If someone's mentioned "the consortium test" and you've nodded along without really knowing what it means, here's the short version. In some parts of the UK, a group of grammar or selective schools agrees to use one shared 11+ paper instead of each school writing its own. Your child sits the exam once, and the score is recognised by every school in that group. Six of these arrangements currently operate in England: Sutton, Trafford, Essex, Birmingham and the wider West Midlands, Lincolnshire, and a group of independent London day schools. Each one works a little differently, and some add a second, school-specific stage on top of the shared result. This guide walks through all six, plus how a consortium test differs from a countywide system like the Kent Test and from schools such as St Olave's that set their own bespoke exam, so you know exactly what your child is sitting and what a good score does and doesn't guarantee.
What a consortium test actually is, and why areas set one up
A consortium 11+ test is a shared first-stage entrance exam used jointly by a defined group of schools in one area. Instead of your child sitting a separate paper for every school on your list, they sit one exam, and the resulting score or pass/fail outcome is then recognised by each member school. Two reasons come up again and again in how these consortiums describe themselves. One is straightforward convenience: Trafford and Lincolnshire both say plainly that the point is so children only need to take the 11+ once, rather than once per school. The other is consistency: when every child sits the same paper, marked the same way, that matters in places where several schools are drawing from the same pool of applicants.
It's worth being clear about what a consortium test actually covers, though. In several of these systems, the shared paper only handles Stage 1, a first eligibility screen. Individual schools then run their own Stage 2, often extended writing papers or an interview, to make final decisions. So a consortium test simplifies the first hurdle. It doesn't remove every hurdle after it.
The six consortium tests at a glance
Here's how the six current arrangements stack up, before we go through each one in more detail.
| Consortium | Area | Member schools | Test format | Two stages? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sutton SET | London Borough of Sutton | 5 grammars (plus a possible 6th bilateral affiliate per one source) | Two multiple-choice papers, English and maths | Yes, Stage 2 extended writing for the 5 grammars |
| Trafford Consortium | Greater Manchester | 5 grammar schools | GL Assessment, two papers covering verbal, non-verbal and numerical reasoning | No, single stage |
| CSSE | Essex | 10 of Essex's 11 grammar schools | Two written papers, English (with creative writing) and maths | No, single stage |
| King Edward VI Foundation | Birmingham (+ West Midlands sharing) | 6 Foundation grammars, shared with 19 schools across the wider West Midlands | GL Assessment, two papers covering English, verbal, maths, non-verbal/spatial reasoning | No, single stage |
| LCGS | Lincolnshire | 15-16 grammar schools total (Caistor Grammar is not an LCGS member) | GL Assessment, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning papers | No, single stage |
| London 11+ Consortium | London (independent day schools) | 14 independent schools, mostly girls' | Maths, non-verbal reasoning, English/verbal reasoning, problem solving and analysis, in one sitting | Interviews and references sit alongside the score |
The rest of this guide takes each of these in turn: the details, and the exceptions, are what matter.
Sutton's SET (Selective Eligibility Test)
The Sutton SET is shared by five grammar schools in the London Borough of Sutton: Wilson's School, Sutton Grammar School for Boys, Wallington County Grammar School for Boys, Wallington High School for Girls, and Nonsuch High School for Girls. One source also names Greenshaw High School as a sixth, bilateral affiliate that uses the SET score for its own selective stream. That claim isn't as well corroborated as the core five, though, so treat it as a secondary detail rather than settled fact.
The SET runs in two stages. Stage 1 is two multiple-choice papers, English and maths, each around 40 to 50 minutes, sat by all applicants on a single date in September (some listings also mention a verbal or non-verbal reasoning element here). Stage 2 applies only to the five fully selective grammars: extended-writing English and maths papers, with boys' and girls' schools tested on separate dates. Final offers combine both stages on an age-standardised basis. Competition is stiff. Roughly 3,000 children sit the SET each year for around 750 places across the five schools, so even a solid Stage 1 score is only the first hurdle, not the whole race.
The Trafford Consortium, Greater Manchester
Trafford's five grammar schools, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys, Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Sale Grammar School, Stretford Grammar School and Urmston Grammar, share a single GL Assessment test: two papers of around 60 minutes each, covering verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and numerical or maths reasoning. Sit it once, and the result is usable at all five schools. That's exactly the simplification Trafford's own materials describe: children only need to take the test once.
One aggregator source cites a qualifying standardised score of 334. That figure hasn't been cross-checked against a second independent source or the schools' own admissions pages, so treat it as indicative rather than official. If this number matters to your planning, check current guidance from the schools directly.
CSSE: the Essex consortium, and the school that opted out
Essex has 11 grammar schools in total, and 10 of them belong to the Consortium of Selective Schools in Essex (CSSE), sitting the same test: King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, Colchester Royal Grammar School, Colchester County High School for Girls, Southend High School for Boys, Southend High School for Girls, Westcliff High School for Boys, Westcliff High School for Girls, St Bernard's High School, St Thomas More High School, and Shoeburyness High School.
The 11th Essex grammar, Chelmsford County High School for Girls, isn't a CSSE member. It sets its own separate test through FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise), a useful reminder that being a grammar school in a consortium county doesn't automatically mean a school has joined the consortium.
The CSSE test itself is two written papers, English and maths, each 60 minutes and marked out of 60. The English paper includes a creative-writing or continuous-writing component alongside applied reasoning, and the maths paper requires your child to show their working. That writing element sets CSSE apart from consortiums that rely purely on multiple-choice testing.
Birmingham's King Edward VI Foundation and the wider West Midlands sharing
The King Edward VI Foundation in Birmingham runs six grammar schools: King Edward VI Aston School, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, King Edward VI Five Ways School, King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, and King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls. Six is the figure confirmed on the Foundation's own official page. If you come across a different total elsewhere, it's most likely being conflated with the wider West Midlands sharing arrangement described below, or with other, non-grammar schools the Foundation also runs.
What's genuinely useful is the reach beyond those six. The same GL Assessment paper is shared as part of a much larger arrangement, sometimes called the West Midlands Grammar Schools, across 19 selective schools spread over Birmingham, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Walsall and Wolverhampton. Families can consent to share their child's result with grammar schools in those other authorities too. That's a real practical advantage if you're weighing options across more than one local area.
The test itself is two papers of around 60 minutes each, timed with audio, covering English comprehension, verbal reasoning, mathematics, and non-verbal or spatial reasoning. Few other consortium tests include that spatial reasoning element, which makes this one stand out a bit. Scoring is weighted 50% English and verbal reasoning, 25% non-verbal and spatial reasoning, and 25% maths, all age-standardised. The Foundation switched from a CEM-style test to the GL Assessment format in 2023.
The Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools (LCGS)
Lincolnshire has around 15 to 16 grammar schools (sources vary slightly depending on how certain sites are counted), and most belong to the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools. Named schools in the area include Boston Grammar School, Boston High School for Girls, Bourne Grammar School, Carre's Grammar School, Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School, Kesteven and Sleaford High School, King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, King Edward VI Academy in Spilsby, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Alford, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Horncastle, Queen Elizabeth's High School in Gainsborough, Skegness Grammar School, Spalding Grammar School, Spalding High School, and The King's School in Grantham.
Caistor Grammar School is explicitly not an LCGS member and sets its own bespoke 11+ test. Same pattern as Essex: not every grammar school in a county automatically joins the shared consortium arrangement.
The LCGS test itself is a GL Assessment paper in two parts: verbal reasoning (50 minutes) and non-verbal reasoning (40 minutes across five timed sections). One source cites a qualifying score of 220, intended to identify roughly the top 25% of the local age cohort. As with any single cut-off figure, check it against current school guidance before you rely on it for planning.
The London 11+ Consortium (independent day schools)
Consortium testing isn't only a state-grammar thing. The London 11+ Consortium, successor to what used to be called the North London Girls' Schools Consortium, currently lists 14 member schools: Channing School, Francis Holland School (Regent's Park), Francis Holland School (Sloane Square), Godolphin & Latymer School, More House School, Northwood College for Girls, Notting Hill & Ealing High School, Queen's College London, Queen's Gate School, South Hampstead High School, St Augustine's Priory, St Helen's School, St James Senior Girls' School, and St Margaret's School.
These schools share a single assessment lasting around one hour 40 minutes, with a 30-minute break in the middle: maths (20 minutes), non-verbal reasoning (10 minutes), English comprehension and verbal reasoning (30 minutes), a break, then problem solving (15 minutes) and analysis (25 minutes). It's sat on one of three designated dates in November or December, and results come out in February. Unlike the purely score-based state grammar consortiums, schools here also weigh interviews and junior-school references alongside the test score.
You'll also see a separate, looser grouping of prestigious London day schools mentioned online as coordinating exam dates informally, without sharing one paper. That's a different, less certain claim than the 14-school consortium above, so treat it as informal date coordination rather than a true shared-test consortium. Some other independent school groupings use the ISEB Common Pre-Test instead: an adaptive online assessment covering English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning over about two and a half hours, used as their own version of a shared first-stage screen.
Consortium versus single-school versus countywide: the Kent Test, St Olave's, and two different SETs
It helps to see consortium tests against two other models. At one end is the single-school test. Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet writes and marks its own entrance exam entirely, in a single round, with a multiple-choice English paper and a multiple-choice maths paper, shared with no other school. St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington works similarly but in two stages: its own Stage 1 test, confusingly also called the SET (here standing for Stage 1 Entrance Test rather than Selective Eligibility Test), is entirely proprietary to St Olave's, followed by St Olave's own separate English and maths papers for those who pass. Nearby Newstead Wood School in Bromley runs its own separate GL Assessment based test too, entirely independent of St Olave's. So a family targeting both schools in the same borough still has to sit two completely different exams.
At the other end is the countywide test, best illustrated by the Kent Test. Rather than a self-selected group of schools opting in, the Kent Test is run by Kent County Council itself, using a GL Assessment paper. A single registration is commonly cited as giving access to around 33 grammar schools in the county. It's two multiple-choice papers, English and maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, plus a separate creative-writing task used mainly for borderline or appeal cases. Roughly 16,000 children or more sit it each year for just over 5,000 grammar places, according to aggregator sources. It's worth checking Kent County Council's own admissions pages for the current figures, since school participation and candidate numbers can shift over time.
The structural difference is the thing to hold onto. A countywide test is run by the local authority for every selective school in that county. A consortium test is a voluntary shared arrangement among a specific, named subset of schools, one that can even cross local authority boundaries, as it does for Sutton and the West Midlands sharing group.
What this actually means for your family
If your child is sitting a consortium test, a few things are worth holding on to. Registering once generally cuts down the separate exam-day logistics you'd otherwise face applying to several non-consortium schools individually, and both Trafford and Lincolnshire say this plainly. But a qualifying score on the shared first-stage test isn't the same as a guaranteed place at every member school. Sutton's SET layers a school-specific second stage of extended-writing papers on top of the shared result. The independent London consortium has individual schools weigh interviews and junior-school references alongside the test score. Most of these systems also apply their own admissions criteria, such as catchment area, siblings, faith, or distance, so read each school's own admissions policy even after a consortium pass comes through.
It's also worth checking exactly which schools are genuinely part of a consortium, rather than assuming every grammar school in an area takes part. Chelmsford County High School for Girls is an Essex grammar school but not part of CSSE. Caistor Grammar is a Lincolnshire grammar school but not part of LCGS. Two grammar schools in the same town, even the same borough, don't automatically share a test, as St Olave's and Newstead Wood in Bromley show clearly.
Whatever test your child is sitting, whether it's a consortium paper, a countywide test, or a school's own bespoke exam, the underlying skills being assessed are broadly consistent across the 11+ landscape: verbal and non-verbal reasoning, comprehension, maths reasoning and, in some cases, extended writing. Building genuine fluency in those areas, rather than cramming for one specific paper, is what carries a child through whichever combination of tests their target schools happen to use. Our free 11+ practice app is built around exactly that kind of steady, subject-by-subject practice. If you want to understand how GL Assessment, CEM-style and ISEB tests differ in style and content, our guide to the different 11+ exam boards is a good next stop.
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is a grammar school consortium test?+
A group of grammar or selective schools in one area agrees to use the same 11+ paper instead of each writing and marking its own. Your child sits it once, and the score is recognised by every school in that group. It's not the same as a countywide test like the Kent Test, which is run by the local authority for every grammar school in the county rather than by a self-selected group of schools.
If my child passes a consortium test, are they guaranteed a place at every school in that consortium?+
No. A qualifying score on the shared first stage gets your child considered, but it doesn't guarantee a place anywhere specific. Several consortiums, including Sutton's SET, add school-specific second-stage papers or interviews, and every school also applies its own admissions criteria on top, things like catchment area, siblings, or distance. Check each school's own admissions policy rather than assuming a pass is a place.
Do I still need to register separately with each school, or just once for the whole consortium group?+
It varies, but the whole point of most consortium arrangements is to cut down duplicate registrations and exam days. For Trafford and Lincolnshire, sources are explicit that children sit the test once and the result is usable across all the member schools. Still worth checking the registration process for your specific consortium, since some ask you to name your preferred schools even though the test itself is shared.
What's the difference between a consortium test and a countywide test like the Kent Test?+
A consortium test is a voluntary shared arrangement among a specific, named subset of schools, sometimes crossing local authority boundaries, as with Sutton or the West Midlands sharing arrangement. A countywide test, like the Kent Test, is run by the local authority itself and covers every grammar school in the county as a matter of course, with a single registration giving access to all of them.
Is the Sutton SET the same thing as the 'SET' used by St Olave's Grammar School?+
No, and this trips up a lot of families because the abbreviation is identical. Sutton's SET stands for Selective Eligibility Test, a genuine consortium test shared by five schools. St Olave's own SET stands for Stage 1 Entrance Test, a proprietary test written entirely by St Olave's for St Olave's, not shared with any other school or consortium. The name coincidence really is just that: a coincidence.
Do independent (private) schools ever use a consortium-style shared entrance test?+
Yes. The London 11+ Consortium is made up of independent day schools, mostly girls' schools, that sit one shared assessment on a common date rather than separate papers per school. Some other independent school groupings use the ISEB Common Pre-Test instead, an adaptive online assessment of English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, as their own shared first-stage screen.
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