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St Olave's Grammar School

St Olave’s Grammar School in Orpington is a Church of England boys’ grammar school with a mixed sixth form and 124 Year 7 places. Its own test has two stages, a one-hour first stage for every boy and English and maths papers for the top 450, and places go in rank order with no catchment area or distance rule.

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At a glance

Where
Orpington, Greater London (Bromley)
Takes
Boys, mixed sixth form
Year 7 places
124
Applicants
1,595 for 2027 entry, about 12.9 for each place. This counts boys registered for the test for 2027 entry, not the number who sat it.

Applicants figures aren’t counted the same way at every school, so they don’t compare from one school to another.

Admissions

The test

St Olave's own two-stage test, sat at the school: a 1-hour multiple-choice Selective Eligibility Test (SET) in English, Logic (verbal and non-verbal reasoning) and Maths, then for the top 450 boys a Stage 2 test of 1-hour English and Maths papers.

What qualifies

There is no fixed pass mark: the top 450 boys in the SET are invited to Stage 2, and all of them have met the minimum standard. Stage 2 scores are standardised and added to the SET marks to rank the boys, and ties are split by the Maths paper, then the creative writing, then the English multiple choice, then the SET.

Who gets priority

After boys with an EHCP naming the school, places go to looked after and previously looked after boys in the top 450 who sat Stage 2, then up to 10 places to boys who have had pupil premium (free school meals at any point in the 6 years before the registration deadline), ranked separately, then all other places by rank order. There is no catchment area, distance rule, sibling or faith priority.

Registering

Families registered on the school's online Supplementary Information Form from 9am on 8 June to midday on 29 June 2026, and also named the school on their council form by its October deadline. The SET was on 18 September 2026 with outcomes sent before the council deadline, and Stage 2 is on 13 November 2026; offers come on 1 March 2027.

Open events

The Year 7 open evening is held in late June for boys in Year 5: the one planned for 25 June 2026 was cancelled because of extreme weather and a video was published instead, and the next is on 24 June 2027 (3.30pm to 7.30pm).

Good to know

A superselective Church of England boys' grammar school whose sixth form is open to boys and girls (97 external places for 2027). The applicants figure is test registrations (SIFs) for 2027 entry from the school's website; the school says around 1600 applied in each of the 2025 and 2026 rounds. Up to 4 further Year 7 places go to Wakeham Choristers at the King's Chapel of the Savoy (a final cohort of 128), a boy can sit the test only once, and the waiting list is held by Bromley until the end of December.

Not confirmed yet

  • The number of boys who actually sat the SET in September 2026 (only registrations are published).
  • Score cut-offs for recent years (the school does not publish them).

Check these on the official page: stolaves.reactfiles.co.uk/uploads/key_information/Admissions-Policy-2027-2028-updated-1.pdf?t=1780659458

Read its admissions policy · The school’s website

The 11+ in Bromley

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Sources

Every fact here comes from the official pages below. Admissions rules change each year, so check them there before you rely on them.

Checked 2 November 2026.

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