Grammar Schools in North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire's three grammar schools sit at opposite ends of a large county and share nothing. Only Ripon runs through the council. Two of the three changed something material for this round, so anything written before mid-2026 is now misleading.
Where the official practice material is
Future Stories Community Enterprise
2 of the 3 schools hereFree familiarisation guides, one for children and one for parents, with sample questions. They are on the admissions page of each school rather than on the FSCE site. FSCE deliberately does not issue past papers, to reduce how much the test rewards tutoring.
GL Assessment
1 of the 3 schools hereFree familiarisation booklets that show the question types, the timings and how the answer sheet works. GL do not release past papers, so anything sold as a GL past paper was written by somebody else.
What families in North Yorkshire need to know
- Ripon's test changed for this sitting. It is now a verbal skills paper of 45 minutes, mixing Key Stage 2 reading comprehension and spelling with verbal reasoning, and a 40-minute non-verbal reasoning paper with maths folded into it. A child prepared on last year's format would practise the wrong thing. GL Assessment still writes and marks it.
- Ermysted's moved from GL Assessment to FSCE for testing from September 2026, in the school's own words. Older guides naming GL are out of date.
- Ermysted's and Skipton Girls' are both in Skipton and both now use FSCE, but they are separate tests with separate registrations and separate results.
- Ripon is the only school here with boarding at 11 - 14 of its 117 places are reserved for boarders - and the only one running scheduled late tests through the following year.
- Skipton Girls' does not publish its main sitting date. Its site lists provisional testing dates through 2026 and 2027, but those are in-year and additional tests, not the Year 7 sitting. Contact the school rather than working from them.
- Neither Ermysted's nor Ripon publishes a numerical pass mark in advance; the required standard is set once the cohort's papers are in.
The 3 grammar schools in North Yorkshire
Admissions details change year to year. Always confirm dates and criteria on the school's own admissions page before applying.
| School | Town | Admits | 11+ exam board |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ermysted's Grammar School | Skipton | Boys | FSCE |
| Ripon Grammar School | Ripon | Mixed | GL Assessment |
| Skipton Girls' High School | Skipton | Girls | FSCE |
Each name links to that school's own admissions page.
Preparing for the 11+ in North Yorkshire?
GG Maths coaches the maths and reasoning side of 11+ entry online, for families anywhere in the UK. Sessions are built around the format your child will actually sit, not generic practice papers.
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