Burnham Grammar School 11+ Tuition 2026

About Burnham Grammar School

Burnham Grammar School is a co-educational selective grammar school on Hogfair Lane, Burnham, Slough, Buckinghamshire, SL1 7HG. It sits at the eastern edge of Buckinghamshire, close to the Berkshire border, within easy reach of Slough, Windsor, Maidenhead and the wider Thames Valley. The school converted to academy status in October 2011 and is led by Headteacher Dr Andy Gillespie. According to the Department for Education's Get Information About Schools register, Burnham Grammar has approximately 1,262 pupils on roll across Years 7 to 13, ages 11 to 18.

Entry to Year 7 is via the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT), the same test used by all 13 grammar schools across the county. Burnham Grammar's published admission number (PAN) is 180 places for September 2026 entry, confirmed directly on Buckinghamshire Council's school admissions pages — one of the larger Year 7 intakes among Bucks grammar schools. The school also publishes a PAN of 30 places for external Sixth Form entry. Ofsted rated the school Good following its inspection on 6 December 2022 (report published 31 January 2023). This guide covers the admissions process, key 2026 dates, and — uniquely among 11+ guides for this school — the actual GCSE and A-level outcomes your child could be working towards once they're through the door.

What Is the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test?

Every child applying to Burnham Grammar School sits the same Secondary Transfer Test used by all 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools, set and marked using GL Assessment materials. The STT consists of two papers, each roughly 60 minutes long, with all questions in multiple-choice format. Paper 1 covers verbal skills — English comprehension, technical English (grammar and punctuation), and verbal reasoning — and is worth 50% of the total score. Paper 2 covers maths (25%) and non-verbal reasoning (25%). Scores from both papers are age-standardised, meaning a child born in September is not disadvantaged against a child born the following August, and combined to produce a single figure. The countywide qualifying standard is 121; there is no separate Burnham-specific pass mark, since the same score applies across all 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools.

Because the verbal skills paper carries half the total marks, families preparing for Burnham Grammar should not treat maths and non-verbal reasoning as the whole picture. Technical English in particular — identifying clause types, correcting punctuation, applying grammatical rules — is rarely taught explicitly at KS2 and catches many well-prepared children out. For a full breakdown of every question type and sample structure, our detailed Burnham Grammar School 11+ guide on the blog goes further into test mechanics; this page focuses on what you need to act on now.

What Is Burnham Grammar School's Catchment Area?

Burnham Grammar School's defined catchment area covers Burnham, Taplow, Egypt, Hedgerley, Fulmer and Middle Green. Reaching the qualifying score of 121 makes a child eligible to apply, but does not guarantee a place if the school is oversubscribed — a common outcome given Burnham's location on the edge of densely populated Slough and the Berkshire border. When applications exceed the 180 available places, the school's admissions policy applies its criteria in order: first, looked-after and previously looked-after children; second, children with exceptional medical or social need supported by professional evidence; third, siblings of current pupils; fourth, Pupil Premium pupils resident in the catchment area; fifth, other qualifying pupils within the catchment, ranked by straight-line distance from home to school; and sixth, qualifying pupils outside the catchment, also ranked by distance.

Families based in Slough itself should note that Slough is a separate unitary authority and does not use the STT. A Slough family wanting a place at Burnham Grammar must register their child for the Buckinghamshire STT specifically and list the school on their home authority's Common Application Form. Families should always check the current-year admissions policy and catchment map published directly on the Burnham Grammar School admissions page, since boundaries and criteria are reviewed annually.

When Is the Burnham Grammar School 11+ Test in 2026?

• STT registration opens: Friday 1 May 2026, 10am
• STT registration closes: Tuesday 2 June 2026, 3pm
• Test invitations emailed by: 7 August 2026
• Practice test: Tuesday 8 September 2026
• Main Secondary Transfer Test: Thursday 10 September 2026
• Results released: Friday 9 October 2026
• Common Application Form (CAF) deadline: Saturday 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: Monday 1 March 2027

Dates confirmed on Buckinghamshire Council's Secondary Transfer Test timeline for children moving up to secondary school in September 2027. Children at Buckinghamshire state-funded primary schools are usually registered automatically; children at independent schools or outside Buckinghamshire — including many Slough and Berkshire families applying to Burnham — must register manually within the May–June window.

What Results Does Burnham Grammar School Actually Achieve?

Most 11+ guides for Burnham Grammar School stop at the admissions process. Parents rarely see what a place there actually leads to — yet outcomes are exactly what justify the years of preparation. The school's own published 2025 results give a clear picture. At GCSE, Burnham Grammar recorded a Progress 8 score of +0.70, placing it among the top 16% of schools nationally for pupil progress, alongside an Attainment 8 score of 69.8. 94.4% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and Maths, and 56% of all GCSE entries were graded 7, 8 or 9 (the equivalent of the old A/A* bands), with 33% reaching grade 8 or 9. Across the cohort, students sat 1,801 GCSE entries in total, averaging 6.7 grade points per entry.

At A-level, the school's 2025 results show a Progress Score of +0.19, in the top 20% of schools nationally, with 71% of the 570 A-levels taken graded A*, A or B (41% at A*/A, 89% at A*–C). The cohort comprised 187 students studying 20 subjects. Of the school's 2023 leavers, 90% progressed into further education, an apprenticeship, or employment. These figures — sourced from the school's own published exam results page and government performance data — give families a concrete answer to the question that matters most after admission: is the outcome worth the preparation? For Burnham Grammar, on this data, the answer is clearly yes.

Beyond the numbers, Burnham Grammar's location gives it a distinctive character among Buckinghamshire grammars. The school sits close to Burnham railway station on the Great Western main line, roughly 7 minutes from Slough, 8 minutes from Maidenhead and 30 minutes from Reading, making it genuinely accessible for families across a wide catchment without a car journey. Its position on the edge of Slough also means the student population reflects a broader mix of backgrounds than many more rural Buckinghamshire grammar schools, which many families cite as a positive when choosing between schools at open evenings.

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How Leading Tuition Prepares Children for Burnham Grammar School

Leading Tuition's specialist 11+ tuition programme works with families across Burnham, Taplow, Slough, Windsor and the wider east Buckinghamshire and Berkshire border area to prepare children for the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test. Because the same test unlocks all 13 grammar schools in the county, most of our Burnham families are also considering one or two neighbouring schools, and we structure preparation to serve every application on the same Common Application Form.

We begin with a diagnostic assessment spanning all four STT question areas: English comprehension, technical English, verbal reasoning, maths and non-verbal reasoning. This identifies precisely where a child stands relative to the 121 qualifying standard and, more importantly, relative to the higher scores needed to compete confidently for one of the 180 Year 7 places, particularly for families outside the defined catchment who sit in the lower oversubscription tiers. Given that the verbal skills paper is worth half the total mark, our programmes weight technical English and comprehension work accordingly from the outset, rather than defaulting to maths-heavy practice as many generic 11+ courses do.

As the September test date approaches, we shift towards full, timed mock papers under realistic conditions, building the stamina and composure needed to sit two 60-minute papers back-to-back. We also guide families through the administrative side of the process — registration within the 1 May to 2 June 2026 window (essential for independent-school and out-of-county children, who are not registered automatically), understanding catchment status accurately, and meeting the 31 October 2026 CAF deadline. Progress is tracked after every session, with regular parent updates throughout the programme.

For families weighing Burnham Grammar against neighbouring options, our Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools guide covers all 13 schools side by side, and our dedicated Burnham Grammar School 11+ guide goes deeper into the STT's question types and preparation timeline than we cover here.

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