Gloucestershire grammar schools are moving to FSCE: what has been announced and what it means for families

Update, 25 September 2026: the details are out

The Gloucestershire grammar schools have now published the FSCE familiarisation guides. The test for September 2028 entry is on Saturday 3 July 2027, registration runs from 8 February to 19 March 2027, and there are three papers, with no Non-Verbal Reasoning. Read the Gloucestershire FSCE test details and our response for the full summary and an honest account of what 11+ Daily covers. The rest of this post is the original April announcement.

The headline

All seven Gloucestershire grammar schools have appointed Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE), a not-for-profit subsidiary of Reading School, to run their shared 11 Plus entrance test. The change takes effect for the test sat in summer 2027, which determines entry to Year 7 in September 2028. The test also moves out of September of Year 6 and into the summer term of Year 5.

Which schools are involved

The change is a joint decision by the Gloucestershire grammar school consortium, published simultaneously on each school's news page on 15 April 2026:

• Pate's Grammar School (Cheltenham)
• Stroud High School
• Marling School (Stroud)
• Sir Thomas Rich's School (Gloucester)
• The Crypt School (Gloucester)
• Ribston Hall High School (Gloucester)
• Denmark Road High School (Gloucester, also known as High School for Girls)

What the schools have said

The shared statement puts heavy emphasis on accessibility, alignment with the Key Stage 2 curriculum, and reducing reliance on specialist tutoring. Several heads have added their own wording:

• Dr James Richardson, Head of Pate's: "Moving to a test provider whose assessments are closely aligned with the national curriculum is an important step in ensuring that potential and passion for learning (rather than access to specialist tutoring) are recognised and rewarded in our admissions process."
• Mark McShane, Head of Stroud High: "As a school, widening access and ensuring fair opportunity are central to our admissions philosophy. FSCE's approach to assessment, with its strong curriculum alignment and inclusive design, closely matches these values."
• Alec Waters, Head of Ribston Hall: "Their strong alignment with the Key Stage 2 curriculum, combined with a clear commitment to fairness, accessibility and high-quality assessment, gives us confidence that the test will identify genuine academic potential."

Who FSCE is

FSCE stands for Future Stories Community Enterprise. It is a not-for-profit subsidiary of Reading School and already runs entrance assessments for a number of other grammar schools, sitting around 8,000 children a year. The consortium statement emphasises that FSCE's assessments are closely aligned with the Key Stage 2 national curriculum, with a strong focus on accessibility and reducing reliance on specialist tutoring.

What is still unknown

At the time of writing in April, these details were still being confirmed. Most have now been answered in our post on the published FSCE details.

• The exact question formats and mark scheme of the Gloucestershire FSCE paper.
• Which subjects and skill areas will be tested, and how Verbal Reasoning fits into the new format.
• The precise weighting between English and Maths.
• How practice materials and sample papers will be made available to families.
• Operational detail around the summer-of-Year-5 sitting, including dates and venues.

What this means for current Year 5 and Year 6 families

If your child sat the 11 Plus in Gloucestershire in September 2026 for entry in September 2027, nothing changed for you: that was still the GL Assessment paper, and FSCE starts from the summer 2027 sitting onwards.

If your child is in Year 5 in the 2026 to 2027 school year, they will sit for September 2028 entry and be in the first FSCE cohort. The test will also be earlier in the school year than it has been historically, in the summer term of Year 5 rather than September of Year 6.

Our honest view for families

Do not panic and do not stop practising. The underlying skills tested across UK 11 Plus exams are remarkably consistent: reading comprehension, vocabulary, written English, arithmetic, problem-solving and logical reasoning all remain valuable regardless of which provider runs the paper. A child who is strong in those areas is well placed for any reasonable 11 Plus style exam, including whatever the Gloucestershire FSCE paper looks like in practice. Good practice now is not wasted practice.

It is also worth saying that the stated direction, closer alignment with the national curriculum and less reliance on tutor-specific techniques, is broadly welcome. If it works as intended, it should make the test a fairer reflection of a child's school learning rather than their family's ability to pay for coaching.

How 11+ Daily will respond

This section was written in April, before the details were out. In September we suggested switching off the reasoning subjects in the app, and said we would not claim to cover the Compass Paper. Since October there is 11+ For Gloucestershire FSCE instead: English and Maths up to the end of Year 5, as multiple choice and as written answers, and Across the Curriculum for the Compass Paper. FSCE changes its content every year and has authorised no practice material from anyone, and that includes us: the questions are original to 11+ Daily, not FSCE material. The full account of the test is in the post on the published Gloucestershire FSCE test details.

Staying in the loop

We will update this post and publish follow-ups as more information becomes available. If you are a Gloucestershire parent and you would like us to keep you informed as we learn more, please get in touch, and we will include FSCE updates in our occasional product emails.