Grammar School Waiting List Movement Data by Region 2026

Grammar school waiting lists do move, and the schools’ own figures show they can move a long way even at London’s most competitive grammars. For September 2026 entry, Henrietta Barnett School had offered places up to number 47 on its waiting list by 4 September, and Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, reports that its list has reached position 24. This page sets out what schools and councils publish about waiting list movement, from National Offer Day to September and beyond.

What the Data Actually Shows About Grammar School Waiting Lists

There is no central record of grammar school waiting list movement, but some schools publish more than parents expect. Queen Elizabeth’s, Henrietta Barnett, Kendrick School in Reading and The Judd School in Tonbridge post how far their lists have moved; Tiffin School publishes the lowest score offered a place on 1 March and the lowest offered by the end of Year 7; and Enfield Council publishes how far down The Latymer School’s ranking first-round offers reached. This page uses those published figures rather than forum reports, and gives no figure where we have none. For background on how lists are ranked in the first place, see our guide on how selective schools use waiting lists.

The headline finding is that the size of the movement depends on the school, not simply the region, and on how its list is ranked. A list ranked on score moves when families above you accept places elsewhere, but a position can also fall: The Judd School and Kendrick School both warn that positions can go down as well as up, for example when a new applicant with a higher score or higher priority joins the list.

Three figures matter most when assessing your realistic chances:

• Your waiting list position — ranked by admissions criteria, not by when you joined
• Typical turnover for that school — how many places historically change hands
• The timing of peak movement — knowing when to expect activity and when to stop expecting it

A published figure turns a position into a realistic estimate. Kendrick School’s list had moved 7 places by 1 September 2025 for 2025 entry, while Henrietta Barnett’s reached number 47 for 2026 entry, so position 20 would not have been reached at Kendrick by 1 September 2025 but was passed at Henrietta Barnett in 2026. Past movement is a guide, not a promise, because the number of families who decline a place changes every year. For the full admissions process context, see our grammar school admissions process guide.

Published Waiting List Figures: What Schools Report

These are the figures schools and councils themselves publish, retrieved on 25 September 2026. None is a forecast for 2027 entry, but together they show how far lists and rankings can move.

Two patterns stand out. First, rankings move well beyond the number of places even before the waiting list opens: Latymer has 192 places, yet Enfield Council reports that first-round offers went to children ranked up to 275 for 2026 entry, and Dame Alice Owen’s first-round offers for its 65 academic places reached rank 107. Second, lists at the most selective London schools keep moving after National Offer Day, just as they do in Kent and Berkshire. If your child is on a list and you want to keep their learning on track while you wait, book a free consultation and we will go through the options with you.

When Do Grammar School Waiting Lists Move? A Timeline

Movement is not evenly distributed across the year, and it does not stop in September. Knowing where you are in this cycle helps you judge whether to maintain optimism or make alternative plans.

Many parents give up over the summer, but lists can keep moving for months. Tiffin School keeps its waiting list until the end of Year 7, and its lowest score offered a place fell from 100 on 1 March to 98 by the end of Year 7 for 2025 entry, and from 104 to 102 for 2024 entry. Staying on the list costs nothing.

Kent: Waiting List Movement Data 2025–2026

Kent is one of the areas with the largest numbers of grammar schools in England, and in January 2022 the Department for Education classed it as one of 11 highly selective council areas, where 25% or more of state secondary places are in selective schools. A Kent grammar school can only consider a child who has been assessed suitable for grammar school; for 2026 entry the score threshold was a Kent Test total of 332 or more, with no single score below 108, and a headteacher panel can also assess a child as suitable: the council’s 2025 scores report shows at least 330 children with totals below 332 assessed suitable for grammar school.

The Judd School in Tonbridge publishes detailed waiting list information:

• Offers from the list: around 20 offers were made from the waiting list in each of the last two years, the majority as part of the reallocation process and mostly within the Inner Area list.
• How far the cut-off moved: the Inner Area cut-off was 389 when offers were made on 2 March 2026 and 386 at the April reallocation; for 2025 entry it was 371 and 367.
• How crowded the list is: for 2026 entry the school said more than 30 children on its list were within two points of its threshold scores, so a score outside that range would likely not win a place through reallocation.
• Who can join: a boy who applied and has a selective score on the Kent Test can join, whatever preference he gave Judd, and the list is re-ranked every time a child joins or leaves it. For 2027 entry it is kept until 31 January 2028.
• Other schools: this page quotes no figures for other Kent or Medway grammar schools, or for Beths Grammar School in Bexley; check each school’s admissions page for anything it publishes.

One driver of movement in Kent, as elsewhere, is families holding both a grammar school offer and an independent school place: when they take the independent place, the grammar place is released to the next child on that school’s list, and that child’s own offer elsewhere is released in turn.

For 2027 entry, the deadline The Judd School lists for accepting or refusing offers and requesting waiting list places is 15 March 2027, and Kent’s reallocation round is on 27 April 2027.

Buckinghamshire: How Are Waiting Lists Ordered?

Buckinghamshire has 13 grammar schools, which work together as The Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools to run the Secondary Transfer Test, though each is its own admission authority. A child who scores at least 121 is qualified, and the council expects about 37% of children to reach that score. Once a child is qualified, the council says, “their test score has no further role”: places, and so waiting list positions, are decided by each school’s own admission rules, and a higher score gives no extra priority.

Children who score below 121 are usually not eligible for a grammar school place. A child who is not qualified may still be considered after a successful Selection Review or admission appeal, or if entitled to Pupil Premium funding, and every Buckinghamshire grammar school admits at least 6 unqualified children who are eligible for the Pupil Premium, subject to a minimum score set by each school and usually to living in its catchment area.

Because the score plays no further part, a Buckinghamshire waiting list is ordered by each school’s own oversubscription criteria, which differ from school to school, so read the admissions policy of every school you named. Qualification does not last indefinitely either: the council says a qualified child who does not start at a grammar school in Year 7 usually loses that qualification during Year 7, and later entry is through its late transfer procedure.

This page quotes no Buckinghamshire movement figures. The council links to school place allocation statistics from its grammar school pages, and each school can tell you how its own list works.

London Grammars: What the Schools Publish

Several London grammar schools publish how far their waiting lists have moved, and their figures contradict the common belief that the most competitive lists barely move.

Barnet and Kingston (Henrietta Barnett, Queen Elizabeth’s School, Tiffin School, The Tiffin Girls’ School): Queen Elizabeth’s says its waiting list for September 2026 entry has reached position 24. Henrietta Barnett told the top 60 on its list their positions after offers on 2 March 2026, made second-round offers on 26 March and had offered places up to number 47 on the list by 4 September; it does not tell girls ranked below 60 their position because, on past experience, they are unlikely to receive an offer. Tiffin School’s lowest score offered a place fell by two points between 1 March and the end of Year 7 in both 2024 and 2025. The Tiffin Girls’ School’s admissions FAQ gives no movement figure, but says a girl who met its admission criteria and was offered a lower-preference school is placed on its list automatically.

Enfield (The Latymer School): Latymer deems roughly the top 700 who sit its tests selective, ranks applicants under its oversubscription criteria, offers places to the top 192 and places the next 50 on a waiting list. Enfield Council reports that first-round offers went to children ranked up to 275 for 2026 entry, 293 for 2025 and 306 for 2024, because children ranked higher had been offered a school they preferred or live outside Latymer's Inner Area, so a rank well beyond 192 can still win a place on National Offer Day. Latymer only considers children living in its Inner Area of listed postcodes, unless they are looked after or previously looked after.

Sutton (the SET schools): five grammar schools — Sutton Grammar, Wilson’s, Wallington County Grammar, Nonsuch High School for Girls and Wallington High School for Girls — and Greenshaw High School, for up to 60 of its places, share the Selective Eligibility Test, but each school keeps its own ranked list. Sutton Grammar, Nonsuch and Wallington County Grammar keep their lists until 31 December of the year of entry, and Wilson’s holds a boy who is not offered a place on the waiting list for each category of place he is eligible for, such as its sport and music aptitude places.

One rule is common: a child offered a school the family ranked higher is not automatically placed on the list of a school ranked lower. Henrietta Barnett, The Tiffin Girls’ School and Tiffin School all say so, though Tiffin School lets parents ask for their son to be added anyway. If you are weighing whether to stay on a London list or accept a lower-preference place, book a free consultation and we will talk it through with you.

Berkshire, Essex and Hertfordshire: What Is Published

Kendrick School, the girls’ grammar school in Reading with 128 Year 7 places, publishes both the size of its waiting list and how far it has moved. On 2 March 2026 it had 179 candidates on its list, ranked by its oversubscription criteria, and the list has since moved 4 places; for 2025 entry it moved 7 places before 1 September 2025. A girl is placed on the list automatically if she scored 99.00 or more, named Kendrick on her application and was not offered a higher-preference school, and girls in Priority Area 1 are ranked above those in Priority Area 2 regardless of test result.

Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex ranks boys on the CSSE test and holds its waiting list for the autumn term following September entry. The CSSE’s historical guidance sheet shows the last place offered on National Offer Day 2025 went at a score of 343.

Dame Alice Owen’s School in Potters Bar publishes its allocation each March: for 2026 entry, 1,109 children registered for its 65 academic places, and first-round offers reached ranked position 107.

This page quotes no figures for Birmingham, Warwickshire, Trafford, Lincolnshire, Torbay or Wirral, because we have not verified any published waiting list data for those schools. For Trafford’s grammar schools, see our Altrincham grammar schools guide, and check each school’s admissions page for its waiting list rules.

What Drives Waiting List Movement in Every Region?

The same few drivers account for most waiting list movement, wherever you live. Understanding which drivers are strongest at your school helps predict when to expect activity and whether your position is realistic.

• Independent school crossover: when a family chooses an independent school place, their grammar offer is released to the next child on the list.
• Reallocation rounds: Kent runs a reallocation round in late April (27 April 2027 for 2027 entry), and The Judd School says most of its waiting-list offers come through it; The Tiffin Girls’ School tells parents that councils start making additional offers at the end of March.
• Family relocation: families moving away release places, and because many lists stay open into the autumn term, a move after September can still produce an offer.
• Boarding school decisions: families offered a boarding school place sometimes release their local grammar place.
• Higher-preference offers: in areas with several grammar schools, a child who receives an offer from a school the family ranked higher gives up the place at the lower-ranked school, which moves that school’s list on.
• Re-ranking: lists are re-ranked as children join and leave, so a position can fall as well as rise; The Judd School and Kendrick School both say so.

How to Maximise Your Chances on a Grammar School Waiting List

Practical steps that increase your chances without affecting your list position (which is set by admissions criteria and cannot be changed through approach alone):

• Find out how your school reports positions — some tell you directly (Henrietta Barnett told the top 60 their positions, and Kendrick emailed each family its position at 2 March), some also post progress on their website (Queen Elizabeth’s), and some do not answer individual requests (The Judd School), so check the admissions page before you call
• Stay on the list — removing your child from a waiting list provides no benefit and forfeits your position. There is no penalty for remaining on a list and then declining an offer when it comes
• Name every school you would accept — you can usually only wait for a school you applied to, and a higher-preference offer normally keeps a child off lower-preference lists; Kent parents can name up to 4 secondary schools, and The Judd School lets any boy who applied and has a selective score join its list, whatever preference he gave it
• Consider an appeal — if your position is low and you believe an error was made in the admissions decision, an Independent Admissions Appeal Panel can override the decision if your case meets the legal threshold; prepare the case carefully, because few appeals succeed at the most selective schools: Latymer heard 10 appeals for 2026 entry and allowed none, and The Tiffin Girls’ School heard 8 and upheld none
• Monitor the timing windows — use the table above to identify when movement in your region is most likely, and check your position with the school during those windows
• Check whether siblings count — many selective schools give no sibling priority (Latymer’s admissions policy states that designated grammar schools must not), while Dame Alice Owen’s, which is partially selective, gave 74 places to siblings for 2026 entry

For a complete picture of what grammar school passes mean in terms of scores and regional pass marks, see our guide on 11+ pass marks by region. If you would like help deciding whether to wait, appeal or accept another place, book a free consultation and we will go through it with you.

Frequently Asked Questions