Wiltshire · Salisbury eleven plus · Years 5 and 6

11 plus maths tuition in Wiltshire

Wiltshire's grammar schools are in Salisbury, and each sets its own entrance test. The boys' grammar school has already published its arrangements for September 2028 entry, so a child now in Year 5 can see exactly what is coming: two papers from Quest on Saturday 25 September 2027, with maths sharing the second paper with non-verbal problem solving in about 45 minutes. Every question is multiple choice, usually from five options, and a recording paces the room because no watch or timer is allowed. Modern Age Coders teaches the upper primary maths behind that paper live online, to a class or to one child. This page sets out the format, the dates, how the qualifying standard works, and one topic that repays early work: per cent.

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From the school's 2028 entry leaflet and its test provider's page, read 31 October 2026 · Not connected with any school, Quest or Wiltshire Council

Is there maths in the Salisbury 11 plus?

Yes. The boys' grammar school in Salisbury sets its own 11 plus, written and marked by Quest Assessments. Its leaflet for September 2028 entry lists two papers: "English and Verbal Problem Solving" and "Maths and Non-Verbal Problem Solving", each of about 45 minutes, on the morning of Saturday 25 September 2027. Quest says every question is multiple choice, usually from five options, marked on an answer sheet. The 2027 entry test was on Saturday 26 September 2026. The girls' grammar school sets its own test, which we could not read. Modern Age Coders teaches the maths behind the Salisbury paper live online, in a group or 1-on-1, through our 11 plus maths preparation course.

Where to start

Courses for a Salisbury 11 plus year

Start with the main 11 plus course. A child unsure of number facts may do better beginning with the mental arithmetic course; a child already ahead can go on to lower secondary topics.

11 Plus Maths Prep course thumbnail

WILTS / 01

The 11 plus maths course

Number, fractions, decimals, percentages, shape and data, at the level of a multiple-choice maths paper.

Open the syllabus →
Mental Maths for Kids course thumbnail

WILTS / 02

Number facts without strain

Halves, quarters, tenths and times tables recalled fast enough to save minutes inside a shared paper.

Open the syllabus →
Middle School Mathematics Mastery course thumbnail

WILTS / 03

Beyond primary maths

Ratio, simple algebra and geometry for a child already secure at Year 6.

Open the syllabus →

The two papers

What is in the Salisbury boys' grammar school 11 plus?

Two papers sat in one morning session with a short supervised break. The school's 2028 entry leaflet gives about 45 minutes each and about an hour and a half in total.

The 11 plus for September 2028 entry, from the school's leaflet and Quest's page
PaperContentTimeAnswer format
Paper 1English and verbal problem solvingAbout 45 minutesMultiple choice, usually five options, on an answer sheet
Paper 2Maths and non-verbal problem solvingAbout 45 minutesMultiple choice, usually five options, on an answer sheet
Between themA short supervised break for a drink, a snack and the toilet
TotalAbout 1 hour 30 minutes of examination timeInstructions from a recording before, during and after each paper

Sources: the school's information leaflet for entry in September 2028 (updated 13 October 2026) and Quest Assessments' guidance for the school's 11 plus, read 31 October 2026.

Maths shares its paper

There is no maths-only paper. Maths and non-verbal problem solving come together in about 45 minutes, so the time a child spends on one is time not spent on the other. The leaflet does not say how the 45 minutes divide between them, and we will not guess.

What a family can work on is speed of recall. A child who knows that a fifth is 20 per cent, or that 7 x 8 is 56, without thinking, leaves more of the paper for the questions that need thought.

How answers are marked

Quest explains that "Rather than writing out answers, your child draws a horizontal line through a box next to their chosen answer." One mark per question unless told otherwise; mistakes are rubbed out fully with a clean eraser.

That has a maths consequence. There is no credit for a method, only for the right box. Checking an answer against the options before marking it is part of the skill.

No watch, no timer

The leaflet bans "mobile phones, smart watches, timers or any other electronic devices". Quest says a recording plays before, during and after each paper with the instructions.

One attempt only

"Each candidate may only sit the 11+ examination" for the school once, the leaflet says. There is no second sitting the following year.

No past papers

The leaflet says: "For security and copyright reasons, papers from previous years will not be made available to parents." Quest's free familiarisation booklets show the format.

Two cohorts at once

When is the Salisbury 11 plus for 2027 and 2028 entry?

The school publishes two timetables side by side. The 2026 sitting, for September 2027 entry, has already happened; the 2027 sitting, for 2028 entry, is the one today's Year 5 will take.

The school's 11 plus timetables, from its Year 7 admissions page and 2028 leaflet
StepSeptember 2027 entrySeptember 2028 entry
School 11 plus applications openWednesday 25 March 2026Monday 22 March 2027
School 11 plus applications closeFriday 3 July 2026Friday 2 July 2027
Local authority applications open1 September 20261 September 2027
Test daySaturday 26 September 2026Saturday 25 September 2027, morning
ResultsTuesday 6 October 2026By Monday 11 October 2027, through the school's portal
Local authority applications closeFriday 31 October 202631 October 2027
National Offer DayMonday 1 March 20271 March 2028

Two forms, two systems

The leaflet asks for the school's own online 11 plus registration form first, and says plainly that this "does not replace applying for admission through the LA application form". Offers for Year 7 are coordinated by Wiltshire Council.

Families in Hampshire and Dorset apply through their own councils by the same 31 October deadline, naming the school; their council then passes the preference to Wiltshire.

If a child is unwell

The school must be told by email before the test or by 9.00am on the day. An alternative date needs valid evidence, such as a GP letter, and the leaflet notes that ordinary tiredness after a school trip is not enough.

A parent who believes performance was affected on the day must write to the school by Friday 1 October 2027, with evidence. Circumstances raised after that cannot be considered.

Source: the school's Year 7 admissions page and 2028 entry leaflet, read 31 October 2026. We print a weekday only where the school's weekday matches the calendar; some of its listed weekdays do not, so for those dates we give the date alone.

Scores and places

What score do you need for the Salisbury 11 plus?

There is no published pass mark. The leaflet says the qualifying standard "is determined by the headteacher in consultation with the School Governing Body", and is set at 10 per cent lower for disadvantage-funded candidates.

How the school describes marking and qualifying, 2028 entry leaflet
QuestionWhat the leaflet says
Who marks the papers?Quest, centrally, followed by standardisation by Quest's statisticians
What is standardisation?Raw scores (questions right) converted by age weighting, using the boy's age on the test day
What result do parents see?The standardised weighted score from both papers, and whether the qualifying standard was met
Can parents see raw scores?No: "The raw scores attained by candidates are not supplied to the School"
Is there a lower standard for anyone?For disadvantage-funded candidates, "set at 10% lower than the standard qualifying standard"
Does qualifying mean a place?No: if more boys qualify than places, the oversubscription criteria decide
Where should the school go on the council form?The school advises first preference, because offers follow the highest preference that can be met

The 10 per cent rule in plain numbers

Our illustration, not the school's figures: if a qualifying standard were 100 points on some scale, 10 per cent lower would be 90. The school does not publish its standard, so no real number can be put in the example; the point is only what "10 per cent lower" means arithmetically.

Eligibility follows the leaflet: looked after or previously looked after children, and children recorded for free school meals in the last six years (FSM Ever 6), with evidence.

What the school says about tutors

The leaflet calls private tutoring "entirely a matter for parental choice", says the school and Quest "are not responsible for what is taught", and adds that "a tutor's opinion will have no bearing on any subsequent appeal".

It also asks parents to "monitor and limit any activities that might put undue additional pressure" on a child before the test. We take that seriously: our lessons are school maths, paced for a ten-year-old.

Our lesson family

How should a Year 5 child think about percentages?

As hundredths. The Year 5 national curriculum asks pupils to "recognise the per cent symbol (%) and understand that per cent relates to 'number of parts per hundred'", and to know the percentage and decimal equivalents of a half, a quarter, a fifth, two fifths and four fifths. Everything below is ours, written for this page; none of it is a Quest question.

Our table of equivalents worth knowing by heart
FractionDecimalPer centQuick way to find it of an amount (ours)
1/20.550%Halve
1/40.2525%Halve, then halve again
1/50.220%Divide by 10, then double
2/50.440%Find 20%, then double
4/50.880%Find 20%, then take it away from the whole
1/100.110%Divide by 10
3/100.330%Find 10%, then multiply by 3
Worked examples (ours)
Question (ours)ThinkingAnswer
What is 25% of 64?25% is a quarter; half of 64 is 32, half again is 1616
A class of 30 has 40% wearing glasses. How many?10% of 30 is 3, so 40% is 4 x 312
Which is larger, 3/5 or 0.65?3/5 is 6/10, which is 0.6, and 0.65 is more than 0.60.65
A 200 g bar is 80% chocolate. How many grams are not chocolate?100% minus 80% is 20%; 20% of 200 is 4040 g
Put in order, smallest first: 0.3, 1/4, 28%As hundredths: 30, 25, 281/4, 28%, 0.3

Our practice set. Try each in your head first, then check on paper. (1) 50% of 86. (2) 20% of 45. (3) Which is closest to 1/5: 0.15, 0.21 or 0.3? (4) 75% of 120. (5) 3 out of 25 children walk to school; what percentage is that? (6) Order 0.45, 2/5 and 42%. Answers, ours: (1) 43; (2) 9, because 10% is 4.5; (3) 0.21, since 1/5 is 0.2; (4) 90, because 25% is 30; (5) 12%, since 3/25 = 12/100; (6) 2/5, 42%, 0.45.

Why this suits a five-option paper

Fractions, decimals and percentages written three ways are a natural source of near-miss options. A child who converts everything to hundredths before choosing, as in the ordering example, is rarely caught by an option that looks right.

It is also fast. Finding 10 per cent by dividing by 10 and building from there takes seconds, which matters when maths shares 45 minutes with another kind of reasoning.

The mistakes we see most

Reading 0.3 as smaller than 0.25 because 3 is less than 25. Writing both as hundredths, 30 and 25, fixes it permanently.

Taking 20 per cent as "divide by 20". We teach the fraction first, a fifth, and only then the percentage, so the operation follows from the meaning.

What we could not read

What about the girls' grammar school in Salisbury?

It sets its own test, separately. Its website, and Wiltshire Council's, refused our requests, so this page gives no format, provider or dates for the girls' test and does not guess.

What to do instead

Read the girls' school's own admissions page and leaflet, and Wiltshire Council's secondary admissions pages, for the current year. Dates and providers change, and the school is the only reliable source for its own test.

If its test includes maths, the maths in our lessons is the same national curriculum maths in any case. We will ask which school you are applying to and plan around its format once you have read it.

Why we do not fill the gap

Another site's summary of a school's test is not the school. Rather than repeat claims we could not check at source, we leave the section short and send you to the school.

The same rule runs through every page in this series: facts come from the council, the testing body or the school, read directly, with the date we read them.

Year by year

From Year 4 to a late-September test in Year 6

For 2028 entry the test falls on 25 September 2027, about three weeks into Year 6, and registration closes on 2 July 2027, near the end of Year 5.

Our pacing plan for a child aiming at the 2027 sitting
WhenMaths focus (ours)Secure when
Year 4, summer termTables to 12 x 12 and tenths as decimalsEvery table fact and 0.1 to 0.9 are instant
Year 5, autumn termFractions and their equivalents; hundredthsHalves, quarters and fifths convert in both directions
Year 5, spring termPer cent; written multiplication and divisionA percentage of an amount takes under half a minute
Year 5, summer termMixed multiple-choice sets; register by 2 July 2027Answers are checked against the options before marking
Year 6, SeptemberQuest familiarisation booklets and the answer sheetThe child has practised a horizontal line through a box

Keeping it in proportion

More boys usually sit than there are places, and qualifying is not an offer. Most children who sit will go elsewhere.

Secure percentages and fractions will be used in every Year 7 maths room.

Further on

See our GCSE maths page for the exam at 16.

For maths and coding contests by month, there is the UK competitions calendar.

All related courses

Maths and coding for Wiltshire children

Arranged by age. Tap a card for the full syllabus.

I

Primary maths

Years 3 to 6

UK / PTW / 01

The 11 plus maths course

Upper primary maths at entrance-test pace.

Open the syllabus

UK / PTW / 02

Mental maths for children

Equivalents and tables until they are reflex.

Open the syllabus

UK / PTW / 03

Primary maths from Year 1

For a younger brother or sister.

Open the syllabus

UK / PTW / 04

KS2 SATs preparation

The May tests at the end of primary.

Open the syllabus
II

Into secondary

Years 6 to 8

UK / PTW / 05

Beyond primary maths

Ratio, algebra and geometry for Years 7 and 8.

Open the syllabus

UK / PTW / 06

Competition maths

Stretching problems for strong mathematicians.

Open the syllabus
III

Maths in code

Ages 8 and up

UK / PTW / 07

Maths through coding

Write a percentage calculator in Python.

Open the syllabus

UK / PTW / 08

Scratch programming

First steps in logic, with blocks.

Open the syllabus

How lessons run

Live online, from Salisbury to the Vale of Pewsey

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. The teaching team works from India, on a clock that never moves: India time is four and a half hours in front of UK time from late March to late October and five and a half hours the rest of the year. Times you book are UK time.

After school

An hour that fits the end of a primary day.

Weekend morning

For families with busy weekday evenings.

Easter and summer

Short blocks before registration closes.

School maths first

The national curriculum in depth, never a bank of test tricks.

No school run

The same lesson in Amesbury, Wilton or Tisbury without the drive.

Batch or private

A batch of 15 to 20 at one stage, or one teacher for your child alone.

Original practice

Every exercise is ours; none is copied from a Quest booklet.

Plain feedback

After each block, two lines: what is now secure, what is next.

No promises

Qualifying and places are for the school and the council alone.

Student work

What our students go on to make

Things built by children from our classes, several of them now teenagers. More on student labs.

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Fees

Lesson fees

A fixed monthly fee in the currency we invoice UK families in, paid as you go with nothing in advance. Lesson one is free.

Free first class

USD 0

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  • One real lesson at your child's level
  • A frank view of where the maths stands
  • All we need is a phone number
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Group batch

USD 100

a month, billed in US dollars

  • A batch of 15 to 20 at one stage
  • The same teacher all year
  • Homework marked and explained
  • A certificate at the close
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One to one

USD 150

a month, billed in US dollars

  • One child with one teacher
  • Built around the Salisbury format
  • Right for a child who rushes or freezes
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Wiltshire 11 plus questions

What Wiltshire parents ask

Is there a maths paper in the Salisbury 11 plus?

At the boys' grammar school, maths is half of Paper 2, called Maths and Non-Verbal Problem Solving, which lasts about 45 minutes. There is no maths-only paper.

When is the Salisbury eleven plus for 2028 entry?

The school's leaflet gives the morning of Saturday 25 September 2027. Its 11 plus applications open on Monday 22 March 2027 and close on Friday 2 July 2027.

Who sets the Salisbury boys' grammar school test?

Quest Assessments, which the provider says is part of Atom Learning. Quest prepares, marks and standardises the papers, and the school sets the qualifying standard.

Are the questions multiple choice?

Every one, according to the provider, normally with five lettered choices. A child answers by drawing a horizontal line through the box beside the chosen letter.

Can my son wear a watch in the 11 plus?

No. The leaflet bans mobile phones, smart watches, timers and other electronic devices. Quest says a recording gives instructions before, during and after each paper.

What is the pass mark for the Salisbury 11 plus?

None is published. The headteacher sets the qualifying standard with the governing body, and it is 10 per cent lower for disadvantage-funded candidates. Raw scores are not given to the school or to parents.

Are there Salisbury 11 plus past papers?

No. The school says papers from previous years will not be made available. Quest publishes free familiarisation booklets in English, maths, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, with a practice answer sheet.

Does qualifying guarantee a place?

No. If more boys qualify than there are places, the oversubscription criteria decide, and the school advises naming it as first preference on the council form.

Do I need an 11 plus tutor in Salisbury?

The school calls tutoring entirely a matter for parental choice and says a tutor's opinion has no bearing on an appeal. We teach curriculum maths and make no promise about any outcome.

When are your maths lessons?

Weekdays or weekends, flexible: choose your batch, or for a very personalised plan choose 1-on-1 at your convenience, weekend mornings or weekdays. Booking times are in UK time.

Related pages

More for Wiltshire families

Coding nearby, other selective areas, and our UK hub.

11 plus maths tuition

How 11 plus maths works across England.

11 plus maths on the Wirral

Another test pairing maths with non-verbal reasoning.

Coding classes in Wiltshire

Python and Scratch across the county.

Coding classes in Salisbury

For families in the city itself.

Programming in Swindon

For north Wiltshire.

Coding classes in the UK

All our UK pages, gathered.

Related pages in this guide

Part of the guide: UK selective school maths tests: 7+, 11+, 13+ and 16+

11+ by area

Tests by provider and entry point

Northern Ireland transfer test

More guides: UK maths exam boards and specification codes · UK maths year by year, Reception to Year 11 · UK university admissions: maths tests and computing applications · UK maths enrichment, competitions and able pupils

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Book a free maths lesson

Give us your child's year group and the school in mind. If it is the boys' grammar school, the first lesson will practise a five-option maths question set.

Reading before booking? The course pages each carry a syllabus, and how we teach shows a lesson from start to finish.

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