Chesham Grammar School Sixth Form Entry Requirements

Chesham Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, whose sixth form admits external students on GCSE grades alone with no entrance test. Its published entry bar is 48 points from the best eight GCSEs, plus grade 5 in English Language and Mathematics. A fourth A-level requires 56 points. The school reserves at least 30 Year 12 places for external applicants each year.

The Only Entry Point to Chesham Grammar That Needs No Test

Every other route into Chesham Grammar School runs through an examination. Year 7 admission requires a standardised score of 121 in the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test — the policy is explicit that children are eligible "if they meet the required qualifying score of 121 in the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT) or have been deemed qualified by a Selection Review Panel". Children applying for Years 8 and 9 are tested in Buckinghamshire Council's annual testing round each February. Children applying for Years 10 and 11 are tested by the school itself in the spring term, with a registration deadline of 31 January in the year before entry.

Year 12 has no equivalent. Read section 14.2 of the Admissions Policy 2027, or section 5.2 of the policy for 2026, and the entrance criteria consist of three grade conditions and nothing else. There is no 16+ paper, no reasoning test, no subject assessment and no interview stage written into the arrangements. The grades a student has already earned are the whole of the assessment.

That matters more than it sounds. Families arriving at a Buckinghamshire grammar for the first time at sixteen often assume the selection machinery that governs 11+ entry reappears in some reduced form at sixth form. At Chesham it does not. The consequence is that everything hinges on GCSE results that are, by the time an application is decided, already fixed — which is why the preparation window for a 16+ application at this school is Year 10 and Year 11, not the autumn of Year 11 when the form goes in.

One further asymmetry is worth knowing before you plan. The school states plainly on its admissions page that "CGS is currently full in all Key Stage 3 year groups", so a family hoping to move a child in at 13 or 14 and let them progress naturally into the sixth form is relying on a waiting list. Year 12 is the point at which the school actively opens seats to outsiders.

48 Points From Eight GCSEs, Unmoved Across Three Cycles

The requirement is stated identically in three separately determined admissions policies. For September 2025 entry, for September 2026 entry, and for September 2027 entry, Chesham Grammar School asks for "a minimum of 48 points from their best eight GCSEs (or equivalent)". Where a student takes a mix of qualifications, "at least six GCSEs must be included in the best eight calculation".

One thing the policy does not do is publish a conversion table. It gives the total and leaves the reader to work out what a point is. Buckinghamshire schools that do publish one convert grade to point at parity — Beaconsfield High School's admissions page sets it out as "Grade 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 / Point Score 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" — and Chesham's own figures behave the same way, since 48 across eight subjects is an average of exactly grade 6 and the school describes 48 as the level at which three A-levels are recommended. On that basis the arithmetic below holds, but it is an inference from the convention rather than something Chesham states, so treat borderline totals as worth confirming with the school.

The trade that matters in practice is between strong and weak subjects. A grade 8 buys headroom for a grade 4 elsewhere, provided English Language and Mathematics clear their own separate floor, which no amount of points elsewhere can substitute for.

The stability is the point. Buckinghamshire grammars set these thresholds school by school and revisit them cycle by cycle, and neighbouring schools have moved theirs. Beaconsfield High School published 46 points for September 2026 entry and 48 for September 2027 — a rise between two consecutive policies. Aylesbury Grammar School sits lower again at 44. Chesham has published 48 three years running while the schools either side of it have adjusted, which makes it one of the few figures in Buckinghamshire sixth form admissions that a Year 10 student can plan against with reasonable confidence.

A caution against reading that as a promise: an admissions policy is determined annually and binds only the cycle it names. Three identical years is evidence of a settled position, not a guarantee about the cycle after next. Check the current policy before you commit.

Two More Gates Sit Behind the Points Total

Reaching 48 admits nobody on its own. The policy sets three conditions joined by "and", and all three have to be satisfied.

The second is a floor in the two core subjects: "a grade 5 or above in English language and mathematics, or the equivalent". The 2027 policy attaches a discretion in the same sentence — "in exceptional circumstances, the school may choose to admit a student with a 4 in English language or maths". Note the singular. The wording contemplates a grade 4 in one of the two, not both, and it is framed as an exception the school may choose to exercise rather than an entitlement an applicant can claim. A student sitting on a predicted 4 in English Language should treat it as a real risk to the application, not as a covered eventuality.

The third is subject-specific, and it is the condition most often lost when a page summarises the policy. Every A-level a student intends to take carries its own GCSE requirement. Clearing 48 points and clearing grade 5 in English and Maths does not entitle anyone to any particular subject.

Which Subjects Ask for Grade 7, and the One That Asks for Grade 8

The admissions policy names only one of these subjects. Its wording is: "For most subjects, this is grade 6 or above at GCSE either in the subject itself or in an appropriate related subject in the case of new courses. In some subjects, grade 7 at GCSE is required. This is clearly set out in the school's Sixth Form prospectus. Further Maths will require grade 8 at GCSE."

"Some subjects" is left undefined in the policy, and the guides that summarise Chesham's requirements repeat the phrase without closing it. The answers are published — they sit in the twenty A-level subject leaflets on the school's own A level Subject Information page, one PDF per subject, each carrying an "Entrance Requirements" line. Read across all of them and the pattern is consistent: the grade 7 subjects are the sciences and Mathematics.

Two of those rows catch people out, and neither is guessable from the policy. Psychology does not ask for GCSE Psychology; it asks for a grade 6 in Biology. Economics does not ask for GCSE Economics; it asks for a grade 6 "in a Humanity", with grades in Maths and English recommended rather than required. A student who has planned a Year 11 timetable around the subject they intend to take at A-level can still miss the gate because the gate sits in a different subject.

The Further Maths condition has a second consequence buried in the leaflet: "Choosing Further Mathematics on the Options Form automatically enters you for A level Mathematics." A grade 8 in GCSE Maths therefore buys two of a student's three or four A-level slots, not one. For a student aiming at four subjects, that combination and the 56-point requirement have to be planned together from the start of Year 11.

The school is also candid that subject availability is not guaranteed. Its sixth form page states: "We offer a broad range of subjects and welcome external candidates where we have spaces in subject combinations. Applicants should be aware that we can only run courses when it is viable to do so and some subjects are assessed on a year by year basis." Meeting a subject's grade requirement and finding the subject running with a free seat are two different things.

At Least 30, or 20? Two Official Figures for External Places

Two public bodies publish different numbers for the same thing in the same admissions cycle, and the difference is large enough to change how a family reads its chances.

The two sources agree exactly on Year 7 and disagree by ten on Year 12, which suggests a stale or differently-derived entry in the council's directory rather than a live dispute. The school's own determined admission arrangements govern. Chesham Grammar School is an academy within Red Kite Schools Trust and is its own admission authority; the policy PDF is the legal instrument, and Buckinghamshire Council's directory is a summary of it. The figure to plan against is the school's: at least 30.

The phrase "at least" is doing real work, and it is the school's own drafting. It is not a cap. The policy for September 2027 repeats it word for word, and both policies then say places "will be offered using the oversubscription criteria until planned capacity in a given subject or course is reached". Capacity at Chesham is measured per subject and per course, not as a single sixth form number — which is why the school can and does take more than 30 external students in a year when the subject combinations happen to fit, and why an application for an unusual combination can fail on a full class rather than on grades.

Internal students are ranked ahead of everyone. Both policies state that "priority will be given to those students who are already on the school roll (i.e. those who are in Year 11 at Chesham Grammar School at the time applications to Year 12 are made)", and the school's own profile records 93% of its GCSE cohort continuing into its sixth form against an England figure of 19%. External applicants compete for what is left after a cohort that large has been placed.

Catchment Still Ranks You at Sixth Form — and the Rule Changes for 2027

Buckinghamshire's catchment areas are usually discussed as an 11+ matter. At Chesham they are not. The Admissions Policy 2026/27 states that "a map of the school's catchment area for Year 7 and In Year and Sixth Form admission is available on the school website" — one map, three entry routes, sixth form included by name.

Where an applicant lives therefore ranks them for a Year 12 place, and the mechanism is different in the two policies currently in force.

Two changes are worth reading carefully. The "up to 75%" cap disappears. Under the September 2026 arrangements, at most three-quarters of the places left after the higher rules could go to catchment residents, which guaranteed a floor of roughly a quarter for applicants from outside. The September 2027 policy has no such ceiling: catchment residence is rule 14.3.5, and everything after it is settled on straight-line distance. An out-of-catchment applicant is not excluded — distance can still reach them — but the reserved share is gone.

The medical and social needs rule moves the other way. In the 2026 policy that criterion applies only to "children living in the catchment area of the school" who have exceptional needs. In the 2027 policy the catchment qualifier is dropped, so a child from outside the area with evidence "from an independent professional person" can now be prioritised under it. That is a narrowing for most families and a widening for a small number.

Residence has to be genuine and continuous. The policy requires the address to be held "as at and continuously from 1st September of the year preceding entry to Year 12", and the school reserves the right to ask for evidence. Moving into catchment in the spring before a September start does not qualify.

Where distance decides, it is measured as a single straight line "between the family's normal home address and the main entrance to the school on White Hill". Routes, bus times and travel difficulty are not considered. If two addresses tie exactly, "the place will be determined by random allocation supervised by a person independent of the school".

The Two Deadlines, and What Is Left of the September 2026 Round

Chesham runs its own sixth form application rather than a council-coordinated one, and both live cycles have published closing dates.

The September 2026 round is the most recently published cycle and it is no longer an ordinary application. Its deadline passed on 5 December 2025. What remains is the school's own statement: "We are accepting late applications to Year 12 in September 2026 via this link. All late applications received will be placed on a waiting list." A late application in that round does not join the main allocation; it joins a queue behind it, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria.

The route is exclusive and the school is emphatic about it: "ALL applications to Sixth Form are made using the Applicaa portal — we cannot process an application in person, on the telephone or via email." The waiting list itself runs on the same portal and is described as live, so a place opening in a particular subject is matched against the list rather than against whoever telephones first.

Results timing matters for both rounds, because offers at Chesham are conditional on grades that arrive in August. AQA's Key Dates Calendar sets A-level results for the June 2026 series at 13 August 2026 and GCSE results at 20 August 2026, both released to students from 08:00. Chesham Grammar School publishes the same GCSE date on its own sixth form admissions page: "Results Day — Thursday, 20th August 2026." A student holding a conditional Year 12 offer therefore learns whether they have met 48 points, the grade 5 floor and each subject requirement on the same morning, with the school open to confirm places.

One structural point for anyone considering a move mid-course. Section 14.4 of the 2027 policy reads: "Only in exceptional circumstances will any place be offered in Year 12 starting after September, or at any time in Year 13, because of the nature of A level courses." A student unhappy in a sixth form elsewhere in Buckinghamshire has one realistic window into Chesham, and it is the September start of Year 12.

How the Bar Compares Across Buckinghamshire

Chesham's 48 points is a mid-to-high figure for the county, and the comparison is only useful when the surrounding rules are held alongside it.

A lower number is not a lower bar in any meaningful sense, because the schools differ in who may apply and in how the places are rationed afterwards. Aylesbury Grammar and Beaconsfield High are single-sex, so for many families the choice is settled before points are considered. Chesham admits boys and girls at every entry point — its own profile records 1,326 students, 680 boys and 646 girls — so its sixth form is open to any qualifying applicant, and its catchment rule then does the rationing that a single-sex intake does elsewhere.

Families weighing a 16+ move against a second attempt at the 11+ route should note that the two are not comparable in scale. Chesham admits 180 children into Year 7 for September 2026, rising to 186 for September 2027, against at least 30 external Year 12 places. If the 11+ is still ahead of you, our guide to Chesham Grammar School 11+ entry covers the Secondary Transfer Test and the 121 qualifying score in full.

What to Do With Year 10 and Year 11

Because there is no 16+ test, preparation for a Chesham sixth form application is GCSE preparation and nothing else. The practical work divides into three questions, and all three should be settled before the December application, not after it.

Which eight subjects are your best eight, realistically? Take current predicted grades, rank them, take the top eight and add them up. If the total sits at 48 or 49, the application has no margin: one grade slipping from a 6 to a 5 removes it. If the total sits in the low fifties, the margin is real. This is a five-minute calculation and most families do it far too late.

Does each intended A-level have its gate cleared? Check the actual subject, not the assumed one. A student intending to take Psychology needs Biology at grade 6. A student intending Economics needs a humanity at grade 6. A student intending Further Maths needs a grade 8 in Maths and is committing two A-level slots. Where a gate is at risk, targeted work on that single GCSE is worth more than general revision across the board.

Are English Language and Mathematics safe at grade 5? These are the two grades with no substitute. A student can be comfortably over 48 points on strong humanities and still be refused on a grade 4 in Maths, and the discretion in the policy is exceptional by its own wording. Our GCSE tuition is most often used at Chesham-bound families for exactly this — securing the core grades that the rest of the application rests on — and for students already looking past the offer, A-level tuition and subject pages such as A-level Further Maths pick up where the sixth form begins.

For a wider view of how sixth form entry works across selective schools, and how points formulae differ from the flat grade requirements used elsewhere, see our guide to grammar school sixth form entry requirements.

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