London has selective grammars in seven boroughs (Bexley, Sutton, Kingston, Redbridge, Enfield, Barnet, Bromley). Cross-borough applications are the norm rather than the exception.
The year in shape
Each borough's grammars set their own admissions criteria, but most rank by qualifying score then distance. Some (Wilson's, QE Boys, Henrietta Barnett) operate super-selective top tiers.
Cross-borough applications make sense where (a) you live near a borough boundary, (b) you can reach the school by transport for daily attendance, and (c) the test format aligns with your preparation.
Term-by-term plan
Autumn term. Format alignment matters more than parents often realise. Bexley and Kingston use GL; Sutton uses a mix of CEM and GL; Wilson's and Nonsuch use CEM. Preparing for the wrong format is a serious cost.
Spring term. Through autumn of Year 5, identify three to five realistic target schools across boroughs. The application is then organised by individual borough rather than centrally.
Summer term & holiday. In spring, register for each chosen test in time. Different boroughs have different deadlines, often within a fortnight of each other in early summer.
Topics to prioritise
Highest-leverage cross-borough strategy: pick one primary format (typically the closer-to-home), and add one secondary format only if a target school in that format is genuinely realistic.
Common mistakes parents make this year
The most common parent mistake is registering for too many tests across too many formats. A child sitting four formats over four weekends in autumn is over-faced and under-prepared for any one.
Signs to look for
Signs the strategy is going well: child has clear preparation in one format, secondary exposure to a second, and a realistic preference list of three to five schools. If these signs are present, the year is going well; if they are absent, the issue is rarely intelligence — it is usually pacing, format unfamiliarity or the wrong tutoring relationship. Identify which and adjust deliberately.
Where to go next
Read the relevant borough guides for individual calendars; read the format guides for GL and CEM; and confirm transport logistics before committing to a school more than 30 minutes away. Read across the related guides on this site — the guides index groups them by category for easy navigation.