Upton Court Grammar School 11 Plus Guide 2026

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5. Upton Court Grammar School 11 Plus Guide 2026

Upton Court Grammar School in Slough offers 165 places in Year 7 for September 2027 entry, filled through the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools' shared GL Assessment 11+ examination and a seven-tier oversubscription order that starts with Education Health Care Plan places and ends with proximity to the school. This guide sets out the exact eligibility score, the full 2027 entry timetable, the verbatim priority order from the school's own Admissions Arrangements, and Upton Court's freshly published 2025 GCSE and A-level results — figures most existing 11+ admissions guides for this school have not yet incorporated.

How Many Places Does Upton Court Grammar School Offer for 2027 Entry?

Upton Court Grammar School's Published Admission Number (PAN) for Year 7 entry in September 2027 is 165, set out in the Admission Arrangements adopted by Pioneer Educational Trust, the school's admissions authority. As a selective grammar school, Upton Court is not obliged to fill every place if too few applicants reach the required standard — pupils are admitted on ability and aptitude as determined by the Slough Consortium 11+ examination. Once children with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) naming the school have been admitted, remaining places are worked through in a strict seven-tier priority order, described in full below.

The school also runs a separate Sixth Form (Year 12) intake with a PAN of 140 places, of which a minimum of 20 is reserved for external applicants — students who did not attend Upton Court for Years 7-11 and are joining for A-levels. More places may be available depending on internal uptake. Entry depends on GCSE grades and course-specific requirements, detailed further below.

What Is the Qualifying Score for the Upton Court Grammar School 11+?

A standardised score of 111 or above in the Slough Consortium 11+ examination makes an applicant eligible for consideration at Upton Court Grammar School for September 2027 entry — the same threshold used for the previous two entry cycles. Upton Court's own year-7-entry page for 2027 states this explicitly: the eligibility score remains set at 111 on a standardised scale, and pupils who reach 111 or above will be in the top 35% of the cohort sitting the examination. Reaching 111 confirms eligibility; it does not confirm a place, since only 120 of the 165 places are allocated by 11+ rank order once the higher-priority categories are filled.

Where a Free School Meals (Pupil Premium) applicant has reached 111 and wants to be considered under the Pupil Premium oversubscription category, evidence must be submitted directly to admissions@uptoncourtgrammar.org.uk by 31 October 2026 — the same date as the Common Application Form deadline. Evidence can cover current eligibility or eligibility at any point in the previous six years.

What Test Format and Provider Does Upton Court Grammar School Use?

Upton Court Grammar School is part of the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools, which as of the current 2027-entry cycle comprises exactly four schools: Herschel Grammar School, Langley Grammar School, St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School and Upton Court Grammar School — confirmed on Upton Court's own website. (Several older third-party guides list a fifth school, "Slough Grammar", which was Upton Court's own name before it was rebranded in 2013; it is not a separate current member of the Consortium.) The Consortium has contracted GL Assessment as the test provider for the 11+ examination held in September 2026, for September 2027 entry.

Pupils sit two test papers on a single day, with questions covering a combination of verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and mathematics. All marking and standardisation is carried out by GL Assessment. Test day itself is held at one of the Slough Consortium schools — applicants are told in advance which school their test will take place at, not necessarily their first-preference school. The Consortium has its own contract with GL Assessment, and there is no sharing of 11+ scores with any school outside the Consortium, so families applying to non-Slough grammar schools as well will need to sit those schools' separate tests.

If a child cannot sit the test on the designated day — due to illness, a family emergency or transport failure — the school must be notified by email to Admissions@uptoncourtgrammar.org.uk before 5pm that day, with a medical certificate required in the case of the applicant's own sickness. An alternative test date is then arranged. Requests relating to religious observance must instead be raised with the Consortium by the registration deadline.

How Are Places Allocated? The Full Upton Court Oversubscription Order

Once children with an EHCP naming Upton Court Grammar School have been admitted, the school's Admission Arrangements for September 2027 (adopted by Pioneer Educational Trust, updated October 2025) set out exactly seven further priority categories, applied strictly in order until the 165 places are filled:

If applying these criteria leaves more children tied within a category than places available, the tiebreaker is straight-line distance from the child's permanent home address to the school's main reception, using Slough's computerised mapping system. Where the final place is shared equally by distance, it is allocated by lot supervised by an independent person; where the final place would otherwise go to one of a multiple-birth sibling group, all siblings are admitted even if this exceeds the PAN of 165.

One detail families often miss: the designated feeder schools differ depending on the type of application. For the main Year 7 entry round, the two feeder schools are Foxborough Primary School and Trevelyan Middle School. For in-year applications to Years 7-11 outside the normal admissions round, the designated feeder schools are instead Desborough College and Trevelyan Middle School — Foxborough Primary does not carry feeder priority for in-year places.

Does Upton Court Grammar School Have a Catchment Area?

No. Unlike Herschel Grammar School's fixed 4-mile catchment radius, Upton Court Grammar School does not define a catchment area at all. Distance from home to school only becomes relevant at priority tier 6 — the final category, after EHCP, looked-after children, Pupil Premium, staff, feeder schools and the 120 places awarded by 11+ rank order have all been filled — and again as the tiebreaker within any tied category. Distance is measured "as the crow flies" from the main entrance of the school to the front door of the child's permanent home address, using Slough's Geographical Information System (GIS), not the actual route a child would travel.

This makes Upton Court structurally different from some other Slough Consortium schools for out-of-area families: because up to 120 of the 165 places (roughly 73%) are awarded purely by 11+ score rather than by a catchment boundary, a strong standardised score can outweigh living further from the school in a way that a fixed-catchment school does not always allow. For a direct comparison, see our Herschel Grammar School 11+ guide, which sets out that school's 4-mile catchment priority in full.

Key Dates for September 2027 Entry at Upton Court Grammar School

For children applying for a Year 7 place starting September 2027 (born between 1 September 2015 and 31 August 2016), the Slough Consortium's timetable runs across roughly ten months from registration to National Offer Day. The dates below apply across the Consortium, including Upton Court Grammar School.

The Common Application Form is submitted through Slough Borough Council rather than directly to Upton Court Grammar School, and it is where families rank their preferred schools. Because results are issued roughly two weeks before the CAF deadline, families have a short but real window to review their ranking in light of the actual standardised score before submitting. Residence matters as much as the score: applicants must be resident at their stated address on 31 October 2026 and have lived there continuously since 1 May 2026 — six months of continuous residence before the closing date — or the application may be assessed against a different, lower-priority address.

What GCSE and A-Level Results Does Upton Court Grammar School Achieve?

Most 11+ admissions guides for Upton Court Grammar School stop at places, score and dates. Just as important for families choosing between Slough Consortium schools is what happens after a child is admitted, and Upton Court's most recently published results — from summer 2025 — give a detailed, dated picture that several existing guides have not yet caught up with.

In the school's own summer 2025 results, 100% of GCSE candidates achieved 5 or more passes at grades 9-4 including English and mathematics. 82% of all GCSEs awarded were grades 9-8-7, 62% of all GCSE entries achieved grades 9-8, and 33% of all GCSE entries achieved the top grade 9. The average Attainment 8 score was 79.7. At A-level, 76% of grades awarded were A*-B, with 56 students achieving three A grades or above; 80% of outgoing Year 13 students accepted a university place, with 60% enrolling at Russell Group universities.

The previous year, summer 2024, recorded 100% of candidates achieving 5+ passes including English and maths, 74% of GCSEs at grades 9-8-7, 52% at grades 9-8, and 25% at grade 9, with an Attainment 8 score of 77.6 and a Progress 8 score of +0.85 — well above the national average of 0.0, indicating pupils make substantially more progress between Key Stage 2 and GCSE than pupils with similar starting points nationally. That year, 63% of A-level grades were A*-B, 47% of Year 13 leavers progressed to Russell Group universities, and a further 3 students secured degree apprenticeships.

Is Upton Court Grammar School Rated Outstanding by Ofsted?

Yes. Ofsted rated Upton Court Grammar School Outstanding overall, and Outstanding in every one of the five inspection categories — quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth form provision — following an inspection on 29 November 2022, published 24 January 2023. The school, on Lascelles Road in Upton, Slough, is an academy within Pioneer Educational Trust, mixed, ages 11-18, with a sixth form.

The school's history is more layered than its current name suggests: Ofsted's own record shows it was previously known as Slough Grammar School before being rebranded Upton Court Grammar School (a full renaming and relaunch took place in 2013 alongside major facilities investment). This is relevant for families researching the Slough Consortium, since "Slough Grammar School" is sometimes mistakenly listed by other guides as a separate, fifth current Consortium member — it is Upton Court's own former name, not another school.

As of Ofsted's most recent published record, Upton Court Grammar School had 1,155 pupils on roll against a stated school capacity of 1,115 — meaning the school is operating above its nominal capacity, consistent with a heavily oversubscribed selective school serving a fast-growing borough.

Sixth Form Admission at Upton Court Grammar School

Upton Court Grammar School's Sixth Form has 140 places in Year 12, with a minimum of 20 places anticipated for external candidates — students joining from other schools rather than progressing internally from Year 11. More external places may be available depending on how many internal Year 11 students take up their places. All applicants, internal and external, must meet published entry requirements based on GCSE grades (a pass defined as grade 5 or higher), including specific minimum grades in GCSE English Language and GCSE Mathematics, plus subject-specific grade requirements for individual A-level courses, published annually in the Sixth Form Prospectus and Course Guide.

Students must come directly into Sixth Form from Year 11; no student is admitted to repeat or restart Year 12. If external applications exceed the planned admission number, oversubscription is resolved first by looked-after child status, then by children of Pioneer Educational Trust staff, and finally by rank order of GCSE average points score across an applicant's best 8 GCSE or equivalent qualifications — with a zero substituted for each qualification short of 8 where fewer than 8 were taken.

For families weighing Upton Court against the other three Slough Consortium schools, our Slough Grammar Schools 11+ hub covers preparation across the Consortium, and our 11+ Tuition in Slough guide sets out borough-wide preparation timelines. If you are mapping the wider exam calendar alongside other consortiums and independent schools, our 11+ Exam Dates 2025-2026 timetable is a useful cross-check, and our Slough tuition page covers local support beyond 11+ preparation. For the school's own admissions documentation, the official Upton Court Grammar School Year 7 Entry September 2027 page is the primary source for the figures in this guide.

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