Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools: Complete Guide for Parents 2026

Buckinghamshire has 13 grammar schools, which allocated 2,388 Year 7 places for September 2026 entry. All 13 schools use the same Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT), produced by GL Assessment — meaning a child sits one test, receives one score, and can apply to any or all of the 13 schools on the common application form. The qualifying standard is a standardised score of 121, which the council expects about 37% of children to reach. This guide covers all 13 schools, the test format, key 2026 dates, catchment areas, and how to structure preparation.

All 13 Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools: Quick Reference

The 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools span the county from Buckingham in the north to Marlow and Beaconsfield in the south. They are a mix of boys-only, girls-only, and co-educational schools. The table below gives the key facts for each.

Source: Buckinghamshire Council school directory, September 2027 entry, checked 24 October 2026.

Grammar school places allocated for September 2026 entry: 2,388 pupils across the 13 schools, according to the final allocations table from The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS), correct as of 18 September 2026; the table above gives September 2027 admission numbers instead. TBGS commissions the shared test for the 13 schools, Buckinghamshire Council administers it, and the council publishes the admissions timeline.

The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test: How It Works

The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT) is the single entrance test for all 13 grammar schools. It is produced and marked by GL Assessment, and Buckinghamshire Council administers the testing process under contract to TBGS. One test, one score, one set of results — then families list preferred schools on the common application form. This is significantly simpler than counties where each school runs its own test on a different date, but it leaves little room for a bad day on 10 September. A child ill on the test dates takes the tests later in school at a state-funded Buckinghamshire primary or Partner school, and elsewhere gets one alternative date if the family sends independent evidence of exceptional reasons within 3 working days; a child who becomes unwell during a paper cannot re-sit it.

The test consists of two papers. Paper 1 covers verbal skills and is weighted at 50% of the total standardised score. It covers English comprehension (unseen passage, multiple-choice), technical English (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure), and verbal reasoning (word codes, analogies, sequences). Paper 2 covers mathematics (25%) and non-verbal reasoning (25%). Both papers are approximately 60 minutes each with a short break between them. All questions are multiple-choice.

Scores are age-standardised before combination. A child born in August who scores the same raw marks as a child born in September will receive a higher standardised score, reflecting that they sat the same test while several months younger. Age standardisation is applied automatically — there is nothing families need to do or request. The resulting combined standardised score is the Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS).

The qualifying standard is 121: the council says children who achieve a standardised score of at least 121 are eligible to be considered for a Buckinghamshire grammar school place, and calls them qualified. It expects about 37% of children to reach 121 or more. The council says qualifying does not guarantee a grammar school place, and that a child who is not qualified may sometimes be considered through a successful Selection Review or Admission Appeal or on Pupil Premium entitlement.

Key Dates for the 2026 Buckinghamshire 11+

All 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools share the same test and admissions timeline. These dates apply to 2027 Year 7 entry:

• 1 May 2026 — Registration window opens (all families; automatic registration for Bucks state primary pupils)
• 2 June 2026 — Registration window closes (manual registration deadline for independent school pupils and out-of-county families)
• 8 September 2026 — Practice test (Tuesday; familiarisation only, does not count toward the score)
• 10 September 2026 — Main Buckinghamshire STT (Thursday; the test that counts)
• 9 October 2026 — Most parents were informed of the result by email, after 4pm, for papers received by 18 September 2026 (Friday; confirms qualifying status and score)
• 31 October 2026 — Common Application Form (CAF) deadline (Saturday; submit to your home local authority)
• 1 March 2027 — National Offer Day (Monday; each child may only have one school offer at a time)

A critical administrative point: children at Buckinghamshire state-funded primary schools are registered for the STT automatically. Parents who do not want their child to sit should tell their child's school. By contrast, children at independent schools — regardless of whether those schools are in Buckinghamshire — and children at schools outside Buckinghamshire must register manually; that window closed at 3pm on Tuesday 2 June 2026, and the council will not normally accept a late registration unless there are exceptional reasons.

Bucks 11+ results: what the score means and the selection review

Buckinghamshire Council informed most families of their Bucks 11+ result for September 2027 entry by email, after 4pm on Friday 9 October 2026. A standardised score of at least 121 qualifies a child to be considered for any Buckinghamshire grammar school. Below 121, a family can go to a Selection Review: the council set Friday 30 October 2026 as the deadline for the case in full for families told the STTS on 9 October 2026. The council set 31 October 2026 as the national application deadline.

When the results came, and what the email says

Results for September 2027 entry were released on Friday 9 October 2026 for papers the council received by 18 September 2026. Families at a state-funded Buckinghamshire primary school who had given the council an email address were emailed, and otherwise the school passed the result on; out-of-county and Partner school families received it at their registration email. The email gives the Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS), the verbal, mathematical and non-verbal scores, whether the STTS qualifies the child, and the Student ID that a Selection Review request asks for. Other areas' dates: our 11+ results day guide.

Planning Bucks 11+ preparation? Our tutors build each preparation plan around the specific test format a child will face. Book a free consultation to discuss a plan for your child.

What a score of 121 does and does not do

The council says children who score less than 121 are usually not eligible to be considered for a grammar school. The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools' (TBGS) provisional “qualifiers by location” table, an initial update for September 2027 entry (data as at 9 October 2026), shows 3,459 of 9,217 children tested scoring 121 or more, against 3,648 of 9,660 at the same stage for September 2026 entry (data dated 6 October 2025); initial updates count only children who had a mark by then. Qualifying is not a place: once a child is qualified the score has no further role and each school's admission rules decide. TBGS's final tables for September 2026 entry (data as at 18 September 2026) list 3,994 qualified children, 296 of them after a successful Selection Review (“qualifiers by location”), and 2,388 pupils allocated across the 13 grammar schools (“allocations by location”); being final, they are not like-for-like with the initial 3,459.

The selection review: what it is, who can ask, and the dates

A Selection Review is a written case explaining why a child who did not reach 121 would be best suited to a grammar school, and any such child can be put forward. A panel of two grammar school headteachers and one primary school headteacher, who are not told which secondary schools the family applied for, considers each case; it is sometimes joined by an Educational Psychologist when a case includes a specialist report. If the panel agrees, the child is treated as qualified, the same as a child who scored 121 or more.

For September 2027 entry, the council set Friday 30 October 2026 as the deadline for the case in full if the family was told the STTS on 9 October 2026. It accepts a late request only if the result reached the family after 9 October (the request is then due within 3 weeks of being told the STTS) or there are exceptional reasons backed by independent evidence, and a child who sits the test late can request a review up to 12 February 2027. Most reviews are heard between November and January, and the council set 12 February 2027 as the day it tells families the outcome for September 2027 entry, which is then taken into account for National Offer Day on 1 March 2027.

Two forms are involved. The Selection Review Request form asks for the child's Student ID (from the results email) and the school or headteacher's email address, and leads to a second online form for the full case and evidence; the council says a review is not processed unless that second form is submitted. A successful case usually pairs strong academic evidence (the summary sheet, school reports, class teacher letters) with exceptional reasons for not qualifying, such as a medical letter, a lengthy parental absence, the death of a family member near the test or a very recent house or school move. The council asks families not to send examples of school work and says extra-curricular activities are not taken into account. The full guidance is on its Selection Review page.

How the headteacher's four-point grades are defined

Headteachers of state-funded Buckinghamshire primary and Partner schools are asked, before results are known, whether they would recommend each child for grammar school, and the answer goes to the panel automatically. The council defines both four-point scales:

Grammar school suitability recommendation

• (1) Exceptionally able so very highly recommended
• (2) Very able so recommended without any reservation
• (3) Recommended with reservation
• (4) Not recommended for grammar school

Attitude to learning

• (1) Enjoys a challenge and is a highly motivated independent learner
• (2) Consistently hard working and reliable
• (3) Output varies
• (4) Lacks self-organisation, requires support

How often reviews succeeded, score by score

The council says that historically most successful Selection Reviews have been for children whose score was between 110 and 120, and that children with lower scores are rarely successful. For September 2026 entry, TBGS's “Selection Review decisions” table, published in spring 2026, shows 295 of 938 reviews, at scores from 91 to 120, succeeded (31.4%); its final qualifiers table counts 296 post-review qualifiers, one more. The rows from 110 to 120 are below. They are outcomes for one earlier cycle and cannot show how strong any family's evidence was.

Source: TBGS test data, Selection Review Process Outcomes, September 2026 entry.

The 31 October 2026 application deadline for September 2027 entry

Every family applies through their home local authority, and the council set 31 October 2026 as the national deadline; Buckinghamshire residents can list up to 6 preferences, and families outside Buckinghamshire can include Buckinghamshire grammar schools in their own authority's application. A child below 121 still needs grammar schools listed if the family expects to request a review or later an appeal, and the council recommends also listing an upper school, because it ignores grammar school preferences for a child who is not qualified. TBGS says grammar schools have a limited number of places for unqualified Pupil Premium children who reach a score slightly below 121, and the council says that route and a review can run together, with evidence going to the school by 31 October 2026.

After National Offer Day on 1 March 2027 a family can appeal for a grammar school it listed (appeals take place from May 2027); where a review was requested, the council says the appeal panel first asks only whether it was fair, consistent and objective, and historically finds that nearly all reviews were.

Preparing for the next sitting

The council's timeline for September 2028 entry gives the tests in early September 2027, results in mid-October 2027 and an application deadline of 31 October 2027. TBGS says it “does not endorse tutoring for the test”; the preparation it provides is a familiarisation booklet for parents of Year 5 children in the summer term and a practice test before the main test. Families who add preparation of their own can see how we approach the Buckinghamshire test below.

How Do Catchment Areas and Oversubscription Criteria Work?

Each of the 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools is its own admission authority and sets its own admission rules. TBGS says qualified children who live outside their chosen school's catchment area have a lower chance of achieving a place there than those living in catchment. The county's geography means catchments cluster as follows: Aylesbury (Aylesbury Grammar, Aylesbury High, Sir Henry Floyd), High Wycombe (John Hampden, Royal Grammar School, Wycombe High), Amersham/Chesham area (Dr Challoner's Grammar, Dr Challoner's High, Chesham Grammar), South Bucks (Beaconsfield High, Burnham Grammar, Sir William Borlase's), and North Bucks (Royal Latin School).

TBGS puts it plainly: not all admission criteria are the same. All schools give priority to qualified looked-after children, and some grammar schools then give higher priority to qualified children in receipt of Pupil Premium. Places are then usually offered to siblings of current pupils, then to children living in catchment, and then to other children in order of distance from the school, with those living closer having higher priority. The council adds that common admission rules can also include children with exceptional medical or social needs, so read each school's admissions policy for the order it uses.

The council says each school's admission rules are set out in its admissions policy, which you can download from the school's website. It also publishes allocation statistics for the last 5 years showing how places were allocated, the rules under which children were admitted and the catchment distance used, and it says they do not guarantee that a future allocation at the same school will have the same or a similar outcome.

For families whose child qualifies but is outside all school catchments — a common scenario in the densely populated corridor between London and Oxford — strategic preference listing is important. Listing a single reach school and no in-catchment option is a real risk. Most families should include at least one school where they have a reasonable expectation of a catchment place alongside any aspirational first preference.

Which Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools Are Co-Educational?

Five of the 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools are co-educational: Burnham Grammar School (Burnham), Chesham Grammar School (Chesham), Royal Latin School (Buckingham), Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School (Aylesbury) and Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (Marlow). The remaining eight schools are single-sex: four boys-only and four girls-only.

For families who prefer a mixed-sex selective education, the geography largely determines the options. Families in Marlow have Borlase's; families in Aylesbury have Sir Henry Floyd; families in north Bucks have the Royal Latin School. For families in Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, or Amersham, the nearest co-educational grammar school may be some distance away — and for those families, the closest option may be a single-sex school.

Many parents find that single-sex grammar schools suit their child very well, and there is strong evidence that both boys-only and girls-only grammar schools achieve excellent outcomes. The single-sex vs co-educational question is ultimately about individual fit and family preference rather than academic outcome.

Individual School Guides

We have dedicated guides for each Buckinghamshire grammar school, covering catchment area, places, admissions criteria, what makes each school distinctive, and school-specific preparation advice. The place counts below are Year 7 admission numbers for September 2027 entry:

• Aylesbury Grammar School — boys, 186 places, Aylesbury
• Burnham Grammar School — mixed, 180 places, Burnham
• Royal Latin School — mixed, 180 places, Buckingham (founded 1423)
• Sir William Borlase's Grammar School — mixed, 150 places, Marlow (founded 1624)

More individual school guides are published regularly. For a complete breakdown of the test format — paper structure, question types, timing, and scoring — see our dedicated Buckinghamshire 11+ format guide 2026. For the full overview of grammar school preparation from Year 4 to offer day, see our complete grammar school preparation guide.

How to Choose Between Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools

Because all 13 schools share one test and one result day, families who live in Buckinghamshire can list up to six school preferences on the common application form. The key questions when choosing are:

1. Which schools are within practical daily travel distance? A daily commute that works on paper but grinds in practice will affect the child's wellbeing and study time. A long each-way journey is manageable for some families and unworkable for others.

2. Am I in the catchment? The catchment advantage is real and significant. If you live in Marlow, Borlase's deserves to be your first or second preference. If you live in Aylesbury, the three Aylesbury-area grammars deserve early consideration. Families who list only out-of-catchment schools and then find their score was not high enough to overcome the distance disadvantage end up without a grammar offer despite having qualified.

3. What is the school's character? Academic results across all 13 schools are excellent — that is not the differentiator. What differs is ethos, size, community feel, extracurricular strength, sixth form structure, and the mix of students. Open events are the easiest way to see a school first-hand, the council says, and its timeline for September 2027 entry lists them for September to October 2026. Children who visit several schools often have clear preferences, and those preferences are worth taking seriously.

4. What does the school's sixth form look like? Most families focus on Year 7 entry, but the sixth form matters too. Is it selective (GCSE thresholds required)? Does it accept external students? Is it mixed or single-sex? Sixth-form entry differs by school and is set out in each school's admissions policy. Royal Latin School, for example, says its sixth-form places are often filled by students achieving 60+ points across their best eight GCSE subjects, including at least a grade 6 in both mathematics and one English GCSE.

Comparing grammar schools for your child? Our 11+ specialists work with children from Year 4 onwards. Book a free consultation to discuss a plan for your child.

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