The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe 11+ Admissions: Test, Dates and Fees

Getting into The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe means sitting the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test in Year 6, the selective 11+ exam that every Buckinghamshire grammar school uses, with the school's oversubscription criteria applied if applications exceed the 182 day places and 10 boarding places on offer. A standardised score of 121 or more qualifies a child for consideration; it does not by itself guarantee a place, since catchment area, Pupil Premium eligibility and distance from the school then decide who is offered one.

Beyond Year 7, the school also takes a small number of boys into Years 8, 9 and 10 through its own Late Transfer tests in English and mathematics, and runs a co-educational sixth form open to external applicants who meet its GCSE entry requirements. Day places carry no tuition fees, since RGS is a state grammar school; boarding is charged termly for those who board.

Entry points and places

The main route into the school is Year 7 entry, which carries a Published Admission Number of 182 day places and 10 boarding places; in the event boarding places go unfilled, they may be converted to day places. Occasional places arise in Years 8, 9 and 10 through the school's Late Transfer Procedure, and the co-educational sixth form admits 50 external students alongside internal Year 11 pupils who meet the entry requirement.

Boarding at Year 7 is weekly boarding only; full, seven-day boarding is reserved for Years 10 to 13. Parents wishing to board their son from Year 7 complete a separate Boarding Registration Form alongside the usual Secondary Transfer Test and Common Application Form routes, and the school notes that boarding vacancies between Year 7 entry and the sixth form are rare.

How the 11+ assessment works

The 11+ assessment for Year 7 entry is the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT), set by GL Assessment and administered by Buckinghamshire Council as Test Administrator for all the county's grammar schools, so a child sits it once regardless of how many Buckinghamshire grammar schools they are applying to. Children sit two papers on the same day in the autumn of Year 6, each about 60 minutes long including introduction and practice examples, covering verbal, non-verbal and mathematical skills.

Each of the three skills areas is age-standardised so that a child's month of birth does not affect their result, and the three standardised scores are added together to give the Secondary Transfer Test Score. A score of 121 or more automatically qualifies a child for a Buckinghamshire grammar school place, though qualifying is separate from being offered a place at this particular school, which depends on the oversubscription criteria below.

Children registered at a Buckinghamshire state-funded primary school are entered for the test automatically unless a parent withdraws them; children at independent Buckinghamshire schools or at non-Buckinghamshire primary schools must be registered for testing with Buckinghamshire Council by the June deadline. Parents who believe their child's score does not reflect their ability because of particular circumstances on the day can apply for a Selection Review before places are allocated.

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How Years 8 to 10 entry works

Entry to Years 8, 9 and 10, known as Late Transfer, is assessed through the school's own curriculum-based tests in English and mathematics; the Secondary Transfer Test does not apply at this stage. Candidates must reach a minimum standard, determined by a pass mark, in each paper to be considered, and the school states that it does not issue sample papers and that heavy coaching or revision is not required.

Registration for the Annual Testing Round, which covers September entry to Years 8, 9 and 10, closes on the second Monday in January, with testing at the school in late January. Families who move into the area outside the main admissions round can apply for Immediate Admission to Years 7, 8 or 9 if a place exists, with testing arranged as soon as reasonably possible and a right of appeal if admission is refused.

Registration and the admissions timeline

For Year 7 entry, the sequence runs: register for the Secondary Transfer Test if not automatically entered, ahead of the published deadline in Year 6; sit the two STT papers on one day in the autumn of Year 6; name the school on the Common Application Form submitted to the home local authority by the published closing date; results are issued to parents by Buckinghamshire Council ahead of the national offer date; places are allocated using the oversubscription criteria below.

Boarding applicants additionally complete a Boarding Registration Form and attend a suitability interview, held in the winter following registration. Any vacancies arising after the national offer date and before the end of October are filled from the waiting list managed by Buckinghamshire Council on the school's behalf; from the start of November, a waiting list for Year 7 is held by the school itself until the next Late Transfer testing round.

Interviews and references

Day applicants for Year 7 are not interviewed; admission is decided on the Secondary Transfer Test score together with the oversubscription criteria, with no reference from the current primary school required as part of the standard process. Families applying under the reserved Pupil Premium or looked-after children route are asked to provide documentary evidence, usually gathered from the child's current headteacher, to support that application.

Boarding applicants are the exception: registration for Year 7 weekly boarding includes a suitability interview, run alongside the standard Secondary Transfer Test route. The school's published policies do not describe an interview or reference requirement for Late Transfer entry to Years 8 to 10, or for sixth form admission.

Catchment and oversubscription criteria

The school sits within a defined catchment area split into Priority Area A and Priority Area B, mapped by Buckinghamshire Council, and families can check their own address against it using the council's postcode checker. Among qualified applicants, Year 7 places are allocated in order: looked after and previously looked after children; up to six reserved places for in-catchment children eligible for Pupil Premium or looked after, scoring between 115 and 120; other qualified Pupil Premium children in catchment; siblings of current day pupils; applicants living in the catchment area, with Priority Area A taking precedence over Priority Area B; children of staff meeting set conditions; then all other qualified applicants by straight-line distance from the family home to the school's main entrance gate on Walton Road.

Where distance produces an exact tie, places are allocated by random selection independent of the school, and all qualifying siblings from a multiple birth are admitted together even if this exceeds the Published Admission Number. Late Transfer entry to Years 8 to 10 uses a similar but shorter order of priority: looked after children, in-catchment Pupil Premium applicants, siblings, catchment residence by priority area, staff children, then distance.

Sixth-form entry

Sixth form entry at The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe is decided by GCSE results against published minimum entry requirements, which apply equally to internal Year 11 pupils and external applicants. Candidates need 8 taught full GCSEs at grades 5 to 9, including English and mathematics at grade 5 or above, with a minimum total point score of 49 from those 8 GCSEs, and must separately meet the entry requirement for each individual course applied for, detailed in the school's annual Sixth Form Entry information.

External applicants apply directly to the school using its Sixth Form Admission application form; Buckinghamshire Council's main transfer process does not apply at this stage. Where places in a subject are oversubscribed among qualified applicants, after looked after children, in-catchment Pupil Premium students and staff children's places are allocated, remaining places go by rank order of the highest aggregate score across each candidate's best 8 GCSEs, up to each course's planned capacity.

Where pupils join from

Year 7 entry is open to any child who sits and qualifies in the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test, whether they attend a Buckinghamshire state primary school, an independent school in the county, or a primary school outside Buckinghamshire; children at Buckinghamshire state primaries are simply registered for the test automatically. The school's published admissions policies allocate places by catchment area and distance; no specific feeder or partner primary schools are named.

How to prepare

Preparation for Year 7 entry should centre on the three components of the Secondary Transfer Test: verbal skills, mathematical skills and non-verbal reasoning, since all three are age-standardised and added together to produce the qualifying score. Because both papers are sat in one sitting in the autumn of Year 6 with only a short break between them, practising sustained concentration across two timed, multiple-choice style papers in a single morning is as relevant as subject knowledge.

For Years 8 to 10 entry, the school's own guidance is to focus on the English and mathematics curriculum; it states explicitly that it does not provide past or sample papers and that heavy coaching or revision is not required to meet its pass mark. For sixth form applicants, preparation means working toward the specific GCSE grades each chosen A-level course requires, since course-by-course entry requirements determine which subjects a place can be offered in, alongside the overall point score.

Related guides

• Buckinghamshire grammar schools guide
• Best grammar schools in the UK by GCSE results
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory
• Aylesbury Grammar School admissions guide
• Aylesbury High School admissions guide
• Beaconsfield High School admissions guide
• Burnham Grammar School admissions guide
• The ISEB Common Pre-Test explained
• 13+ Common Entrance explained
• Boarding schools in the UK

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