Salisbury, Wiltshire · Wiltshire

Bishop Wordsworth's Church of England Grammar School

Despite the Church of England name, faith plays no role anywhere in admissions — the only gate is the 11+ test, and even sitting that test is capped to the 480 applicants who live nearest the school.

Founded by Bishop John Wordsworth in 1890 and one of only two grammar schools in the whole of Wiltshire, both in Salisbury, Bishop Wordsworth's shares deep historical roots with South Wilts Grammar School — the two were combined on one site in 1927 and shared a joint sixth form until June 2020 — but the two schools are and have long been entirely independent for Year 7 admissions, each its own admissions authority setting its own separate GL Assessment test. An unusual mechanic sets this school apart from most others in this project: only the 480 applicants who live nearest the school, by straight-line distance, are even invited to sit the entrance test at all — a geographic pre-filter applied before any academic assessment, not merely a tie-breaker. Despite its Church of England character and a genuinely substantive Anglican ethos confirmed by a 2025 SIAMS inspection, faith plays no role anywhere in admissions: there is no baptism, confirmation, church-attendance, or clergy-reference requirement of any kind. Families should also know that a 2026 Ofsted safeguarding-culture concern was investigated and not substantiated, with standards confirmed as met.

Key facts

Gender: boys
Age range: 11-18
Region: South West
Local authority: Wiltshire
Established: 1890
DfE URN: 136500
Website: https://www.bishopwordsworths.org.uk

Admissions

Admissions authority: The school sets its own test and criteria
Entrance test board: GL Assessment.
Test format: Two papers sat at the school on one day: a verbal skills paper, and a combined mathematics and non-verbal reasoning paper, both age-standardised by GL Assessment. Unusually, only the 480 applicants living nearest the school by straight-line distance (home to the Exeter Street gate) are invited to sit the test at all — a geographic pre-filter on who gets assessed, applied before any academic consideration, not a post-test tie-breaker.
Qualifying / pass mark: Not published as a fixed number for any cycle. The school's own admissions policy states the qualifying standard is 'determined by the Admissions, Property, Health & Safety Committee in consultation with the Head Master... not a pre-defined mark but... determined in reference to the scores of students sitting the examination,' reset fresh each year after marking. Pupil Premium-eligible and looked-after/previously looked-after applicants receive a qualifying standard set 10% lower than other applicants.verify with school
Confirmed directly from the school's own policy that no fixed numeric score is published for any cycle — any specific number seen on third-party tutoring sites should be treated as an unverifiable estimate, not fact.
Superselective?: No

Catchment & priority criteria

A defined 'designated area' exists and is published as a map on the school's website, but it is not a prerequisite for applying, testing, or admission — boys from outside the area may apply, sit the test if among the nearest 480 by distance, and be offered a place if capacity allows. Its only function is as the 3rd-ranked oversubscription tie-breaking criterion, after looked-after status and Pupil Premium eligibility.

Gate (applies to all applicants regardless of address or any other factor): must achieve the qualifying standard in the 11+ test to be considered at all — no faith-based, baptism, confirmation, or church-attendance requirement exists anywhere in the process
Looked-after and previously looked-after children
Applicants eligible for Pupil Premium at the time of the entry exam, who also receive a qualifying standard 10% lower than other applicants
Applicants whose permanent home is within the school's designated area
Children of a parent or step-parent employed at the school as contracted staff for 2+ years
Current Service children or those in receipt of Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or War Pension Scheme child pensions
All other applicants who met the entry requirements
Tie-break: shortest straight-line distance from home to the Exeter Street gate, then independently supervised casting of lots

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2024	72.3 (England average 45.9, Wiltshire LA average 46.1)	95.5%	+0.55 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.30 to +0.79) — this is the most recent year DfE was able to calculate Progress 8 for this school; the following cohort falls into the nationwide COVID-era gap	—	—
A-level (195 students): average grade B+ (42.97 points per entry). DfE's current service doesn't publish an A-A/A-B percentage breakdown for this school.
2025	73.1 (England average 46.1, Wiltshire LA average 46.2)	96.8% (England 45.4%, Wiltshire LA 44.6%)	Not calculated — confirmed directly by DfE as the nationwide COVID-era gap for this cohort	verify with school	verify with school
A-level (196 students): average grade B+ (43.63 points per entry, England average B-/36.1, Wiltshire LA average B-/35.35), value-added progress score +0.12 ('Above average', confidence interval +0.04 to +0.21) — a genuine single-year DfE figure, not subject to the COVID-gap caveat that affects GCSE Progress 8. EBacc entry 57.3% (England 40.5%, Wiltshire LA 30.8%). DfE's current service doesn't publish an A-A/A-B percentage breakdown for this school.

Ofsted

Rating: Outstanding in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. This was a full graded inspection under the pre-September 2024 framework. A separate, more recent focused monitoring inspection took place 29-30 April 2026 after safeguarding-culture concerns were raised with Ofsted; inspectors found no evidence to substantiate the concerns and confirmed safeguarding standards are met, noting the governing body had already commissioned an independent safeguarding review in 2025 and strengthened training and policies. A focused monitoring visit carries no overall-effectiveness grade, so Outstanding (November 2022) remains the school's standing rating, but families should know this review took place.
Date: 15 November 2022
Report: Read the full report

Sources

1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, LA — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/136500
2. School's own Admissions Policy 2027-28 — https://www.bishopwordsworths.org.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=316&type=pdf
3. School's own Year 7 Admissions FAQs — https://www.bishopwordsworths.org.uk/admissions/year-7-admissions/frequently-asked-questions
4. Wiltshire Council — Admission criteria (grammar schools section) — https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/article/1696/Admission-criteria
5. Ofsted report, full graded inspection 15 November 2022 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50205892
6. Ofsted report, focused monitoring (safeguarding) inspection 29-30 April 2026 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50304315
7. SIAMS inspection report, 24-25 March 2025 — https://nse-school-reports.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/recrni0EpoyWevKqG-report-siams-report-bishop-wordsworths-school-136500-240325.pdf
8. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136500/bishop-wordsworth-s-church-of-england-grammar-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
9. DfE Compare School Performance — Results over time — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136500/bishop-wordsworth-s-church-of-england-grammar-school/secondary/results-over-time
10. DfE Compare School Performance — A-level results over time — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136500/bishop-wordsworth-s-church-of-england-grammar-school/16-to-18/advanced-level-qualifications-results-over-time

Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.