King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls is a selective state grammar school on Vicarage Road in Kings Heath, Birmingham, and girls enter at eleven. This page covers Camp Hill Girls 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 sort of school is Camp Hill Girls?
A selective girls' grammar school in Kings Heath, and one of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham. The Foundation behind it goes back a long way: a charter was granted in 1552 for a Free Grammar School of King Edward VI, forever to endure. The girls' school itself dates from 1883.
Its mission is to provide the fullest range of quality experiences in a forward-thinking and supportive grammar school environment, and it names respect, equality, compassion and aspiration as its core values. Girls are sorted into six houses. There is a sixth form.
The boys' school of the same foundation sits on the same road, which is a practical fact as much as a historical one. Families with a son and a daughter often end up looking at both, and the two are separate schools with separate admissions arrangements.
How does a girl actually get in?
Through the shared test, not a Camp Hill one. The school is part of the West Midlands Grammar Schools Partnership, and every candidate sits the same entrance test on the same day in September of Year 6. The result then travels to each partnership school the family has listed. 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.
Before any of that, a parent registers online in the summer term of Year 5. That window is short, and it is the step families most often lose. No primary school does it for you, and reminders are not guaranteed.
Because the test falls in the September of Year 6, the work that supports it belongs to Year 5 and earlier. A family starting in the summer holiday before it is trying to build foundations and rehearse technique at the same time, with time for only one of them.
Qualifying is step one of two: the test decides whether your daughter reaches the standard. The school's own published admissions arrangements then decide who among the qualified girls receives an offer. Read those arrangements before you fix your preference order.
Inside the two papers
There are two multiple-choice papers, each roughly fifty to sixty minutes including instructions and worked examples, so the answering time is shorter than the headline. Both papers mix the areas rather than taking one subject each.
Across them the test samples comprehension, verbal reasoning, mathematics and non-verbal reasoning with spatial questions. Comprehension and verbal reasoning between them carry half of the result, mathematics a quarter, non-verbal reasoning a quarter.
What should we prepare, and in what order?
Reading first, because it is worth the most and takes the longest. A girl who has read widely and discussed it since Year 4 carries an advantage into both the comprehension and the verbal reasoning that cannot be assembled over one summer.
Non-verbal reasoning next, and early, since progress there comes quickly and then flattens. Mathematics generally needs pace and multi-step problems rather than unfamiliar content, because the ground has been covered in class already.
Last, practise the sitting itself: timed, with a separate answer sheet, switching between four kinds of question inside one paper. That switching is a skill in its own right, and it is the one a strong reader is most likely to be caught out by.
Check this first: you will find no qualifying score, no place figures, no catchment note and no dates here, because all of those move from one year to the next and second-hand versions of them are often wrong. Read the two official sources:
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls 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 Girls, 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 Girls entry
Is Camp Hill Girls the same school as Camp Hill Boys?+
No. They are two separate schools of the same foundation, sitting on the same road in Kings Heath, and each has its own published admissions arrangements. The girls' school is part of the King Edward VI Academy Trust Birmingham, and both schools take the shared entrance test.
Does the school set its own entrance exam?+
No. Camp Hill Girls uses the shared West Midlands Grammar Schools entrance test, sat once in September of Year 6. There is no separate school paper, and the same result is sent to every partnership school named on the registration.
When do we register, and who does it?+
A parent registers online during the summer term of Year 5, with the partnership rather than the school. The window is short. Check the partnership's own site for the dates that apply to your daughter's year rather than relying on a figure quoted elsewhere.
How old is the school?+
The Foundation charter was granted in 1552, for a Free Grammar School of King Edward VI, forever to endure. The girls' school itself dates from 1883. Its stated values today are respect, equality, compassion and aspiration, and girls belong to six houses.
Other schools in this consortium
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls 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 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.
- Bishop Vesey's Grammar School, boys, in Sutton Coldfield.
Where to go next
- The West Midlands 11 plus entrance test, the shared test in full, with every partnership school listed.
- Online 11 plus mock tests, full papers with a separate answer sheet, under time.
- 11 plus English comprehension, the strand that carries the most marks.
- 11 plus preparation in Year 4, what to do early, when reading still has time to compound.