Spalding, Lincolnshire · Lincolnshire
Spalding High School
Kent County Council doesn't apply here, but the same principle does — this is one of the few Lincolnshire grammar schools where the council itself, not the school, is the admissions authority.
Spalding High sets no score above Lincolnshire's flat consortium threshold, and — unusually among the grammar schools in this batch — Lincolnshire County Council itself is the admissions authority here, not the school's own governors, because it's a Community school rather than an academy. It shares real history with the boys' school across town, Spalding Grammar: girls were educated there from 1908 until this school opened as their own dedicated institution in 1920, and both still sit the same countywide 11+ test today despite having opposite admissions-authority status.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- East Midlands
- Local authority
- Lincolnshire
- Established
- 1920
- DfE URN
- 120642
- Website
- https://www.spaldinghigh.lincs.sch.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- Local-authority coordinated test
- Entrance test board
- The Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools' shared 11+ test. GL Assessment is named explicitly by Lincolnshire County Council for mid-year (12+/14+) entry tests; for the standard age-11 test it's corroborated consistently by independent tutoring sources but not stated by name in the primary council document for that specific sitting.partly verified
GL Assessment is named by the council only for mid-year entry tests; for the main age-11 sitting it's corroborated by independent sources but not stated directly in a primary document for that specific test.
- Test format
- Two papers set by the Lincolnshire Consortium: a Verbal Reasoning test and a Non-Verbal Reasoning test, both multiple-choice/OMR-marked, with no English, maths or writing component. Sat in September of Year 6, with registration via the primary school in January of Year 5.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- A combined standardised score of 220, confirmed as the standard for the September 2024, 2025-26 and 2026-27 entry cycles — designed to identify the top 25% of children by ability in areas of Lincolnshire served by a grammar school.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from Lincolnshire County Council's own admissions arrangements: the school uses the same 220/top-25% threshold shared across all 15 Lincolnshire Consortium schools, not an elevated bar of its own. Beyond meeting the threshold, places are not allocated by ranking scores — oversubscription runs through care status, then siblings, then all other children, with distance only as the final tie-break.
Catchment & priority criteria
No designated catchment or priority area. Distance is used only as the final tie-break within the 'other children' category.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Siblings on roll (or who will be) at time of admission
- All other qualifying children
- Tie-break: straight-line distance, then independent lottery
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 65.1 (Lincolnshire LA average, England 46.1) | 83.8% | +0.63 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.39 to +0.87) — this is the last year Progress 8 could be calculated for this school | — | — |
| A-level: average grade C+ (34.14 points per entry) — a notable dip from 2023's B- (36.64 points). | |||||
| 2025 | 63.0 | 75.3% | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | verify with school | verify with school |
| A-level: average grade B- (37.43 points per entry, recovering from 2024's dip), progress score +0.13 ('Average'), AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 11.1% (England 17.5%). Local press separately reported 28% A*/A and 61% A*-B for this cohort using a different, self-reported methodology not directly comparable to DfE's own measures. EBacc entry 82.2%. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Outstanding overall; sixth-form provision rated Good, with quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management all rated Outstanding.
- Date
- 29-30 November 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/120642
- 2. Lincolnshire County Council — Admission arrangements, Spalding High School, September 2024 — https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/downloads/file/7593/spalding-high-year-7-admissions-policy-2024
- 3. Ofsted report, inspected 29-30 November 2023 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50236528
- 4. School's own history page — https://www.spaldinghigh.lincs.sch.uk/page/?title=Our+History&pid=52
- 5. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/120642/spalding-high-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
- 6. DfE Compare School Performance — Advanced level qualifications — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/120642/spalding-high-school/16-to-18/advanced-level-qualifications
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.