Bucks 11 Plus for Children with SEND: Access Arrangements and What Support is Available

The Bucks 11 plus for children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) raises important and practical questions that many families are not fully aware of until the registration process is already underway. Children with identified special educational needs, disabilities, or specific learning difficulties may be entitled to access arrangements that level the playing field during the test — adjustments that ensure the test measures the child's academic reasoning ability rather than their disability.

What Access Arrangements Are

Access arrangements are specific adjustments to the standard test conditions designed to ensure that children with identified needs can demonstrate their true ability without being disadvantaged by their disability or learning difficulty. They are not designed to give an unfair advantage — they are designed to remove an unfair disadvantage. The principle is that access arrangements should reflect what the child normally receives in their school assessments, not additional support provided specifically and exclusively for the 11 plus test.

Available Adjustments

Buckinghamshire Council and GL Assessment provide a range of access arrangements for the Secondary Transfer Test. Arrangements that have been available include: additional time (typically 25% extra), a reader, a scribe (limited scope for this multiple choice test), rest breaks within sections, a separate quiet room away from the main cohort, enlarged print versions of the papers for children with visual impairment, and coloured overlays for children with visual processing difficulties.

Evidence Requirements

Access arrangements are not granted based on a parent's request alone — they require evidence of an identified need. The required evidence typically includes one or more of: a report from a qualified Educational Psychologist; a diagnosis from a specialist medical professional for conditions such as ADHD or autism spectrum condition; a current Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP); and evidence from the child's school confirming that equivalent access arrangements are routinely provided in the school's own assessments.

The fundamental principle is that access arrangements must reflect what the child normally receives. A child who has never previously been given extra time in any school assessment is very unlikely to qualify for extra time in the 11 plus.

Applying for Access Arrangements

Applications for access arrangements must be submitted at the time of registration for the test — they cannot be added after the registration window closes. The application requires the relevant evidence documentation to be submitted simultaneously with the registration. Families who anticipate needing access arrangements should therefore ensure they have the necessary evidence in hand before the registration window opens in April. If an Educational Psychologist assessment is needed, it should be commissioned well in advance — EP assessments can take several months to arrange and complete.

EHCP and Grammar School Admissions

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan are subject to a different admissions process. If a grammar school is named in a child's EHCP as an appropriate placement, the school is legally required to admit the child regardless of whether they have achieved the qualifying score for the Secondary Transfer Test. EHCP admissions operate entirely outside the normal Secondary Transfer Consortium process.

Key Takeaways