates) and Nonsuch High School for Girls (for female candidates) no later than Friday 19 June 2020.  

Further guidance and information on the evidence that is required and the basis on which decisions on special arrangements will be made can be found by clicking on the link below: 

Guidance on requests for special arrangements and evidence required

Your child may bring their usual medication with them to the test venue. It is important to provide details of their medical requirements on the online registration form so that we can make sure that the members of staff supervising their test venue are aware.

If a candidate is unable to attend on the day of the test due to illness or injury then provided a genuine medical certificate dated the day of the test is received, an alternative test date will be provided. 

Or as mentioned in previous FAQ sections, if your child or a family member is displaying Covid-19 symptoms, confirmation of some form of supporting documentation will be asked for and the candidate will be invited to an alternative test date.  

Where a candidate becomes indisposed during a test, the test venue will make appropriate arrangements to care for the child and to inform his/her parents.  These arrangements may include allowing the candidate to leave the test room for a short period under supervision; returning to finish the tests.  If the candidate is unable to continue and leaves the premises then he/she will not be allowed to finish any test that he/she has already started.

It is not possible to state a pass mark in advance of the test. The pass mark will be decided by the participating schools after the test has been marked.  Each School may determine its own pass mark.

Please note: following the Selective Eligibility Test, no review or remarking of papers will be available, see below for further information. 

No we do not.

All SET answer sheets are marked twice as a matter of course: firstly by machine and then manually by hand (every single answer on every sheet for every student is checked), to ensure that all marks are recorded accurately.

This is why no form of review or remarking of papers is then offered.  

It is the total score that determines whether your child has passed the test: so for example, a very good performance in English can compensate for one that is a little weaker in Maths. 

Although this is not relevant to Wallington County Grammar School as we do not hold any form of second stage test, the answer is yes for the other boys’ schools. 

The rank order of the entrance examinations at each of these schools will be determined on the basis of the aggregate scores of the Selective Eligibility Test and the papers which make up the shared second stage Entrance Examination.  For the specific ratio to be applied for each school you are advised to look further at the websites of the individual schools.

Yes. A standardisation for age mechanism is applied to the outcome of the Selective Eligibility Test.

You will receive an email approximately one week after the SET test with the outcome of the Selective Eligibility Test.

Your outcome email will give clear information on what, if any, pass mark your child has reached.

If your child reaches the pass mark for at least of the participating schools, no information regarding scores or breakdown of scores will be given to you.

You will not be given any information regarding his/her scores but will be told that he/she has met the required standard(s) and if applicable, your child will be invited to any second stage testing.

If your son reaches the Wallington County Grammar School SET pass mark, it means that he is eligible to be considered for a place. It is not a guarantee of a place.

You will be given his/her standardised scores in both papers which will include any appropriate age adjustment and their total score.

This information will only be given if your child was unsuccessful in reaching the pass marks for any of the participating Schools.

If your child does not pass the Selective Eligibility Test for a particular school it means:

For Greenshaw High School – your son or daughter is not eligible for one of the 60 ability places at Greenshaw High School but they may still be eligible for a place at Greenshaw High School under one of the school’s other criteria. Please see the Greenshaw High School website for details of its admissions criteria. 

For all the other participating schools – your child is not eligible for a place at any of these schools as they will not have met the school’s admissions criteria. For 2020 this is different to previous years and your Common Application Deadline of the end of October 2020 is before the Selective Eligibility Test will take place on 11th November. 

If you think you might wish to lodge an appeal (which can be done from National Offer Day in the following March) then you will need to name the relevant school(s) you are interested in on your CAF.   

You will receive an offer of a Secondary School place on 1 March 2021 (National Offer Day) from your Local Authority. 

If your query relates to the SET, you should email it to SET2021Entry@suttongrammar.sutton.sch.uk   

If your query relates to admission to one of the participating schools, you should contact a member of the Admissions Team at that school:

Some of the information contained within the Key Dates for Year 5 Parents is no longer applicable as open evenings in the summer term were cancelled when the schools were closed and the date of the Selective Eligibility Test and second stage tests has now changed.  

Key dates document for Year 5 parents