Monday 2nd March 2026 is National Offer Day. In short, this is the day local authorities inform parents which secondary school their child has been allocated.
For parents who applied to grammar schools, this day brings the outcome of the 11+ selection process. While it is a day of celebration for some, for others it can be a moment of disappointment.
National Offer Day is the coordinated date on which all local authorities in England email or send a letter to families confirming their child’s secondary school place for the following September. This is the only day that offers are made; you will not find out earlier.
For state schools, applicants will overwhelmingly be from the local catchment area, so most pupils will get their first-choice school.
For grammar schools, your child must have reached the required standard in the 11+ entrance test (i.e. achieve a certain mark in their test). However, it is crucial to understand that simply passing the exam does not guarantee a place if the school is oversubscribed because there are other criteria in place, too. Schools apply their oversubscription criteria (such as catchment areas, sibling links, or pupil premium status) to allocate the limited number of places when pupils achieve identical scores.
My child got accepted into a grammar school
Congratulations!
We know first-hand how much work goes in to passing the 11 plus. This is definitely true for the pupil, but many people do not realise how taxing it is on the parents as well. Even if the child is being tutored at an 11 plus tuition centre, it takes a lot of comittment from parents to chauffeur their children to every session and make sure the child is on top of their work. So, congratulations to the student(s) and the parents!
My child didn’t get a grammar school place; what now?
If your child has not been offered a place at a grammar school, you will likely feel a range of emotions. It is important to acknowledge these feelings. Clinical psychologist Dr. Lucy Russell advises parents to first regulate their own emotions so they can support their child effectively. Parents who have not exited the emotional state are best advised to avoid making any knee-jerk decisions, and instead, give themselves some time to process the information and regulate their emotions. This will place you in a better position to help your child.
In the CAF (common application form), parents will have selected around six schools for their child to potentially go to, ordered by preference.
If your child isn’t being offered the first-choice option, then the offer will be for the second-choice option. And if for any reason the second-choice school is not offered, then the offer will be for the third-choice school, and so on.
1. Accept the allocated school (for now)
It is essential to accept this place by the deadline stated in your offer, usually in mid-March. This secures a spot for your child regardless of any pending appeals and ensures they have a school to go to in September.
This means that in the worst case scenario, your child will have a school place waiting for him or her in September – even if it isn’t the first-choice school.
2. Join the waiting List
Some schools/ councils may operate a waiting list system. If this applies to you, ask for your child to be placed on the waiting list for any grammar school you named as a higher preference. Waiting lists are usually ordered according to the school’s oversubscription criteria, not just the test score. Crucially, if a place becomes available later in the spring or summer, being on this list is how you will be considered.
3. Appeals
Some parents may wish to appeal. From our experience, this is rarely successful, but parents do have the right to appeal.
If you go down this route, be prepared to put together a robust case with strong evidence, such as a letter supporting your appeal from your child’s school’s headteacher.
4. Explore alternative routes
If an appeal is unsuccessful or not the right option, remember there are other ways to access a grammar school education later on:
Many grammar schools have occasional vacancies in higher year groups (Years 8, 9, or 10). They often hold their own entrance tests for these ‘in-year’ admissions. You would need to contact the school directly to register for these tests.
Admittedly, these places are quite rare, but can come about every so often.
The main way non-grammar school educated pupils can experience grammar school education is via the sixth form. There is no entrance exam for the sixth form. Instead, the student will require a set of fantastic GCSE results. Places for the sixth form will be competitive (though not as competitive as Year 7 places). To provide some context, an 11+ pupil in Bexley will be competing with between 5,000 to 9,000 (numbers vary every year) other pupils to get a place in a grammar school (there are around 800 grammar school places in Bexley). But for the sixth form, there are likely to be less than 1,500 applicants.
Supporting your child emotionally
Your child may feel like they have failed, but it is vital to reframe this narrative. The 11+ is a narrow test on a single day and does not define their potential or intelligence.
– Celebrate effort: Praise the hard work and dedication your child showed in preparing for the test, regardless of the outcome.
– Focus on strengths: Remind them of their broader skills, talents, and character strengths—whether in sport, music, art, or friendship. These qualities are just as important as academic scores.
– Look forward with positivity: Explore the positive aspects of the school they have been offered. Every school has unique clubs, teachers, and opportunities that your child can get excited about.
Final thoughts
The best thing about preparing for the 11 plus exam is the comprehensiveness of the curriculum. Pupils are required to learn a lot of Maths and English and become competent at it. There are so many benefits of the 11 plus journey, and sometimes they are not always quantifiable. Skills and confidence may not be easily quantified, but pupils will be picking up many skills on their 11 plus journey. The end result of all this is that the pupil becomes a very competent learner. If a child does not make it into a grammar school, more often than not, it will mean they end up in Set 1 in Maths, Science and English in a state school. As a teacher with over 15 years of experience, I can tell you that pupils in Set 1 in state schools are very capable and high achieving. So, even if your child does not get a place in their preferred grammar school, they will still probably do really well because of the knowledge, skills and confidence they picked up during their 11 plus journey.
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Grammar School Pathway 