Marlow, Buckinghamshire · Buckinghamshire

Sir William Borlase's Grammar School

Allocates 15 places a year by random lottery rather than distance — a genuinely different mechanism from most other Buckinghamshire grammar schools.

Boys-only for roughly 350 years until girls were first admitted in 1987, Borlase's sets no score above Buckinghamshire's flat county-wide threshold and lowers its own bar further for disadvantaged children: looked-after children need only 110, and a ring-fenced 20-place quota lets Pupil Premium children in catchment qualify at 110-120. Its most distinctive admissions feature is a nested 'Priority Admissions Area' inside its wider catchment — up to 15 places a year go to families in this smaller zone, allocated by independently-supervised random lottery rather than distance, specifically to give every family within it an equal chance regardless of exactly how close they live.

Key facts

Gender: co-ed
Age range: 11-18
Region: South East
Local authority: Buckinghamshire
Established: 1624
DfE URN: 136781
Website: https://www.swbgs.com

Admissions

Admissions authority: The school sets its own test and criteria
Entrance test board: The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT), marked and standardised by GL Assessment on behalf of the county's 13 grammar schools. Buckinghamshire Council administers the shared testing and coordination scheme, but the school's own Governing Body sets its admissions policy.
Test format: Two tests, each about 45 minutes, sat in a single sitting in September of Year 6, covering verbal, numerical/mathematical, and non-verbal ability. Scores are combined and age-standardised (60-170 scale) into a Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS), weighted 50% verbal, 25% mathematical, 25% non-verbal.
Qualifying / pass mark: An STTS of 121 for September 2026 entry — the same flat county-wide threshold used by all Buckinghamshire grammar schools, met by roughly 37% of the test cohort. The school lowers this bar for specific groups: looked-after or previously looked-after children need only 110, and up to 20 places are ring-fenced for Pupil-Premium-eligible children in catchment scoring 110-120.
Superselective?: No

Catchment & priority criteria

A defined 'SWB Catchment' (in place since 2020) with a smaller nested 'Priority Admissions Area' inside it. Up to 15 Year 7 places per year go to families in the Priority Admissions Area specifically, allocated by independently-supervised random lottery rather than distance; general catchment residents are prioritised separately, ahead of non-catchment siblings and distance-based places.

Children with an EHCP naming the school
Looked-after or previously looked-after children scoring 110+
Up to 20 places for Pupil-Premium-eligible catchment children scoring 110-120
FSM-eligible catchment children scoring 121+
Up to 15 places for children in the Priority Admissions Area, by random lottery
Children of staff (2+ years' service, or a skill-shortage recruit)
Children living in the wider catchment area (continuously resident since the preceding September)
Siblings of children in Years 7-12 already on roll
Children with exceptional medical or social needs met only by this school
Remaining places by straight-line distance

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2024	73.8 (England state-funded average 45.9, Buckinghamshire average 53.6)	97.9% (England average 45.9%)	+0.56 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.3 to +0.81; Buckinghamshire average +0.21, England average -0.03) — this cohort predates the COVID-era gap	~50% (partly-verified)	~79% (partly-verified)
A-level (218 students): approximately 50% grades A-A, 79% grades A-B (secondary-sourced). DfE's own average grade/points measure: B+ (43.74 points), well above the Buckinghamshire average of B (39.54) and England's C+ (34.38).
2025	72.4 (England state-funded average 46.1, Buckinghamshire average 53.4)	96.7% (England average 45.4%)	Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally	53%	82%
A-level (226 students, school-reported): 53% grades A-A, 82% grades A-B, 95% A*-C. DfE's own measure: average grade B+ (44.75 points), against Buckinghamshire's B (40.37) and England's B- (35.0).

Ofsted

Rating: Outstanding, in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision.
Date: 1 May 2024
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/136781
2. School's own Determined Admissions Policy 2026 — https://swbgs.com/_site/data/files/policies/F4D8B94FCF932FEC6DD460091F187D05.pdf
3. Buckinghamshire Council — Marking the Secondary Transfer Test — https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/school-admissions-guides-policies-and-statistics/guide-to-grammar-schools-and-the-secondary-school-transfer-test-11-plus/marking-the-secondary-transfer-test/
4. Ofsted report, inspected 1 May 2024 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50249000
5. School's own History page — founded 1624, co-education from 1987 — https://www.swbgs.com/history
6. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136781/sir-william-borlase-s-grammar-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
7. School's own Latest News — 2025 A-level results — https://www.swbgs.com/latest-news

Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.