What is the top 180 in the Bexley 11 Plus Test?

You may have heard people talk about the Bexley 11 plus test's top 180 and wondered what it is, or what does a top 180 child actually get. The top 180 refers, literally, to the 180 children who score the highest in the Bexley test. Being among the top 180 scorers is not an arbitrary score, but something that affords a child two particular privileges:

1. A top 180 scorer may choose which grammar school in Bexley they attend. In other words, they get to do the choosing rather than get chosen.

2. A top 180 scorer is not subjected to the same "application boundaries" (commonly misnamed "catchment areas") that non-top 180 passers are subject to. In other words, if Bexley Grammar School has an admission boundary of X miles, it would not matter a child who is in the top 180 lives farther than X miles. It is also worth keeping in mind that Bexley is unique in its use of a "top 180". Other schools/authorities do not have a top 180.