Selective girls' grammar, 108 Year 7 places, qualifying score of 220, Ofsted Good (July 2024), Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning tests sat 11–19 September 2026. Expert one-to-one Lincolnshire 11+ preparation from Leading Tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationBoston High School is a fully selective girls' grammar school on Spilsby Road, Boston, PE21 9PF, educating pupils across Years 7 to 13. It opened on 19 January 1921 at Allan House on Carlton Road with just one headmistress, seven teachers and 112 girls, before moving to its current Spilsby Road site in the autumn of 1938, formally opened during 1939. The school has been a converter academy since 1 January 2013. Years 7 to 11 remain girls-only, while the Sixth Form is co-educational.
Preparing Your Daughter for Boston High School 11+ Entry?
Our specialist tutors know the Lincolnshire Consortium test inside out — Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning, timed to the exact format used on 11–19 September 2026. We build structured, personalised programmes around the real test date, whichever primary school your daughter attends, with regular progress tracking so you always know exactly where she stands against the 220 qualifying score.
Families we have supported have won places at Boston High School and other 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 Year 7 entry admissions page.
Updated for September 2028 entry — October 2026
For September 2027 entry (the 2026 test), Boston High School's Year 6 girls sat the Lincolnshire Consortium papers in September 2026, and National Offer Day is Monday 1 March 2027.
For September 2028 entry (the 2027 test), Year 5 families can follow the school's Year 7 entry admissions page, which describes the process: the test is administered at the start of Year 6, in September.
The school has a Published Admission Number of 108 places for Year 7 entry each September, filled entirely through the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools 11+ test. It holds a Good Ofsted rating, confirmed at a short inspection on 16 and 17 July 2024, following consistent Good judgements at its March 2018 short inspection and November 2014 full inspection. For families comparing wider Lincolnshire grammar options, our longer Boston High School 11+ guide on the blog covers the school's oversubscription criteria and preparation timeline in more depth; this page focuses on the essential facts and dates you need to plan around.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| School name | Boston High School |
| Type | Selective state grammar — girls Years 7–11, co-ed Sixth Form |
| Location | Spilsby Road, Boston, Lincolnshire, PE21 9PF |
| Year 7 places (PAN) | 108 |
| Entrance test | Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools 11+ |
| Test papers | Verbal Reasoning; Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning |
| Qualifying score | 220 combined standardised score (top ~25% of cohort) |
| 2026 test dates (Lincs pupils) | Fri 11 or Sat 12 Sept 2026 (VR); Fri 18 or Sat 19 Sept 2026 (NVR) |
| Ofsted rating | Good (short inspection, 16 and 17 July 2024) |
| GCSE grade 5+ Eng & Maths | Published on the DfE performance tables |
Source: Boston High School's Admissions Policy 2026-27, 11+ Survival Guide and Ofsted July 2024 report, retrieved 27 September 2026.
This is the question that trips up more Boston families than any other, and it is where several 11+ guides online genuinely mislead parents by labelling two different cohorts with the same year. Here is the distinction in plain terms. Girls who were in Year 6 during the 2025–26 school year sat the Lincolnshire 11+ test in September 2025 and started Year 7 at Boston High School in September 2026 — that cycle's registration, testing and results process is complete, and Lincolnshire County Council issued offers on 2 March 2026. Girls who were in Year 5 during the 2025–26 school year moved into Year 6 in September 2026 and sat the test that same month, for entry to Year 7 in September 2027. That is the September 2027 entry cycle (the 2026 test), whose later stages are results, the Common Application Form deadline and National Offer Day. Families with a daughter in Year 5 now are planning for September 2028 entry (the 2027 test).
Lincolnshire Consortium pupils sat the Verbal Reasoning test on Friday 11 or Saturday 12 September 2026, and the Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness test on Friday 18 or Saturday 19 September 2026. Registration for this cycle closed on 31 March 2026, and results were emailed to parents at midday on Friday 9 October 2026. For September 2027 entry, the Common Application Form deadline was 31 October 2026 and National Offer Day is Monday 1 March 2027.
Boston High School uses the shared Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools test rather than setting its own separate paper, meaning one registration and one sitting can be used to apply to any consortium school on a family's application form. The two papers are Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning. According to the school's own published 11+ guide, Verbal Reasoning runs for 50 minutes and covers around 85 multiple-choice questions across the full range of standard verbal reasoning question types. Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning is split into five timed sections of roughly 14 questions each, around 70 questions in total, testing shape, symmetry, position, angle, number, shading, size and spatial reasoning. Both papers are pencil-and-paper, and each includes worked examples of the question types so pupils understand the format.
Preparing Your Daughter for Boston High School 11+ Entry?
Our specialist tutors know the Lincolnshire Consortium test inside out — Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning, timed to the exact format used on 11–19 September 2026. We build structured, personalised programmes around the real test date, whichever primary school your daughter attends, with regular progress tracking so you always know exactly where she stands against the 220 qualifying score.
Families we have supported have won places at Boston High School and other Lincolnshire Consortium grammar schools.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppOur specialist tutors help girls prepare for the Boston High School 11+ with personalised, one-to-one tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationBoston High School does not operate a fixed catchment area. Any family in Lincolnshire, or from outside the county, can apply provided their daughter reaches the qualifying standardised score of 220. Instead, the school publishes a Designated Transport Area (DTA) of around 20 named primary schools — including Boston Pioneers Free School, Boston West Academy, Fishtoft Academy, Park Academy, St Nicholas Primary, Staniland Academy, Tower Road Academy and Wyberton Primary — where the 11+ test is administered on-site by Boston High School itself, plus a further 8 collaborating primary schools outside the DTA, including Frithville Primary, Sibsey Free Primary and Stickney Primary, where sitting arrangements are made locally. Girls from any other primary school, in Lincolnshire or elsewhere, register to sit the test at Boston High School directly.
Where more girls reach the qualifying score than there are places available, the school's published oversubscription criteria are applied to decide who is offered one of the 108 places, with priority categories such as looked-after children considered first, followed by other defined categories and finally distance from home to school as the tie-break; families should always check the school's current published admissions policy for the exact wording that applies to their application. The school notes on its own site that, historically, it has been able to accommodate all girls who reach the required standardised score, though this is not guaranteed for every future cycle and depends on the volume of applications each year.
Entry above Year 7 is also possible where a year group has capacity below its Published Admission Number of 108. In these cases the school uses the GL Assessment Cat4 test, and applicants typically need an average National Percentile Ranking around 75% or above, with neither the verbal nor non-verbal component significantly below that threshold. Families interested in in-year or Year 8+ entry should contact the school's admissions office directly, since availability changes year to year and is entirely dependent on natural movement within each year group.
Boston High School holds a Good Ofsted rating, confirmed at a short inspection carried out on 16 and 17 July 2024 and published on 19 September 2024. This continues a long run of Good judgements: the school was also rated Good at its short inspection in March 2018 and at its full inspection in November 2014.
Academic outcomes are strong relative to both Lincolnshire and national averages. In the 2025 key stage 4 results published by the DfE, 76.5% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths at GCSE, against a Lincolnshire average of 41.9% and an England average of 45.4%, and the school's Attainment 8 score of 58.8 sat well above the Lincolnshire average of 45.1 and the England average of 46.1. While selective at entry, the school continues to add value through Years 7 to 13.
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Leading Tuition's specialist 11+ tuition programme supports families across Boston, Skirbeck, Fishtoft, Wyberton, Kirton and the wider Lincolnshire Consortium catchment in preparing for the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ test each September. We begin with a diagnostic assessment spanning both Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning, identifying precisely where your daughter currently stands relative to the 220 qualifying score and building a clear, staged plan for the months ahead.
Because Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning are not part of the national curriculum, most girls benefit from structured exposure to every question type well before timed practice begins. Our tutors work through vocabulary-building and code-breaking verbal reasoning tasks alongside shape, symmetry, position and spatial reasoning practice, gradually introducing the timed conditions of the real test as September approaches. In the final weeks before the September sittings, we shift toward full timed mock papers under exam conditions, building the speed and composure that the 50-minute Verbal Reasoning paper and the five-section Non-Verbal Reasoning paper both demand.
We also help families navigate the practical side of the process: registering correctly and on time with the Lincolnshire Consortium, understanding how the Designated Transport Area affects where a girl sits the test, and completing the Common Application Form accurately by the deadline for the entry year concerned. For a deeper walk-through of the admissions criteria and a month-by-month study plan, our full Boston High School 11+ guide and our 6-month 11+ countdown plan are both available on the blog. Progress is tracked after every session, with parents receiving regular updates so you always know how preparation is tracking against the qualifying score.
Note: this was the cycle for children in Year 5 during the 2025–26 school year, now in Year 6, applying for September 2027 Year 7 entry. Children who were in Year 6 in 2025–26 sat their test in September 2025 and started Year 7 at Boston High School in September 2026. Children now in Year 5 will sit the Lincolnshire 11+ test at the start of Year 6, in September 2027, for September 2028 entry — see the official Boston High School admissions pages nearer the time for the exact dates.
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Year 5 girls now are the September 2028 entry group and sit the 2027 test. The school describes the process for its current cycle on its Year 7 entry admissions page; the stages below follow that description.
Families complete the school's online 11+ registration form to confirm participation. Registration is separate from applying for a place.
The school describes the test as administered at the start of Year 6, in September, in collaboration with local primary schools; girls in its Designated Transport Area take it at their primary school.
The school describes results as e-mailed to parents in mid October, with a minimum standardised score needed.
A girl who reaches the required score applies for a place through the Lincolnshire County Council secondary application, naming Boston High School.
Dates for September 2028 entry are given on the school's Year 7 entry admissions page.
Reviewed October 2026: dates, figures and the Year 5 and Year 6 cycle labels checked against Boston High School's Year 7 entry, 11+ preparation and 11+ appeals admissions pages.
Boston High School has a Published Admission Number of 108 places for Year 7 entry. To be considered, a girl must reach the Lincolnshire Consortium's qualifying standard of a combined standardised score of at least 220 across the Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning papers, representing roughly the top 25% of the cohort in the county's selective areas. Reaching 220 makes a girl eligible for consideration; the school's oversubscription criteria then decide who receives one of the 108 places if demand exceeds supply.
A girl in Year 5 now (2026–27) will sit the Lincolnshire 11+ test at the start of Year 6, in September 2027, for September 2028 entry. A girl who was in Year 5 during 2025–26 sat the 2026 test, for September 2027 entry. Lincolnshire Consortium pupils sat Verbal Reasoning on Friday 11 or Saturday 12 September 2026 and Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness on Friday 18 or Saturday 19 September 2026.
The Lincolnshire Consortium test has two papers. Verbal Reasoning runs for 50 minutes and, per the school's own published 11+ guide, covers around 85 multiple-choice questions. Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning is split into five timed sections of roughly 14 questions each (around 70 questions total), covering shape, symmetry, position, angle, number, shading, size and spatial reasoning. Both papers are pencil-and-paper, and each includes worked examples of the question types so pupils understand what is expected.
Boston High School does not use a fixed catchment area — any family in Lincolnshire, or beyond, can apply provided their daughter reaches the qualifying score of 220. The school publishes a Designated Transport Area (DTA) of around 20 named primary schools where the 11+ test is administered on-site by Boston High School, plus a further 8 collaborating primary schools outside the DTA where sitting arrangements are made locally. Girls from any other primary school sit the test at Boston High School by separate arrangement.
Boston High School holds a Good Ofsted rating, confirmed at a short inspection on 16 and 17 July 2024 (published 19 September 2024), continuing a consistent Good judgement from its March 2018 short inspection and November 2014 full inspection. In the 2025 key stage 4 results published by the DfE, 76.5% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths at GCSE, against a Lincolnshire average of 41.9% and an England average of 45.4%, and the school's Attainment 8 score of 58.8 sat well above the Lincolnshire average of 45.1 and the England average of 46.1.
Most Lincolnshire families begin structured preparation in Year 4 or early Year 5, giving a full year to build fluency in Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning before the September test date, since neither skill is taught as part of the national curriculum. With 108 places available and a qualifying score set annually at the top 25% of the cohort, competition for a place at Boston High School is genuinely demanding, and early, targeted preparation consistently produces stronger results than a last-minute cram in the summer before Year 6.
Leading Tuition provides specialist one-to-one tuition for the Boston High School 11+, built around the Lincolnshire Consortium's Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning papers. Our specialist tutors begin with a diagnostic assessment to identify exactly where a pupil stands relative to the 220 qualifying score, then build a structured, staged programme of vocabulary, code-breaking, shape, symmetry and spatial reasoning practice, moving to full timed mock papers as the test approaches. We also help families navigate registration with the Lincolnshire Consortium, the Designated Transport Area and the Common Application Form deadline, with regular progress updates throughout.