GL Assessment test dates, the Lincolnshire Consortium's top-25% qualifying standard, 120 Year 7 places and expert Lincolnshire 11+ preparation from Leading Tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationBoston Grammar School is a selective grammar school for boys in Boston, Lincolnshire, admitting 120 boys into Year 7 each September on the strength of the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ test. For September 2027 entry, boys registered in early 2026 and sat two GL Assessment reasoning papers in September 2026, ranked against the rest of the tested cohort to identify the top 25% by ability. This page sets out the test format, the oversubscription rules, the results and offer dates for September 2027 entry, and how Leading Tuition prepares boys for Boston Grammar's specific requirements. For the full history, Sixth Form entry detail and a longer walkthrough of the admissions process, see our complete Boston Grammar School 11+ guide.
Preparing Your Son for Boston Grammar School 11+?
Our specialist tutors focus purely on the two papers that decide Boston Grammar admissions — Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning with spatial awareness — building the accuracy and speed needed to clear the required standard with room to spare. Programmes for the next Lincolnshire Consortium test cycle are reviewed every session.
Families we've supported have secured places across the Lincolnshire Consortium grammar schools.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppAt a glance
Registration and test dates for September 2028 entry are set out on the school's own 11+ admissions page; the school registers families for the test before the September papers.
Updated for September 2028 entry — October 2026
For September 2027 entry (the 2026 test), Boston Grammar School tested Year 6 boys in September 2026 and the Lincolnshire County Council offers follow on National Offer Day, Monday 1 March 2027. Appeals for that entry are listed with a deadline of 23 April 2027.
For September 2028 entry (the 2027 test), Year 5 families are the audience: the school held its Year 5 Open Evening on Thursday 24 September 2026, and its 11+ admissions page is the place to follow registration and test details.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| School name | The Boston Grammar School |
| Location | South End, Boston, Lincolnshire PE21 6JY |
| Type | Selective grammar academy for boys, Years 7–11; co-educational Sixth Form |
| Year 7 places (PAN) | 120 |
| Sixth Form places (PAN) | Set out in the school’s Sixth Form entry requirements |
| Pupils on roll | 924 (DfE Get Information about Schools), against a capacity of 910 |
| Test provider | GL Assessment, via the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools |
| Test papers | Verbal Reasoning; Non-Verbal Reasoning with spatial awareness (no Maths or English paper) |
| Qualifying score | Top 25% of the tested cohort (rank-ordered, no fixed pass mark) |
| Verbal Reasoning date (2026) | September 2026 |
| Non-Verbal Reasoning date (2026) | September 2026 |
| Competition ratio | Not traditionally oversubscribed, per the school's own admissions FAQ |
| Ofsted rating | Expected standard overall; strong standard for attendance and behaviour (inspected 28 April 2026) |
| GCSE results (2026) | Four grade 9s in seven or more subjects |
| Headteacher | Mr John McHenry |
Boston Grammar School is a full member of the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, which shares a single 11+ test, provided by GL Assessment, across the county's selective schools. Families moving from other regions are often caught out by this: there is no separate Maths paper and no English comprehension or creative writing component. The whole assessment rests on two reasoning papers.
Verbal Reasoning tests a boy's ability to work with word patterns, codes, sequences and logical relationships through question types including analogies, letter and number codes, hidden words, compound words, and synonym and antonym matching. This paper was sat in September 2026.
Non-Verbal Reasoning with spatial awareness tests the ability to spot rules and relationships in abstract shapes — series, matrices, analogies and figure classification — extended into three dimensions through cube folding, block counting, shape rotation, nets and fold-and-punch problems. This paper was also sat in September 2026.
Both raw scores are age-standardised before being added together, adjusting for a boy's exact date of birth so a summer-born candidate is not disadvantaged against an autumn-born classmate. Lincolnshire's consortium ranks the combined Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning scores and takes the top 25% of the tested cohort, in line with the percentage intake targets across the county's grammar schools. Reaching that standard is necessary but not sufficient: it is Boston Grammar's own oversubscription criteria, set out below, that decide who receives one of the 120 places if applications exceed supply — though the school's own admissions FAQ notes Boston Grammar has not traditionally faced the oversubscription pressure some other grammar schools see, since the town has two single-sex grammar schools between them.
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Registration window | Early 2026 (closed before the September 2026 test) |
| Verbal Reasoning paper | September 2026 |
| Non-Verbal Reasoning paper | September 2026 |
| Results sent to parents | Early October 2026 |
| Common Application Form deadline | 31 October 2026 |
| National Offer Day | 1 March 2027 |
Note that sitting the 11+ test is a separate step from applying to the school itself. As Lincolnshire County Council makes clear, a child taking the test is not automatically an applicant — families must still submit a Common Application Form (CAF) to their home local authority by the 31 October 2026 deadline for September 2027 entry, ranking Boston Grammar among their preferred schools. Missing either step, the test registration or the CAF, can cost a place regardless of the score achieved.
Preparing Your Son for Boston Grammar School 11+?
Our specialist tutors focus purely on the two papers that decide Boston Grammar admissions — Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning with spatial awareness — building the accuracy and speed needed to clear the required standard with room to spare. Programmes for the next Lincolnshire Consortium test cycle are reviewed every session.
Families we've supported have secured places across the Lincolnshire Consortium grammar schools.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppBoston Grammar School has no catchment area or priority zone. Any boy who registers and reaches the required standard may apply, regardless of where in Lincolnshire — or beyond — the family lives. When qualifying applicants exceed the 120 places, the school works through a fixed order of oversubscription criteria:
If distance cannot separate the final available places, an independent lottery decides the outcome. Because distance is used only as a tie-break rather than a catchment requirement, families well outside Boston itself do apply successfully — but they should understand that a strong score alone will not override the looked-after or sibling categories ahead of them in the queue.
Boston Grammar School was inspected by Ofsted on 28 April 2026 under its new report-card framework, which no longer gives a single overall grade: the school was judged at the 'expected standard' for curriculum, inclusion, leadership and post-16 provision, 'needs attention' for achievement, and 'strong standard' for attendance and behaviour. Academically, the school reports that four Year 11 students achieved grade 9 in seven or more GCSE subjects in the school's 2026 results. At A-Level in 2026, more than 50% of grades across subjects including Biology, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and Economics were A*-C. The school is led by headteacher Mr John McHenry.
My son was low in confidence after COVID and the gaps in learning were building up. Using this service helped plug those gaps, rebuild confidence, and improve his ability to learn properly again.
We arranged maths and English tuition ahead of GCSEs and both tutors were brilliant. My daughter's grades improved, and by results day she achieved two grades higher than in her mock exams.
I attended an English bootcamp with Leading Tuition and the experience was excellent. The teacher gave focused attention to the small group while keeping the lessons interactive and engaging.
Boston Grammar School's history stretches back further than almost any school in Lincolnshire: the school's own history traces its foundation to land conveyed to the town by Philip and Mary in 1554 and a royal charter granted by Mary I in 1555, with its current schoolhouse built between 1567 and 1568. The school organises pupils into four houses — Laughton, Muston, Gannock and Parry — each named after a historical figure connected to the school. "Floreat Bostona" is also the title of a 1980s history of the school written by G.S. Bagley for the Old Bostonian Association.
Notable former pupils include Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam, the former Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England who became a familiar public figure during the coronavirus pandemic, and Barry Spikings, the Oscar-winning film producer behind The Deer Hunter. Year 7 to Year 11 has been boys-only throughout the school's history, while its Sixth Form is co-educational, admitting girls from Year 12 alongside boys progressing from Year 11.
Preparation for Boston Grammar School should concentrate entirely on the two components of the Lincolnshire test: Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning with spatial awareness. Neither is part of the national curriculum, so boys need structured, progressive practice well before their Lincolnshire Consortium test date — and because Lincolnshire drops the Maths and English papers that many other counties include, time spent on those subjects for a different 11+ format is time not spent on the skills Boston Grammar actually tests.
Leading Tuition's specialist 11+ tuition begins with a diagnostic assessment across both paper types to establish exactly where your son stands relative to the required standard. From there we build a personalised programme: vocabulary and pattern-recognition work for Verbal Reasoning, spatial and figure-based training for Non-Verbal Reasoning, and progressively timed practice papers as the test date approaches, so your son arrives with both the accuracy and the exam stamina Boston Grammar's competitive field demands. We also cover the practical side — registration, the CAF deadline, and how the oversubscription criteria affect your family's position — so nothing procedural costs a place that the test itself has earned.
For families weighing Boston Grammar alongside other Lincolnshire Consortium schools, our tutors prepare boys for the shared GL Assessment format, which transfers directly across every school in the consortium. See our full Boston Grammar School 11+ guide for more on the school's history, Sixth Form entry requirements and a month-by-month view of the admissions calendar, or browse our wider 11+ School Guides and 11+ resources for further reading.
Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 59 reviews, read on 3 October 2026, and 91% of our students achieve their desired grades.
Year 5 boys now are the September 2028 entry group and sit the 2027 test. The school describes the process for its current cycle on its 11+ admissions page; the stages below follow that description.
The school asks families to register boys for the test so it can plan testing for the primary schools it serves. Sitting the test is separate from applying through the Common Application Form.
The school's description is two papers, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, normally sat in primary school classrooms on two Fridays in September.
The school's description is that outcomes are posted in early October, and the test is norm-referenced to take the top 25% of each cohort. Families then name the school on the local authority application form.
For dates, read the school's 11+ admissions page and its Year 5 Open Evening page.
Reviewed October 2026: dates, test format and places checked against Boston Grammar School's own 11+ admissions and Year 5 Open Evening pages.
Yes. Boston Grammar School is a fully selective grammar school in Boston, Lincolnshire, admitting boys only from Year 7 to Year 11, with a co-educational Sixth Form that also admits girls. Every boy must register for and sit the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ test, ranking among the top 25% of the tested cohort across two GL Assessment papers to qualify for one of the 120 Year 7 places.
Boston Grammar School uses the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ test, which GL Assessment provides for the consortium. There are only two papers, Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning with spatial awareness, both sat in September 2026. Unlike some other counties, Lincolnshire does not set a separate Maths or English paper.
Boston Grammar does not publish a fixed pass mark: the Lincolnshire Consortium combines and age-standardises the Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning scores, then ranks pupils to select the top 25% of the tested cohort. This method applies across every school in the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, not just Boston Grammar. Reaching that standard qualifies a boy for consideration but does not guarantee a place: Boston Grammar's own admissions FAQ notes the school has not traditionally faced the oversubscription pressure some other grammar schools see, though the 120 Year 7 places are allocated through the criteria above whenever demand does exceed supply.
No. Boston Grammar School does not operate a defined catchment area or priority zone. Any boy who registers and reaches the required standard may apply, wherever in Lincolnshire or beyond the family lives. Straight-line distance from home to school is used only as the final tie-break criterion, applied after any Education Health Care Plan naming the school, looked-after status and sibling links have been considered.
Boston Grammar School first admits children with an Education Health Care Plan naming the school; when qualifying applicants for the remaining 120 places are oversubscribed, places are allocated in order: first, looked-after and previously looked-after children; second, siblings of pupils already at the school; and finally, all remaining qualifying boys ranked by straight-line distance from home to school. An independent lottery breaks any final tie.
Most families begin structured preparation in Year 5, since neither Verbal Reasoning nor Non-Verbal Reasoning is taught as part of the national curriculum. Registration for the 2026 test cycle (September 2027 entry) opened earlier in 2026, and the papers were sat in September 2026. Because qualifying does not guarantee a place, a personalised programme that targets both Lincolnshire Consortium papers gives your son the clearest platform for success.
Leading Tuition's specialist 11+ tutors provide personalised, one-to-one preparation for the Lincolnshire Consortium's Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers that decide Boston Grammar admissions. We begin with a diagnostic assessment, then build a programme around your son's specific strengths and gaps, with progressively timed practice papers ahead of his test date. Sessions are reviewed and adjusted throughout, and we also help families understand the practical side of the process - registration, the Common Application Form deadline and how Boston Grammar's oversubscription criteria work - so nothing procedural costs a place a strong test performance has earned. Book a free consultation to discuss your son's preparation.
Personalised, one-to-one tuition built around the Lincolnshire Consortium test format. Rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot.
Book a Free Consultation