Lancaster, Lancashire · Lancashire
Lancaster Girls' Grammar School
Shares its entrance test provider with Clitheroe Royal Grammar and, across the Pennines, with two North Yorkshire schools — but each sets its own pass mark independently, so the shared provider is a commercial product, not a shared score.
Opened in 1901, evolving from the Storey Institute's pupil-teacher training centre, Lancaster Girls' Grammar sits alongside — but entirely independent of — Lancaster Royal Grammar School: separate single-academy trusts, different test providers, different admission numbers, and (unlike LRGS's co-educational sixth form) a genuinely girls-only sixth form. Its own test provider, FSCE, is a trading arm of Reading School in Berkshire and is shared with Clitheroe Royal Grammar in Lancashire, plus Skipton Girls' High School and Ermysted's Grammar School in North Yorkshire — but each school still runs its own separate test sitting and sets its own pass mark, so this is a shared commercial product rather than a portable score. Its own admissions policy prioritises City of Lancaster residents as a block ahead of higher-scoring applicants from further away, which is why the school isn't classed as superselective.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- North West
- Local authority
- Lancashire
- Established
- 1901
- DfE URN
- 136381
- Website
- https://www.lggs.org.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- FSCE (Future Stories Community Enterprise), a trading company of Reading School in Berkshire, shared with Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and, outside Lancashire, Skipton Girls' High School and Ermysted's Grammar School in North Yorkshire.
- Test format
- Two standardised papers sat on the same day, covering English and Mathematics only — no verbal or non-verbal reasoning. Content reflects the Key Stage 2 curriculum up to the end of Year 5.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- Not published as a fixed number. Results are standardised, combined, and rank-ordered, and the Admission Committee then sets the 'pass mark' fresh each year based on that cohort's spread of scores, with the school's own policy noting a higher-performing cohort may produce a higher pass mark and vice versa.verify with school
Confirmed non-disclosure by design — recalculated every year from that cohort's results and never published as a fixed cutoff.
- Superselective?
- No
The school's own oversubscription criteria give substantial priority to geography ahead of raw rank: after looked-after children, priority goes to Pupil Premium applicants within the City of Lancaster, then to all City of Lancaster residents who cleared the pass mark, then staff children — and only after all of that to all other qualifying applicants nationally, regardless of how high they scored. Because in-catchment qualifying applicants are prioritised as a block ahead of higher-scoring out-of-area applicants, the school doesn't simply admit the top scorers region-wide.
Catchment & priority criteria
The 'City of Lancaster' — the former City of Lancaster local government district, covering Lancaster, Morecambe, Heysham, Carnforth and further parishes. Used as a priority area, not an absolute requirement — applicants from anywhere remain eligible via the lower-priority categories.
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children who achieved the pass mark or scored up to 5% below it
- Applicants in the City of Lancaster eligible for Pupil Premium, at the pass mark or up to 5% below
- Applicants in the City of Lancaster who achieved the pass mark
- Children of staff employed 2+ years
- Applicants outside the City of Lancaster eligible for Pupil Premium, at the pass mark or up to 5% below
- All other applicants who achieved the pass mark
- Tie-break: straight-line distance from home to school, then an independent random lottery
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 73.7 | 95.1% | +0.69 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.45 to +0.92) — this was the last cohort with a calculable Progress 8 figure before the nationwide COVID-era gap | — | — |
| A-level (132 students): average grade B+ (42.24 points per entry). Grade 4+ in English and Maths was 100.0%. | |||||
| 2025 | 73.4 | 92.2% | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | verify with school | verify with school |
| A-level (129 students): average grade B (41.25 points per entry), value-added progress score +0.02 ('Average', confidence interval includes zero). AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 34.1% (Lancashire LA average 16.9%, England 17.5%). DfE's current service doesn't publish an A*-A/A*-B percentage breakdown for this school. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Good overall (this was a full graded inspection under the pre-September 2024 framework — no inspection has occurred since). Behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and sixth-form provision were all Outstanding; quality of education and leadership and management were Good.
- Date
- 21 September 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/136381
- 2. School's own Determined Admissions Policy 2027/2028 — https://lancastergirls.reactfiles.co.uk/uploads/document/Determined-2027-Admissions-Policy.pdf
- 3. FSCE Entrance Test FAQ (shared consortium document) — https://lancastergirls.reactfiles.co.uk/uploads/document/FSCE-FAQs-for-Prospective-Parents-LCSE.pdf
- 4. School's own History page — https://www.lggs.org.uk/about-us/history
- 5. Ofsted report, inspected 21 September 2022 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50204130
- 6. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136381/lancaster-girls--grammar-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.