Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School 11+ Guide 2026: Admissions, Exam & Prep

Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School (KGGS) is one of Lincolnshire’s most distinguished selective grammar schools, founded in 1910 and holding an Outstanding Ofsted rating. It is perhaps best known nationally as the school attended by Margaret Thatcher — the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom — who was a pupil here from 1938 to 1943. For September 2027 entry, girls in Year 5 must register for the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ by 30 June 2026, achieve a combined qualifying score of 220, and apply for one of the school’s 174 Year 7 places. This guide covers the school’s history, the 11+ test format, 2026 key dates, oversubscription criteria and preparation strategy.

Key Facts: Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School

Detail	Information
School Name	Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School (KGGS)
Location	Sandon Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 9AU
Type	Girls’ selective grammar school (11–18)
Founded	1910
Year 7 Places (PAN)	174
Ofsted Rating	Outstanding
Consortium	Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools
Test Provider	GL Assessment
Qualifying Score	220 combined (both papers)
VR Test Date 2026	Saturday 12 September 2026
NVR/SR Test Date 2026	Saturday 19 September 2026
Registration Deadline 2026	Midnight, Tuesday 30 June 2026
Notable Alumnae	Margaret Thatcher (PM, attended 1938–43)

About Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School

Founded in 1910, Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School has over a century of history as a selective school for girls in South Lincolnshire. The school is located on Sandon Road in Grantham, within easy reach of the town centre and well served by public transport from across the region. With an Outstanding Ofsted rating, KGGS is recognised as one of the finest state schools in the East Midlands, offering a rigorous academic curriculum alongside a rich extracurricular life.

The school’s most famous alumna is undoubtedly Margaret Thatcher (née Roberts), who attended KGGS from 1938 to 1943 before winning a scholarship to read chemistry at Somerville College, Oxford. She went on to serve as Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, becoming the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The school takes quiet pride in this connection and in the broader tradition of academic excellence and aspiration that it represents.

KGGS educates approximately 900 pupils from Year 7 through to the sixth form. The school offers a broad curriculum with particular strengths in sciences, mathematics, languages and the humanities. It is consistently among the highest-performing schools in Lincolnshire at GCSE and A-Level, and an impressive proportion of sixth formers progress to leading universities each year, including regular Oxbridge successes.

Is KGGS Part of the Lincolnshire Grammar School Consortium?

Yes. Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School is a full member of the Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools, which means it uses the shared GL Assessment entrance test along with 13 other selective schools across Lincolnshire. Families registering for KGGS sit the same two consortium papers as those applying to Bourne Grammar School, The King’s School Grantham, Spalding Grammar, King Edward VI Grammar School Louth and other consortium members.

The consortium model means that families planning to apply to KGGS only need to register for the consortium 11+ once, regardless of how many consortium schools they are considering. A single qualifying score of 220 or more across both papers makes a child eligible to apply to any consortium school. However, note that Grantham is home to two consortium grammar schools — KGGS (girls) and The King’s School Grantham (boys) — so families in Grantham are typically choosing between them based on single-sex preference.

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What Does the Lincolnshire GL Assessment Test Cover?

The Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ is set by GL Assessment and consists of two papers sat on consecutive Saturdays. There is no mathematics component and no English writing or comprehension paper — the test focuses exclusively on reasoning ability.

Paper 1 — Verbal Reasoning: Approximately 80 questions in around 50 minutes. VR tests the ability to work with language patterns, codes, analogies, sequences and logical relationships. Types include letter codes, word relationships, analogies, letter sequences, number analogies within language contexts, and many more. A strong vocabulary and the ability to identify patterns quickly are both essential, and the speed of working is a significant factor.

Paper 2 — Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning: Approximately 70 questions divided into five timed sections of around 7 minutes each. NVR tests pattern recognition in abstract shapes and diagrams — figure matrices, series, codes and analogies. Spatial Reasoning tests three-dimensional thinking through cube folding, block counting, shape rotation, hidden shapes and shape completion tasks.

All scores are age-standardised so that girls born in the summer months (particularly those born in June, July or August) are not penalised relative to September-born peers. The combined standardised total must reach 220 for a child to qualify.

What Are the 2026 Key Dates for KGGS Admissions?

For September 2027 entry to Year 7 at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School, the following 2026 timetable applies:

• Registration for consortium 11+ closes: Midnight, Tuesday 30 June 2026
• Familiarisation session (optional): Saturday 5 September 2026 at Bourne Grammar School
• Verbal Reasoning paper (Paper 1): Saturday 12 September 2026
• Non-Verbal & Spatial Reasoning paper (Paper 2): Saturday 19 September 2026
• Test results communicated: 9 October 2026
• Common Application Form (CAF) deadline: 31 October 2026
• National Offer Day: 1 March 2027

After receiving test results in October 2026, families whose daughters have achieved the qualifying score of 220 can list KGGS on the CAF. The CAF is submitted to Lincolnshire County Council (or your home local authority if outside Lincolnshire) and should include all schools you wish to apply to, including any consortium grammar schools, in preference order.

How Many Places Does KGGS Offer and How Are Oversubscriptions Handled?

KGGS offers 174 Year 7 places for September 2027 entry. The school has no formal catchment area — unlike some Lincolnshire grammar schools that prioritise children from a designated catchment zone, KGGS applies distance as the primary criterion beyond the initial priority categories. When more qualifying girls apply than there are places, places are allocated in the following priority order:

1. Looked-after children and previously looked-after children
2. Siblings of girls currently on roll in Years 7–11 at KGGS
3. Distance: all remaining qualifying applicants ranked by straight-line distance from home to school, with those living nearest receiving priority

Because KGGS does not operate a formal catchment boundary, girls from across South Lincolnshire and beyond can compete equally for remaining places on the distance criterion. This means that girls from villages and towns many miles from Grantham have historically secured places, though the distance cut-off in any given year depends on the total number of qualifying applicants.

What Is the Sixth Form at KGGS Like?

The sixth form at Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School is a central part of the school’s identity and one of its greatest strengths. Students in Years 12 and 13 study A-Level qualifications in a wide range of subjects, with particularly strong provision in the sciences, mathematics, English, languages and the humanities. The sixth form has a consistent record of placing students at top universities: in most years, several students progress to Oxford or Cambridge, and a large proportion of leavers attend Russell Group institutions.

The sixth form environment at KGGS is academically focused and purposeful, with students taking increasing responsibility for their own learning. There is a strong emphasis on preparation for university applications — UCAS personal statements, admissions tests, interviews and subject preparation are all addressed through dedicated sixth-form programmes. The school’s prestige and its Outstanding Ofsted status also attract high-quality staff, which benefits students throughout their A-Level studies.

What Makes KGGS Historically and Academically Distinctive?

Several features make Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School particularly distinctive among Lincolnshire’s grammar schools. Its founding date of 1910 places it among the earlier purpose-built girls’ grammar schools in the county, reflecting the early twentieth-century expansion of selective secondary education for women. The school was created to give academically able girls in South Lincolnshire access to the same quality of education that boys’ grammar schools had long provided — a mission it continues to fulfil more than a century later.

The Margaret Thatcher connection is perhaps the school’s most internationally recognisable feature. Whatever one’s views on her politics, her trajectory from grammar school girl in Grantham to Oxford chemistry graduate to the highest office in British government is a remarkable story of academic aspiration and achievement — one that resonates with many of the families who choose KGGS for their daughters. The school maintains a thoughtful relationship with this heritage, honouring the educational values it represents while remaining firmly focused on the present and future.

How Should My Daughter Prepare for the Lincolnshire 11+?

Preparation for the KGGS 11+ follows the same structure as preparation for all Lincolnshire Consortium schools, since the test is identical. The key subjects to develop are Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning.

For Verbal Reasoning, the most important foundations are vocabulary, pattern recognition and speed. Reading widely and voraciously throughout Years 4 and 5 provides the vocabulary base that underpins strong performance on VR tasks. Alongside reading, children should work through GL Assessment VR question types systematically, learning the format and logic of each before practising under timed conditions. The target speed is approximately 37 seconds per question — fast enough that accuracy cannot be compromised by hesitation.

For Non-Verbal and Spatial Reasoning, structured practice is the most important factor. Many children find NVR unfamiliar at first, but it is a highly learnable skill once the logic of each question type is understood. Spatial Reasoning — cube folding, rotation, shape completion — requires genuine three-dimensional thinking that develops through practice and visual exposure. Working through individual question types methodically, then integrating them in full-paper timed practice, is the most effective approach.

At Leading Tuition, our specialist 11+ tutors support girls preparing for KGGS and the wider Lincolnshire Consortium test through personalised one-to-one tuition, identifying each child’s specific weaknesses and building a targeted preparation programme designed to maximise their score.