Admissions and Transition

Parents wishing for their son to be admitted in to our School must make an application and places will be allocated on the basis of performance in an entrance test. As a selective Academy, we are our own admissions authority, which means that the Governors, not the Local Authority, set the criteria; however, the administration of admissions is handled by the Schools Admission Team of Lincolnshire Local Authority. You can find details about dates and procedures and online application forms at www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/school-admissions.

Boys take an entrance test in two parts during Term 1 of Year 6. The tests are common to all grammar schools in Lincolnshire. They are commissioned from GL Assessment, who standardise the results so that 25% of Year 6 boys living in areas served by grammar schools attain an aggregate score of 220 or above across the two tests. This is known as “the county standard” and all boys who achieve this score will qualify for a place at a Lincolnshire grammar school. That score will remain valid until August 31st at the end of Year 7; any boy wishing to make an application to the School after that date will need to sit a ‘Late Entry’ test.

You can find a full copy of the School’s Admissions Policy on our website.

If you make an application and are successful, then your son will join us in September. We know that moving from primary school to Spalding Grammar can be a challenging experience for boys and we take great care to ensure that the transition is smooth, such that your son can be confident he will continue to flourish when he gets here.

We will invite you and your son to “New Boys’ Evening” late in the summer term, when he will have the opportunity to meet his peers, older students and teachers, and start to get to know his new school. Shortly after that evening, your son will spend a day with us, as an introduction to our routines and to experience what an actual day at Spalding Grammar School feels like. Your son will also be invited to take part in our annual “Sports Week”, which takes place during the summer holiday and is a great opportunity to meet new friends and learn new skills.

We hope that these experiences will mean that, on the first day of Term 1, your son will feel confident that he is “good to go” and that he is already a part of the school community.

Obviously, once your son is with us you will be anxious about how he is coping. You will be invited to meet your son’s Form Tutor and discuss his early transition within four weeks of the start of the first term and, later in the year, you will have the opportunity to meet again to discuss your son’s academic progress.

We invest heavily in our pastoral system and we are confident that your son will feel very well supported by both his Form Tutor and Head of Year, as well as by older students within the school. Should it be the case that you have any concerns, then your son’s tutor will be happy to work with you in order to address them.