The Latymer School
State Grammar School (Voluntary Aided, Co-educational) · Est. 1624
The Latymer School is a quietly remarkable institution: a state-funded, co-educational grammar in Edmonton that has been mixed since 1910 — long before the recent wave of grammars opening their sixth forms to girls. It does not chase headlines or league-table theatrics, but it produces results that match the most selective independent schools in London while charging zero fees. Founded in 1624 by the will of Edward Latymer to educate eight poor boys of the parish, the school has retained a strong sense of community identity even as competition for its 192 Year 7 places has intensified. Unlike its more famous London grammar peers, Latymer operates a strict postcode-based 'Inner Area' that filters applications before the test is even sat — a deliberate policy that keeps the school rooted in its North London catchment.
One of London's most academically powerful state grammars — 192 places, postcode-restricted entry, two-stage test with NO interview, and 2025 results showing 37% grade 9s at GCSE and 30.7% A* at A Level.
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Haselbury Road, Edmonton, London, N9 9TN
Tuition fees
£0
state-funded
Year 7 places
192
annual intake
Applicants per place
~10:1
approx. (2,000+ apply)
Stage 1 cut
Top 700
advance to English
GCSE grade 9
37%
2025 cohort
A Level A*
30.7%
2025 cohort
Best For
Highly able children living within the school's defined Inner Area postcodes (E, EN, N postcodes across North and East London) who can perform under genuine time pressure across maths, verbal reasoning, and a school-written English paper. Best suited to families who want elite academic outcomes without independent school fees and value a co-educational environment from Year 7 onwards.
Watch Out For
The Inner Area postcode list is a hard filter — applications from outside the listed postcodes are not considered, regardless of score. Stage 1 is a sift via Maths + VR; only the top 700 have their English papers marked. There is no interview and no second chance — performance on the September test days is the entire selection. Co-ed sixth form is by GCSE results and is also highly competitive.
Entry Points
- 11+ only (Year 7). Sixth form entry separate, by GCSE results. NO 13+ entry.
The Complete Admissions Timeline
Every key date, deadline and decision point — with insider intelligence you won't find on the school website. Click any item to reveal verified insider knowledge.
The critical window: Online registration opens 17 March 2026 and closes 2 June 2026. Candidates sit one of three test days on 3, 4 or 5 September 2026. There is NO interview — the September papers are the entire selection. Latymer applications are filtered at registration: only children whose Main Address falls within the published Inner Area postcodes will be considered.
Registration opens
Online registration opens on 17 March 2026 at latymer.co.uk. Parents must enter the child's Main Address — applications are checked against the published Inner Area postcode list. Registration is free and is separate from the Local Authority Common Application Form.
Registration closes
All registrations must be submitted by the published June deadline. Late registrations are not accepted. Confirm the address falls within the Inner Area before submitting — applications from outside the published postcodes are not progressed.
Assessment test days (Stage 1 + Stage 2 papers)
Children attend ONE of three test days at the school. They sit a combined 60-minute Maths + Verbal Reasoning paper (GL Assessment, multiple-choice, 30 mins each section) and a 60-minute English paper set by the school (30 mins reading comprehension + 30 mins creative writing).
Stage 1 ranking — top 700 advance
GL Assessment marks and age-standardises the Maths + VR paper to produce a Rank 1 score. The top 700 candidates by Rank 1 score qualify for Stage 2 (English paper marking). Candidates outside the top 700 are not considered further.
LA Common Application Form (CAF) deadline
Parents must name The Latymer School on their Home Local Authority Common Application Form. This is separate from the Latymer registration and is mandatory for all London state secondary applications.
Final ranking issued
School marks the English papers of the top 700 to produce Rank 2. Combined scores are then re-standardised. Inner Area candidates ranked in the top 700 receive a Rank 3 position. Governors offer 192 places to the top of this ranking and maintain a waiting list of 50 ranked applicants.
National Offer Day
Local Authority issues secondary school offers. Parents receive their Latymer offer (or non-offer) via the LA portal alongside any other named schools. Acceptance and waiting list confirmation deadlines follow in mid-March.
Key Dates — September 2027 Year 7 Entry
- 1
Registration opens
17 March 2026
- 2
Registration closes
2 June 2026
- 3
Assessment days
3, 4, 5 September 2026
- 4
LA application (CAF) deadline
31 October 2026
- 5
Final ranking position issued
Mid-January 2027
- 6
National Offer Day
1 March 2027
Inside the Latymer 11+ Two-Stage Test
Latymer uses a two-stage selection process — but unlike other London grammars, both papers are sat on the same day. Stage 1 is a 60-minute combined Maths + Verbal Reasoning multiple-choice paper set by GL Assessment (30 mins maths, 30 mins VR). Stage 2 is a 60-minute English paper set by the school itself, comprising a 30-minute reading comprehension section and a 30-minute creative writing task. Critically, the English paper is only marked for the 700 highest-scoring children in Stage 1 — for everyone else, it is sat but never read. There is no interview at any stage.
Stage 1 — Maths + VR
60 minutes (30 mins Maths + 30 mins VR) · Multiple-choice, set by GL Assessment
Time pressure is the dominant trap. Candidates who pace themselves for a full 60-minute maths paper (and do not internalise the 30-minute split) often run out of time on VR. Many over-tutored candidates also drill standard VR question types but freeze on unfamiliar wordings.
Stage 2 — English
60 minutes (30 mins reading + 30 mins creative writing) · Written, set by The Latymer School (NOT GL Assessment)
Many candidates have practised generic 11+ English drills but have not built the analytical reading and sustained creative writing stamina the Latymer paper demands. The reading extracts tend to be literary fiction, not journalistic — vocabulary and inference are tested at a high level.
Topic Difficulty & Weight
Difficulty (%) and exam weight by topic area
Key takeaway: Stage 1 is a single GL Assessment multiple-choice paper combining 30 minutes of Maths and 30 minutes of Verbal Reasoning. Speed and accuracy are paramount — this paper alone determines whether the English paper is even marked. Age-standardisation means raw scores are converted relative to the candidate's exact age.
Topic Breakdown
Known Exam Traps — Stage 1 — Maths + VR
It is split 30/30. Practise switching cognitive mode between numerical and verbal tasks under time pressure.
Multiple-choice penalises slow workings. Mental maths fluency on 4-operations, fractions, and percentages is a baseline requirement.
GL Assessment varies question phrasings even within standard families. Practise across multiple GL-style providers, not just one workbook.
GL multiple-choice rewards completion. Better to mark a best-guess than leave blank, then revisit if time remains.
The pattern: Time pressure is the dominant trap. Candidates who pace themselves for a full 60-minute maths paper (and do not internalise the 30-minute split) often run out of time on VR. Many over-tutored candidates also drill standard VR question types but freeze on unfamiliar wordings.
If you can only improve in one area, make it
Speed under MC time pressure
What this means in practice:
Dedicate 60%+ of prep time to this area
Practice under timed conditions regularly
Review mistakes immediately after each session
Track progress weekly to spot patterns
All focus areas ranked by impact:
#1
Speed under MC time pressure
Stage 1 — Maths + VR
#2
Analytical reading + sustained creative writing
Stage 2 — English
Format
Multiple-choice, single combined paper
Duration
60 minutes (30 + 30)
Answer Method
Mark answers on separate answer sheet
Curriculum baseline: Year 5 / early Year 6 National Curriculum + GL VR families
Results & League Table Position
Latymer Edmonton consistently ranks among the top co-educational schools in England. These figures are benchmarked against national averages so you can see the full picture.
A-Level A* Rate
30.7%
Public A-Level breakdown not published.
A-Level A*/A Rate
65.1%
Use the narrative summary below.
GCSE Grade 9-7
84.5%
Public GCSE breakdown not published.
A-Level A*-B Rate
86%
Latymer regularly features at the top of state-school league tables for both GCSE and A Level. The 2025 cohort's combined outcomes confirm its position alongside QE Barnet, Tiffin, and Henrietta Barnett as one of London's elite state grammars.
A-Level Results vs National Average
Latymer Edmonton vs England average (%)
What this means: 30.7% A* and 65.1% A*–A at A Level (2025) puts Latymer among the very strongest state sixth forms in England, ahead of many fee-paying schools that charge £25,000+ per year.
GCSE Grade Distribution
Latymer Edmonton vs National distribution (%)
What this means: 37% grade 9s, 65% grade 8 and above, and 84.5% grade 7 and above (2025) — a level of outcome typically only seen at the most selective London grammars and top independents.
University Destinations
Where Latymer Edmonton leavers go — % of cohort
Notable Academic Achievements
Founded 1624
Established by the will of Edward Latymer; the modern grammar opened on Haselbury Road in 1910 as one of London's earliest co-educational grammars.
37% grade 9s at GCSE (2025)
Sustained top-tier GCSE outcomes — 65% of grades at 8+ and 84.5% at 7+ in 2025.
30.7% A* at A Level (2025)
65.1% A*–A and 86% A*–B in 2025, results comparable to the strongest London independents.
19 Oxbridge offers (2024)
Strong record of progression to Oxbridge, Russell Group, and medical schools.
Co-educational since 1910
Unusual among high-performing London grammars — Latymer has been fully mixed throughout, not just in the sixth form.
League Table Position: Latymer regularly features at the top of state-school league tables for both GCSE and A Level. The 2025 cohort's combined outcomes confirm its position alongside QE Barnet, Tiffin, and Henrietta Barnett as one of London's elite state grammars.
No Interview — Latymer Is Exam-Only
The Latymer School does NOT interview at the 11+ stage. Selection is determined entirely by performance on the September assessment days (Stage 1 Maths + VR, then Stage 2 English for the top 700). This is a key point of confusion: Latymer Upper School (the independent school in Hammersmith — a different school) does interview. The Latymer School in Edmonton does not.
Format
No interview — written tests only
Duration
Role in Admissions
Part of a holistic assessment, not a pass/fail gate
What Makes a Strong Impression
Compiled from parent reports (2023-2025)
The pattern:
What Actually Wins Offers
- 1Score in the top 700 in the Stage 1 Maths + VR paper to qualify for English marking
- 2Strong analytical reading and structured creative writing for Stage 2
- 3Address within the published Inner Area postcodes (a hard pre-filter)
- 4Stamina to perform across both 60-minute papers on a single test day
Contact Admissions
The Latymer School Admissions Team
Insider Intel: What Other Parents Don't Know
These are the verified insights you will not find on the school website, in Good Schools Guide, or from any single tutoring agency. Each insight is compiled and cross-referenced from 18+ sources including official documents, parent reports, and tutoring industry data.This is the intelligence that gives ClassAce families an edge.
The Inner Area postcode list is an absolute filter
Latymer is unusual among top London grammars in operating a strict postcode-based catchment ('Inner Area'). Only children whose Main Address falls within the listed E, EN, and N postcodes are considered — no exceptions. Verify the exact postcode list (including the part-postcode rules for EN5 sectors 1, 2, 4, 5 and EN8 sectors 7, 8, 9) in the current admissions policy PDF before investing in preparation.
Both papers are sat on the same day — but only one is always marked
Children sit Maths + VR (60 min) and English (60 min) on the same September day. Only the top 700 from Stage 1 (Maths + VR) have their English papers marked. This means a Stage 1 underperformance ends the application, regardless of how strong the English answer was — a contrast to Tiffin and other grammars where Stage 2 happens on a different day.
There is NO interview — do not confuse with Latymer Upper
The Latymer School (Edmonton) does not interview at 11+. Latymer Upper School (Hammersmith) — an independent school with similar branding — does. Some 11+ guidance websites confuse the two. The Edmonton school's own website confirms exam-only selection.
The English paper is school-set, not GL
Maths and Verbal Reasoning come from GL Assessment, but the English paper is written by the school itself. Generic GL English practice papers are not a good proxy. The school publishes sample papers on its admissions page — these are the most authoritative practice material available.
Age-standardisation matters more than raw scores
GL Assessment age-standardises the Maths + VR scores, so summer-born children are not at a disadvantage on raw marks. Don't focus on hitting an arbitrary percentage — focus on completing the paper accurately. The cut-off for the top 700 is set after standardisation, relative to the cohort that sat that year.
192 places + 50 on the waiting list
The Governors offer 192 places and maintain a ranked waiting list of 50 candidates. Waiting list movement is real — families turn down offers for independent schools or because they move address. Stay engaged with the school after a non-offer if your child is highly ranked.
Three test days — same paper, single sitting
Children are allocated one of three consecutive September test days (3, 4, or 5 September 2026). Each child sits the test once on their allocated day. Don't request a date change without good reason — administrative fairness is taken seriously.
Common Mistakes Parents Make
The errors we see most often from families preparing for The Latymer School. Avoid these and you're already ahead of the majority of applicants.
Confusing The Latymer School with Latymer Upper
These are two different schools: Latymer Upper (Hammersmith) is independent and interviews; The Latymer School (Edmonton) is a state grammar and does not interview. Generic '11+ Latymer' guides often blur the two — always verify the source.
Applying from outside the Inner Area
The Inner Area postcode list is a hard filter. Out-of-area applications are not progressed regardless of test score. Check the postcode list in the current admissions policy before investing in tutoring.
Treating the English paper as a GL-style exercise
The English paper is set by the school, not GL Assessment. Practising GL-style comprehensions alone leaves children underprepared for the demanding prose fiction extracts and 30-minute creative writing format Latymer uses. The school's own sample papers are the authoritative prep material.
Pacing for a 60-minute Maths paper
Stage 1 is 30 minutes Maths + 30 minutes VR — not 60 minutes of either. Children who haven't drilled the 30/30 split often find one section under-time. The combined paper format is distinctive and needs targeted practice.
Ignoring the creative writing component
Some families over-focus on comprehension and under-prepare creative writing. The 30-minute creative section carries significant weight in the Stage 2 score and rewards structured planning, varied vocabulary, and stylistic control.
Assuming the English paper is always marked
Only the top 700 from Stage 1 (Maths + VR) have their English paper marked. A weak Stage 1 means the English paper is never read, no matter how strong it was.
Latymer Edmonton vs Competitor Schools
How does The Latymer School compare to the schools your child is most likely also applying to? This analysis covers the key factors that actually matter to families.
Important context: Among elite London state grammars, Latymer is unusual on three counts: it is fully co-educational from Year 7 (most peers are single-sex or mixed only in sixth form); it operates a postcode-restricted Inner Area (most peers use distance tiebreaks rather than postcode filters); and it has no interview (some peers, particularly independents, do).
| Factor | FeaturedThe Latymer School (Edmonton) | Queen Elizabeth's School, Barnet | Henrietta Barnett School | Tiffin School | Latymer Upper School (Hammersmith) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School Type | State Grammar (Co-ed) | State Grammar (Boys) | State Grammar (Girls) | State Grammar (Boys, co-ed sixth) | Independent (Co-ed) — DIFFERENT SCHOOL |
| Co-educational | |||||
| VR in Exam | |||||
| Annual Fee | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | ~£28,000+ |
| 11+ Difficulty | Very Hard | Extremely Hard | Extremely Hard | Very Hard | High |
| Interview Style | None | None | None | None | Yes |
Why Parents Choose Latymer Edmonton
- Elite outcomes at zero cost30.7% A* at A Level and 37% grade 9s at GCSE (2025) — results that match top London independents charging £25,000+ per year.
- Co-educational from Year 7Unusual among top London grammars — Latymer has been mixed since 1910, not just at sixth form.
- No interview, no subjective gateSelection is purely on test performance. There is no interview to coach for, and no scope for soft-skill judgment to override exam scores.
- Strong Oxbridge & Russell Group progression19 Oxbridge offers reported in 2024, with consistent strong progression to Imperial, UCL, LSE, KCL and other Russell Group destinations.
Points to Consider
- Inner Area postcode filterApplications from outside the published postcodes are not considered, regardless of academic ability.
- Same-day two-stage testStage 1 underperformance ends the application — the English paper is sat but never marked for non-qualifiers.
- School-written English paperGeneric GL English prep is not enough. The school's own sample papers are essential preparation.
- No 13+ entry11+ is the only main entry point. Sixth form (16+) entry exists but is competitive and based on GCSE results.
Scholarships & Financial Support
| Scholarship Type | Value | Available Places | Selection Method | Stackable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free state education | £0 fees | All admitted pupils | As a state grammar, Latymer charges no tuition. There are no academic scholarships in the independent-school sense — the school does not award fee-reductions because it does not charge fees. | No |
* State grammar schools do not offer scholarships in the independent-school sense — admission itself is the award. Free school meal entitlement and Pupil Premium support are determined by national criteria, not the school.
The Preparation Roadmap
Everything here is built around The Latymer School's specific exam format, interview style, and selection criteria. This is not generic 11+ advice. Every recommendation is calibrated to this school.
Year 4 — Foundation
- Read widely across fiction genres — vocabulary exposure compounds over years, not weeks
- Practise mental maths daily (5–10 minutes)
- Start a vocabulary notebook for unfamiliar words encountered in reading
Year 5 Autumn — Format Familiarisation
- Work through Year 5 NC Maths topics: fractions, ratio, geometry, time, statistics
- Practise GL VR families: synonyms, word codes, hidden words, sequences
- Read literary fiction extracts and discuss inference and language
Year 5 Spring/Summer — Building Pace
- Sit at least one full GL-style Maths + VR mock under exam conditions
- Write at least one timed creative piece per week and review
- Practise comprehension on demanding prose fiction extracts
Year 6 Summer — Final Prep
- Submit Latymer registration before the June deadline
- Verify Inner Area postcode eligibility on the admissions PDF
- Sit a full-day mock simulating the September test day
- Manage exam stress — sleep, nutrition, light revision in the final week
Year 6 September — Test Days
- Complete the LA Common Application Form (CAF) by 31 October
- Wait for the mid-January final ranking and the 1 March Offer Day
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Intelligence Score
Updated May 2026 · 18 sources
Coverage
Measures how much of the admissions picture is directly evidenced rather than inferred from comparable schools or legacy material.
Freshness
This edition was last checked May 2026. Recency scores fall when public evidence ages or current-cycle detail is sparse.
Use it well
Treat lower-scoring areas as prompts to verify with admissions, not as automatic red flags. The score is about evidence quality, not school quality.
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