Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools: Complete Guide for Parents 2026

Buckinghamshire is one of the few remaining fully selective counties in England, with 13 grammar schools offering around 1,900 Year 7 places each year. All 13 schools use the same Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT), administered 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. Each year, approximately 9,500 children sit the test; around 37% achieve 121 or above. 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.

School	Type	Town	Yr 7 places
Aylesbury Grammar School	Boys	Aylesbury	240
Aylesbury High School	Girls	Aylesbury	240
Beaconsfield High School	Girls	Beaconsfield	180
Burnham Grammar School	Mixed	Burnham	180
Chesham Grammar School	Mixed	Chesham	210
Dr Challoner's Grammar School	Boys	Amersham	210
Dr Challoner's High School	Girls	Little Chalfont	210
John Hampden Grammar School	Boys	High Wycombe	180
The Royal Grammar School	Boys	High Wycombe	240
Royal Latin School	Mixed	Buckingham	174
Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School	Mixed	Aylesbury	210
Sir William Borlase's Grammar School	Mixed	Marlow	186
Wycombe High School	Girls	High Wycombe	210

Total Year 7 grammar school places in Buckinghamshire: approximately 1,900 across 13 schools. The county's selective system operates under The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools (TBGS), which coordinates the shared test and 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 designed and administered by GL Assessment on behalf of 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 means there are no second chances: if a child has a bad day on 10 September, there is no alternative sitting.

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. This is not a fixed pass mark for every child but rather a statistical benchmark across the annual cohort. In most years, approximately 37% of the ~9,500 children sitting the STT achieve 121 or above. Of these roughly 3,500 qualifying children, approximately 1,900 places are available — meaning that qualifying is necessary but not sufficient. Around 1,600 children each year qualify but do not receive a grammar school offer on the first allocation, either because they did not list a school with available places in their preference tier, or because they were ranked outside the offer cut-off by distance or catchment.

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 — Results emailed to parents (Thursday; confirms qualifying status and score)
• 31 October 2026 — Common Application Form (CAF) deadline (Saturday; submit to your home local authority)
• 2 March 2027 — National Offer Day (single offer issued to each child)

A critical administrative point: children at Buckinghamshire state-funded primary schools are registered for the STT automatically by their school. Parents who do not want their child to sit must contact their school to withdraw. By contrast, children at independent schools — regardless of whether those schools are in Buckinghamshire — and children at schools outside Buckinghamshire must register manually during the 1 May to 2 June window. Missing this window means the child cannot sit the test that year.

Catchment Areas and Oversubscription Criteria

Each of the 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools has a defined catchment area, and in-catchment residency is the primary advantage when a school is oversubscribed. 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).

While the exact wording varies by school, the standard oversubscription priority order is: (1) looked-after and previously looked-after children; (2) children with exceptional medical or social need supported by professional evidence; (3) siblings of current students; (4) Pupil Premium students in the catchment; (5) all other qualifying students in the catchment, ranked by straight-line distance to school; (6) qualifying students outside the catchment, ranked by straight-line distance to school.

The distance measurement is always straight-line (as the crow flies), not road distance. This can produce counterintuitive results for families in towns with rivers or railway lines between them and the school. The school's admissions team can advise on the approximate distance cut-off from previous years, though this varies annually.

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?

Six of the 13 Buckinghamshire grammar schools are co-educational at 11+ entry level: Burnham Grammar School (Burnham), Chesham Grammar School (Chesham), Royal Latin School (Buckingham), Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School (Aylesbury), Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (Marlow), and Wycombe High School in its sixth form (though girls-only at 11+ entry). The remaining seven schools are single-sex.

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:

• Aylesbury Grammar School — boys, 240 places, Aylesbury
• Burnham Grammar School — mixed, 180 places, Burnham
• Royal Latin School — mixed, 174 places, Buckingham (founded 1423)
• Sir William Borlase's Grammar School — mixed, 186 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 can list up to six school preferences on the common application form. In practice, most families list two to four schools. The key questions when choosing are:

1. Which schools are within practical daily travel distance? Seven years of a daily commute that works on paper but grinds in practice will affect the child's wellbeing and study time. A 45-minute each-way journey is manageable for some families and unworkable for others. Be honest about what the journey will look like at 7:45am on a February morning, five days a week.

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 evenings, held in the autumn of the year before the test, are the best way to form an impression. Children who visit three or four 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? Royal Latin School is unusual in having a fully non-selective sixth form. Most other Bucks grammars have selective sixth forms that draw from their own Year 11 cohort.

Frequently Asked Questions