King Edward’s (KES) Birmingham: Admissions & Entrance Exam Advice
How To Get Into King Edward’s School, Birmingham


K ing Edward’s School, Birmingham has an admirably clear, easily understood 11+ admissions process. This cannot be said of all independent schools! The exams are fairly challenging, but within the reach of any child with a good grasp of the core primary curriculum, who has practised carefully with similar kinds of 11-plus test paper.
In this article I’ll explain exactly how to prepare your child to show themselves at their best in the KES entrance exams and interview.
THE KES 11-PLUS ADMISSIONS PROCESS
Applications need to be submitted by mid September in year 6. A small application fee is required from most parents.
Exams in English, maths and verbal reasoning are held at the beginning of October. This is earlier than for the majority of 11+ independent schools, which tend to hold entrance entrance exams in January.
Interviews for some candidates are held in November. These are focused on scholarship and bursary candidates, and boys whose exam results were on the borderline between acceptance and rejection.
Offers go out in December.
There are other dates for music scholarships, etc.
Please be aware that entrance exams and admissions processes can change from year to year. For this reason, consult the school’s website as well as this article, and do not focus too narrowly on past papers: a solid, all-round 11-plus preparation is always wisest.
Now I’ll talk you through how to prepare for each stage of the assessment process.
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The English Exam
The KES English papers are in some ways typical of many independent schools, and in some ways a little different.
The questions are very clearly explained. If a child reads the instructions for each one carefully, they should have little doubt about what they need to do. There are two sections: a comprehension paper, likely to last around 40 minutes, and a writing exam, likely to last around half an hour.
Comprehension
The King Edward’s School examiners are clear that they want to see answers in full sentences. However, do not misinterpret this as requiring you to repeat the question!
Don’t write “Because he is tired.” This is not a full sentence.
Don’t write “The man walks up to the wall and rests his head against the brickwork because he is tired”, if the question is “Why does the man walk up to the wall and rest his head against the brickwork?” There are no marks for repeating the question, and you are wasting time and answer space: a common 11+ mistake.
Do write “He does this because he is tired.” This is a complete sentence, but is concise and focused on getting the mark(s).
The KES comprehension paper tends to include a significant number of questions, but many of these are short. There is sometimes more answer space than you will need. Have a look at the past papers on their website, and you’ll get a sense of what I mean.
An unusual feature of this paper (something shared with St Paul’s Girls’ School) is that the questions don’t always state how many marks are available. In a less clear exam, this would make it hard to second-guess how much of an answer is required. However, it ought not to cause any problems in the King Edward’s test.
The questions are wide ranging, and require a good grasp of all the main 11-plus skills: finding information, writing clear explanations in your own words, explaining characters’ personalities and behaviour, supporting explanations with concise evidence, and identifying and explaining the ways in which authors achieve certain effects – in other words, how they persuade a reader to think or feel certain things.
The most thorough practice for these 11+ English skills is offered here.
Unlike at some other schools, the KES examiners rarely set longer, ‘mini-essay’ comprehension questions. The focus is on being clear and specific, and it is unlikely that boys will need to know how to structure a lengthy answer.
The best preparation for this test is with practice papers – preferably ones with worked solutions (so that boys can see what sort of answer is most effective for each kind of question) – and by using a range of past papers from other independent schools (for instance, here).
Creative Writing
Once again, the examiners are extremely clear about what they want. The task itself is often described in some detail, with clear advice: there is a lot more than just a title. This is very helpful, but it also means that it’s extremely important to read the instructions with care, underlining all the key information (see this article for more on the same point). If you do something different from what is required, you will lose marks.
The school is looking for accurate, well-paragraphed writing, and for descriptive flair.
The easiest ways to make your writing interesting – as in any 11+ exam, and any other piece of description – are by using strong verbs (“squirmed” or “shuffled”, rather than “moved”) and through a wide-ranging and imaginative use of the senses. Instead of writing “she saw the elephant”, write “the elephant’s breath wafted past her, a surprisingly delicate smell like scattered hay in an empty barn”.
Metaphors and similes are wonderful … so long as they don’t confuse the reader, and so long as they are your own! “The sight froze him to the spot” won’t get you much credit, because the examiner will have seen this metaphor hundreds of times before.
The school is keen to see dialogue, so make sure that you know how to punctuate speech correctly. Don’t over-do it: your writing shouldn’t look like a play script.
The best way for a child to prepare for a 11+ creative writing test like this is to practise with a wide range of topics, thoughtfully and slowly, reviewing and correcting their work. The most extensive range of creative writing papers with worked example answers and marking advice, well matched to the KES exam, is available from 11 Plus Lifeline.
The Maths Exam
The KES maths exam is a fair test, because although some of the later questions are quite tricky, they are well grounded in the core primary school (KS2) curriculum.
It’s important to be comfortable with the paper methods for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, with using fractions, decimals, percentages and ratios, with simple probability, with angles, and so on: the core topics of 11+ exam preparation. There is nothing which will push the limits of a well prepared boy’s knowledge; however, if they are unfamiliar with the style of tests like this, some of the question types are likely to be puzzling. Therefore, steady practice with relevant 11-plus materials such as these is sensible.
There are two stages of exam preparation: reinforcing core knowledge and practising it in context. However, these can usually be combined quite effectively.
When working with practice papers, move slowly. When something is difficult, stop and work on it until you are comfortable (this is easiest if you have example answers to compare to your own), then move on. See it as a process of ironing: look for the creases, and smooth them until they are gone. You’ll then notice other, smaller creases, and be able to focus on those.
Bear in mind that even if you don’t finish the King Edward’s paper, you may still perform well enough to pass the test. Three quarters of a paper completed well will score more highly than a completed test which has been rushed and is full of mistakes.
The Verbal Reasoning Exam
The KES verbal reasoning test is designed to assess a child’s potential and linguistic ability, rather than academic knowledge.
I am sceptical, because children who are lucky enough to come from families where reading and intelligent conversation are normal will have an advantage in all kinds of English test, whether for reasoning or comprehension. I’m not sure that this kind of paper is a good way of locating hidden talent. However, philosophical considerations like this are irrelevant if your child is preparing for the King Edward’s exams: they have to sit a verbal reasoning paper whether they like it or not!
There are no past papers for this test, so the best preparation will come from using well-written resources such as these – preferably, ones which explain how to answer the many kinds of question.
Do a little bit of practice, once or twice a week. Focus on making it unrushed and thoughtful. Above all else, children need to get used to dealing with unfamiliar vocabulary, and words which have more than one meaning. Nobody will ever know every word in English, whether they are sitting 11-plus or A level, or whether they are a famous author; however, careful elimination of unlikely answers is a good start.
The next stage is to weigh up the remaining options thoughtfully to find the most likely result. What do the syllables of a word suggest? Which other words does it sound like?
Finally, because reasoning questions tend to be worth few marks, but there can be a lot of them in an exam, my advice is that you get used to circling tricky questions and returning to them at the end of the exam. Five minutes spent staring at a 1-mark question can be disastrous!
The Interview
KES uses its interviews in order to assess scholarship and bursary candidates carefully, and for a second look at boys who achieved a borderline result in the exam. If your child isn’t called for interview, this does not mean that they have failed to gain a place!
I have published very detailed interview guidance in this article. If you’d like some clear advice for how to help your child prepare for an interview (and how you definitely shouldn’t prepare them!), please have a look.
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Robert, thank you for this timely article. We are currently preparing our son for this school. With regards to the verbal reasoning paper at KES, can we use our verbal reasoning books aimed for CEM? If not, which ones would be more suitable?
Also, they have a scholarship section for maths, what sort of difficulty level might that be and how do you think we should prepare for that area?
Many thanks Robert, we love your books and the excellent answer sheets you provide. You have truly empowered parents who can’t afford a private tutor.
Thank you for the kind comment about my resources!
That verbal reasoning book should be fine, but I would suggest using two or three different styles of book and mixing them up: not so that you can make your son do vast amounts of work, but so that he has a wide mix of question styles to practise with.
As for the scholarship, my understanding is that there are no separate scholarship questions: everybody sits the same exam. (I’m happy to be corrected on this.) If somebody has referred to a “scholarship section” for maths, they probably mean the harder questions towards the end of the standard entrance exam – for which, see my comments in the article.
Let me know if there’s anything else I can help with.
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing this email to ask if there is any chance my son can sit the grammar test. His in year 6 now and would love for him to start year 7 and kings Edwards school academy?? Please can you help me? What could I do?
Hi Hanan,
I have no connection with the school: you need to contact their admissions office, via the details on their website.
However, you seem to be talking about a different school to the one discussed in this article. This site may be useful: https://www.schoolsofkingedwardvi.co.uk/academy-trust/
Robert
how much is your charges
I don’t tutor any more, but see http://www.11pluslifeline.com/#signup to see how much I charge for my main exam preparation resources.
Robert
Do you thing KES taken into account the marks obtained in eleven plus (CEM Tests) for their selection process?
No, definitely not! They look at the marks in their own exam, and that’s it. There’s no way they could know a child’s marks in an exam for another school: this is confidential information.
Hi Robert,
Hope you’re well. I have read your interview preparation article but is there anything specific to KES? What are the basic things to follow? Thanks, Kumar
I don’t have anything to add to the article you mention (https://www.rsleducational.co.uk/interviews). I’m not aware of anything unusual about the KES process, though there could of course be things that I don’t know.
To the best of my knowledge, the “basic things to follow” are in that article. Above all else, don’t take interview preparation too seriously! It can be very counterproductive to do so.
Hi, my child is in year 2. I would like to know how can one be sure if 11 plus is the right thing for my child? Is there any material out there for younger children in order to know whether they are capable?
Hi Ammara. I think it’s a little early to make any such judgments. At this stage, help your child to feel secure about the things they are learning at school, encourage their reading, and work hard at their spellings and times tables, to name two important things. You’ll have plenty of time to think about what the right direction is when your child is in Year 4!
Hi my daughter is in year 4 at moment this year all grammar school are taking children only catchment areas and I don’t know how can prepare for her 11+exam please help me
I don’t know about the specific issues in your area, but there are rarely many non-catchment places available anyway, and these are keenly fought over.
I’m not sure whether you are saying that you are ineligible this year. If not, then I would recommend the same calm, careful preparation as in any other year. Your daughter is only in Year 4, so there is no hurry. Make sure that her skills are secure – starting from the basic core skills – and build on these without worrying much about marks.
Also make sure that you have the best possible alternatives, if grammar school doesn’t happen – and help her to feel positive about them, even if you aren’t! This positive attitude will help her to do well in her exams, and will also make it less devastating if she doesn’t get a place.
Good luck along the journey.
Thanks for this. My child is aiming to KEHS Girls School. Do you think this applies to the girl school exam too?
I believe the schools’ exams are fairly similar, so much of the same advice will carry across. There will undoubtedly be differences, though.
Hi
my son is in year 7 in KEGS Chelmsford and he did very well in the 11+ to get into KEGS. we plan to move to Birmingham and he has to now do the 13+ entrance exam at KES. would appreciate any suggestions/ advice for this
I advise a fairly standard 13+ preparation, with the papers that you can get in lots of places (including, for comprehension, from us). Be aware that KES tend to set a poetry comprehension as part of their 13+ exam.
HI
My son is in Y3 right now. what materials or workbook do you suggest for him to do for the purpose of KES? Many Thanks
Hi Rhea,
I’m afraid I don’t know what books are best for Y3. Broadly speaking, I would focus on reading, writing, and general reinforcement of skills from school, such as times tables. I wouldn’t worry about 11+ exams at this stage.
Robert
Hi Robert
My son is currently in year 5 and will turn 10 this August. We are preparing him for Birmingham grammar schools Consortiums. As you are aware they have changed their exam board from CEM to GL. could you please guide us in this matter that what’s the difference and difficulty level between these two and what strategies should we adopt to get success in these few months left.
Many thanks
I think that would need to be a separate blog post! It’s covered somewhat at https://exampapersplus.co.uk/11-plus-exam-boards/