Published 14 July 2026
Trafford grammar schools are changing the 11+ from 2028. Here's what it actually means.
The Trafford Grammar School Consortium has confirmed it is replacing its long-standing GL Assessment test with a new provider, Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE), starting with 2028 entry. If you have a child in Year 4 or below, this genuinely changes how you should be preparing, and starting now rather than later matters more than it used to.
The short version
- ✓ Out: verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, and mathematical reasoning papers
- ✓ In: a test on the actual Key Stage 2 English and Maths curriculum, up to the end of Year 5
- ✓ Timing moves earlier: from September of Year 6 to the summer term of Year 5
- ✓ 2027 entry is unaffected — GL Assessment continues as normal for that cohort
- ✓ The new format applies from 2028 entry (tested September 2027) and fully from 2029 entry (tested summer of Year 5)
Why they're changing it
FSCE has been explicit about the reasoning behind the switch: it wants a test that reflects a child's actual academic ability from ordinary schooling, not how many hours of specialist verbal and non-verbal reasoning drilling a family could afford. Reasoning-style papers reward pattern recognition that's taught almost nowhere in a normal Year 5 or Year 6 classroom, which is exactly why an entire industry of reasoning-specific crammers exists around them. A curriculum-based test closes that gap, at least in principle, by testing what schools are already meant to be teaching.
What this means for your family
Two things change at once, and they pull in different directions for how you should prepare.
First, the content itself shifts from an artificial reasoning skill toward something much closer to "is my child solid on Year 5 Maths and English." That's good news if your child has always struggled with the strange logic-puzzle style of VR/NVR papers despite being genuinely strong academically. It's less good news if you were relying on reasoning tutoring specifically, since that specialism is about to matter far less than broad, solid subject mastery.
Second, and just as important, the test now sits a full year earlier in a child's school life. A family used to starting serious preparation in Year 6 now needs to be ready by the summer of Year 5, which in practice means starting meaningfully in Year 4. If your child is currently in Year 3 or Year 4, this is the moment to start building genuine subject fluency, not the moment to start memorising reasoning tricks that won't even be tested.
How Fennby fits this shift
This is, honestly, closer to what Fennby was built around than the old reasoning-heavy format was. 11+ has always been our anchor, not our ceiling — our subject coverage already spans Maths and English (plus the sciences and languages) from Key Stage 1 right through to A-Level, taught and tracked the same way whether or not a child is sitting an 11+ at the end of it. A curriculum-based test rewards exactly that kind of steady, broad subject work over isolated reasoning drilling.
Practically, that means real Maths and English mock exams your child can sit digitally, on paper, or under full timed conditions, tutors matched on subject strength rather than reasoning-puzzle specialism, and a parent dashboard that shows you exactly which topics need more work, not just a single score to worry about.
If your child is in Year 3 or Year 4 right now
You have a genuine head start if you begin building solid Maths and English foundations now, well before the summer Year 5 test date arrives. Waiting until Year 5 itself to start is exactly the gap this change is designed to close for everyone else, so starting early is a real, usable advantage.