Grantham, Lincolnshire · Lincolnshire
Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
Explicitly confirms its 220 qualifying score is a pure threshold, not a ranking — 'everyone who scores 220 or above is deemed to have qualified for a place, irrespective of the score.'
Margaret Thatcher's own school (as Margaret Roberts, 1936-1943, Head Girl in her final year) states its admissions mechanics unusually plainly: reach the qualifying score of 220 and the school's own policy says the score then 'irrespective' plays no further role — places among qualifiers go by care status, siblings, Pupil Premium and distance, never by how far above 220 a girl scored. Despite sharing a town with The King's School, Grantham, the two have no shared founding history or joint admissions test — they're simply separate members of the same 15-school Lincolnshire Consortium, linked only by a sixth-form subject-timetabling partnership since 2006/07, which may be the source of some secondary sites' unconfirmed claim that this school's sixth form is co-educational.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- East Midlands
- Local authority
- Lincolnshire
- Established
- 1910
- DfE URN
- 138638
- Website
- https://www.kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- The Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools' shared 11+ test, set by GL Assessment — confirmed directly in the school's own admissions policy.
- Test format
- Two papers sat on separate Saturdays in September: a Verbal Reasoning paper (about 50 minutes) and a Non-Verbal Reasoning and Spatial Awareness paper (about 35-40 minutes). Open to any child regardless of home address.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- A combined standardised score of 220 (maximum approximately 282) for September 2026 entry. The school's own policy states directly: 'Everyone who scores 220 or above is deemed to have qualified for a place, irrespective of the score' — calibrated to identify approximately the top 25% of children by ability in Lincolnshire's selective area.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed explicitly by the school's own admissions policy: the 220 threshold is a qualify/don't-qualify bar only, matching the standard Lincolnshire-wide 25% selectivity band. Once cleared, the score plays no further role — oversubscription is resolved purely by non-academic criteria (care status, siblings, Pupil Premium plus distance, staff children, then distance), with a random lottery as the final tie-break.
Catchment & priority criteria
None — the policy explicitly has no priority or catchment area. Distance is used only as the last-priority criterion and as a tie-break, and the furthest distance actually offered a place has varied considerably year to year (roughly 10.8 miles for 2023 entry, up to 17.7 miles for 2025 entry, back to 11.0 miles for 2026 entry) — not a stable radius.
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Siblings currently attending the school
- Pupil-Premium-eligible children within 12 miles of the school
- Children of staff (2+ years' service, or a skill-shortage recruit)
- Nearness of home to school
- Independent lottery for the final place
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 69.5 (secondary-sourced only, not independently confirmed against DfE or the school's own site) | 86.5% (secondary-sourced); independently confirmed via local press: 98% of grades were 9-4, 58% were 9-7 | A figure of +1.04 is reported by secondary aggregators only — unusually high and not independently confirmed against a primary source, so treated with caution rather than reported as fact | 35% (partly-verified) | 68% (partly-verified) |
| A-level (per local press, quoting the school directly): 35% grades A*-A, 68% grades A*-B, 99% pass rate. | |||||
| 2025 | 69.4 | 87% | Not calculated — confirmed directly on the school's own results page as 'N/A', consistent with the nationwide COVID-era gap | 37% | 67% |
| A-level (146 students, 440 entries, school's own results page): 37% grades A*-A, 67% grades A*-B, average grade B, value-added score +0.05. EBacc entry 52%. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Outstanding, in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision.
- Date
- 19-20 September 2023
- 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/138638
- 2. School's own Admissions Policy 2026/27 — https://www.kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/_documents/[1009630]Admissions_Policy_V11.0_September_2024_for_2026-2027.pdf
- 3. School's own 11+ FAQs — realised offer distances by year — https://kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/admissions/11__faq_s/11__faq_s.html
- 4. Ofsted report, inspected 19-20 September 2023 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50231884
- 5. School's own history page — Margaret Thatcher attendance confirmed — https://kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/key_information/about_school/school_history/school_history.html
- 6. School's own GCSE Results page — https://kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/key_information/about_school/exam_results___gcse/exam_results___gcse.html
- 7. School's own A Level Results page — https://kestevengrantham.lincs.sch.uk/key_information/about_school/exam_results___a_level/exam_results___a_level.html
- 8. Lincs Online — 2024 A-level results coverage — https://www.lincsonline.co.uk/grantham/news/headteacher-praises-pupils-who-worked-tirelessly-to-achiev-9379100/
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.