King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys is a selective state school for boys in Kings Heath, Birmingham, entered at eleven on the shared West Midlands entrance test. This page covers Camp Hill Boys entry at eleven by the GL Assessment test, for children now in Year 3 to Year 5, and not sixth form, fees or A levels.
What kind of school is Camp Hill Boys?
It is a selective, state-funded boys' school in Kings Heath, south of Birmingham city centre, and it describes itself in exactly those terms. It belongs to the King Edward VI Academy Trust, the group behind several of the city's selective schools, so families looking here are usually weighing two or three sister schools at once.
The school did not begin where it now sits. It started at Camp Hill, closer to the city centre, and carried the place name with it when it moved out to Kings Heath. The name therefore describes a district the school no longer occupies, which trips up a good number of parents reading a map for the first time.
How does entry at eleven actually work?
There is no Camp Hill paper. The school belongs to the West Midlands Grammar Schools Partnership, and every child sits one shared entrance test, once, in September of Year 6. The result then reaches every partnership school a family names. The paper itself is set by GL Assessment, the assessment publisher the partnership uses, so the format is the same at every school in the group.
The step that catches families out is not the test but the registration. A parent has to register online during the summer term of Year 5, and the window is short. Primary schools do not do it for you and do not reliably remind you. Miss it and no amount of preparation recovers the year.
Qualifying and being offered a place are different things, and the gap between them is where most of the disappointment lives. The test decides whether a child reaches the standard. The school's own published arrangements then decide who among the qualified children is offered a place. Read them before you fix a preference order, not after.
Two steps, two deadlines: registering for the entrance test is something you do with the partnership in Year 5. Applying for a school place is a separate step, taken with your local council in the autumn of Year 6. Doing one does not do the other.
What is in the entrance test?
Two multiple-choice papers, each running for roughly fifty to sixty minutes including the instructions and worked examples, so the real working time is shorter than the headline number suggests. Both papers mix the subject areas rather than giving each one its own.
Between them they sample English comprehension, verbal reasoning, mathematics, and non-verbal reasoning including spatial questions. The weighting is worth knowing before you plan anything: English and verbal reasoning carry half the result between them, with mathematics and non-verbal reasoning taking a quarter each.
Answers go on a separate sheet rather than in the space under the question. That sounds like a detail and it is not. A child who slips a row can lose a run of marks with entirely correct thinking behind them, and they almost never notice in time.
What should we prepare first?
Follow the weighting. Reading and vocabulary do most of the work, because English and verbal reasoning together decide half of it, and both reward starting early. A child who has read widely since Year 4 arrives with an advantage that cannot be bought back in one summer.
Non-verbal reasoning is the opposite shape. Children improve quickly once they have seen the question types and then flatten out, so meeting it early does most of the available work. Mathematics usually needs pace and multi-step problems rather than new content, because school has covered the ground already.
The thing worth rehearsing specifically for this test is the switching. Both papers move between comprehension, word puzzles, arithmetic and shape questions inside one sitting, and that is a skill of its own.
Check this first: this page prints no intake figures, no qualifying score, no catchment description and no dates, because all four change from year to year and the versions circulating on tutoring sites contradict each other. The two places worth reading are:
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys official website and the partnership's own site. Check the school's official admissions page for this year's figures.
Pathway Eleven has no connection to King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, to the partnership or to any admissions authority. We cannot register a child, confirm eligibility, or say anything about catchment or your chances. Pathway Eleven is an independent service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GL Assessment.
Common questions about Camp Hill Boys entry
Does Camp Hill Boys set its own entrance exam?+
No. It uses the shared West Midlands Grammar Schools entrance test, sat once in September of Year 6. The same result reaches every partnership school a family names, so there is no separate Camp Hill paper.
When do we register for the test?+
During the summer term of Year 5, online, through the partnership. The window is short and it closes long before the test is sat. Check the partnership's own site for the dates that apply to your child's year rather than trusting a date printed elsewhere.
Is Camp Hill Boys a boys' school all the way through?+
The school describes itself as a boys' school serving Birmingham and the surrounding areas, and it has a sixth form. The girls' school of the same foundation sits on the same road in Kings Heath, which is why families often consider the two together.
Does qualifying on the test mean my son gets a place?+
No, and this is the distinction that causes the most disappointment. The test decides whether a child reaches the standard. The school's own published arrangements then decide who among the qualified children is offered a place.
Other schools in this consortium
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys sits in the Birmingham group of the partnership. One result travels to every partnership school a family names, so the neighbouring schools are worth reading about before you decide which to put down.
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, girls, in Kings Heath, Birmingham.
- King Edward VI Five Ways School, mixed, in Bartley Green, Birmingham.
- King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys, boys, in Handsworth, Birmingham.
- King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls, girls, in Handsworth, Birmingham.
- Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls, girls, in Sutton Coldfield.
Where to go next
- The West Midlands 11 plus entrance test, the shared test in full, with every partnership school listed.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 5, a term-by-term plan for the year the registration falls in.
- Online 11 plus mock tests, rehearsing the switching both papers demand.
- 11 plus verbal reasoning question types, the half of the paper that carries the most weight.