The Bexley Selection Test is sat by children aiming for Beths, Bexley Grammar, or Townley Grammar.
Bexley runs its own borough-administered selection test. All three of the borough's state grammar schools — Beths, Bexley Grammar, and Townley — share a common qualifying score from this test.
Bexley 11+ has historically been one of the broader London tests, covering four reasoning strands instead of the more common three. Children sit one paper covering all four areas in mixed sections.
The Bexley Local Authority selection — The Bexley Selection Test is administered by the local authority and used by the borough's three state grammar schools.
The Bexley test covers Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics, and Spatial Reasoning. It's pacey — the spatial element in particular can catch children unfamiliar with the question types.
The test is sat in October of Year 6 (slightly later than most GL areas). The exact date and registration deadline are published by Bexley Council each spring.
Don't underweight Spatial Reasoning — it's the least-practised strand on most off-the-shelf papers, and it shows up substantially in the Bexley paper.
Speed matters. The test is timed across mixed sections, so children who are accurate but slow tend to score worse than children who pace themselves.
Each year's qualifying standardised score is set by Bexley Council based on the test cohort. Above qualifying, places at each school are offered by rank order with oversubscription rules.
Yes — children sit one Bexley Selection Test, and the result feeds admissions for all three schools. Parents list school preferences on the standard Year 6 secondary application.
Spatial Reasoning questions involve visualising shapes, transformations, and 3D objects — for example, predicting how a folded net would look unfolded, or matching rotated shapes. It's an extra strand on the Bexley test beyond standard VR/NVR.
Yes — many Bexley grammar pupils come from surrounding boroughs in Kent and south-east London. Catchment factors into place allocation rather than test eligibility.
Free taster papers in Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics. Worked answers on every question. No payment needed to start.