Special arrangements for children with special or additional needs or disabilities

The London Borough of Bexley will consider applications for special arrangements to enable children with particular needs and 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.

Applications may be made by the Head Teacher of the child’s current school or by the parent, but 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.

Applications should be submitted as early as possible but by Friday 31 May 2024 at the latest, to allow time for assessment and for adapted test papers to be ordered if required. Late applications will not be accepted.

All applications made by the child’s current Head Teacher 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. Applications made by parents should be by letter, enclosing the above assessment reports and a letter from the child’s current Head 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 where appropriate to give a profile of the child’s difficulties. 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.

If you are applying for special arrangements for your child, either directly or through the school, you must also register your child separately online. The application for special arrangements is not a valid registration for the test. Details of how to register are on the Selection test page.

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

  • schools 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. Schools 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 Head Teacher 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 already has in place for tests within the school or intends to request for the KS2 national assessment tests. These may include modified materials, rest breaks, special environment, spoken sessions, additional time (25%) or specialist equipment. Scribes, readers, or support assistants 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. Applications received just before the closing date on 31 May, may not be assessed until after the end of the summer term, and the decision will be sent to you during the summer holiday. It is not possible to appeal against the Panel’s decision.

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

Download and complete the Special Arrangements application form (fillable PDF).

Special Arrangements application form (fillable PDF)

Applications should be sent to

The closing date for applications is Friday 31 May 2024.

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