The London Borough of Bexley will consider applications for special arrangements to enable children with needs and/or disabilities to participate in the selection test for entry to grammar school.

It is expected that the child’s need or difficulty will have been identified well in advance of the test and that similar concessions or adaptations to those requested are already being made in the classroom in the child’s primary school.

Special Arrangement applications will only be accepted from parents/carers.  All applications must be accompanied by the required evidence and supporting reports. It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all evidence is provided before the closing date.

Headteachers will be asked to submit a supplementary form confirming requests align with normal classroom and test practice.

Applications from parents/carers must be submitted to schools by the final day of the spring term 2026 (March) at the latest. Schools have until 30 April to submit supplementary forms.

Late applications will not be accepted and there is no appeal process

All applications must be made on the Selection Test Special Arrangements Application Form and must be supported by a report from an educational psychologist, doctor or consultant, or a suitably qualified specialist teacher, as it is necessary for the panel to understand the current arrangements to support the pupil within the school.

Section B of the Selection Test Special Arrangements Application Form should be completed by the primary school Headteacher/SENCO where appropriate, to give a profile of the child’s needs. Only current and correctly administered test results will be accepted, and parents are advised to ensure that tests meet this standard if commissioning a report from an independent Educational Psychologist.

Submitting a Special Arrangement application does not automatically register the child for the Bexley Selection Test. The parent/carer must also register their child for the Bexley Selection Test online between the 1 and 31 March 2026. Late applications will not be accepted and there is no appeal process.

Each application will be assessed individually by a Panel of appropriately qualified professionals using the following criteria:

• parents must provide clear comprehensive and recent evidence (for example, evidence gathered up to 2 years ago) from other professionals of the child’s significant special educational need or disability and the impact that has on access to the curriculum and in particular, in relation to a timed multiple-choice test. Parents must provide evidence that a child’s special educational need is significant and persistent - this should be demonstrated by evidence of interventions that the school has implemented over time to address the child’s special educational need.
• Schools should provide evidence of the specific reasonable adjustments that are regularly put in place by the school (for example, adjustments in place for at least a year prior to making a special arrangement application) to ensure access to the curriculum. This information will then enable the Panel to consider appropriate access arrangements that will enable the child to access the Bexley Selection Test as fairly as possible
• the child’s headteacher/SENCO is supporting the application with a view to whether the child will continue to need similar support at secondary school

Children with an Education, Health and Care Plan are not automatically entitled to special arrangements in the Bexley selection test. Applications will be assessed using the criteria above.

Applications will not be assessed until all supporting evidence has been supplied. The London Borough of Bexley will aim to make only the same arrangements as the child’s school or intends to request for the KS2 national assessment tests. These may include modified materials, rest breaks or additional time (25%). Scribes or readers will be considered for children with more severe needs or disabilities. It is not possible to complete the test using a laptop.

The outcome of applications will be sent to the person making the application as soon as possible after the panel has made the decision.

It is not possible to appeal against the panel’s decision.

In exceptional cases, children with agreed special arrangements that cannot be provided in the normal test centre will be invited to attend a separate test session.

How to apply for special arrangements

The Special Arrangements application form will be available from 1 March 2026.

Provide the form with supporting evidence to your child’s school with a blank supplementary form for the headteacher to complete. Completed applications and supplementary forms should be sent by schools to selectiontests@bexley.gov.uk 

The closing date for submission of application forms and supplementary forms from the school is 30 April 2026.

If you need any more information about special arrangements or the selection test, contact the School Admission Team:

• Telephone: 020 8303 7777
• Email: selectiontests@bexley.gov.uk

Key Dates