Grantham, Lincolnshire · Lincolnshire
The King's School, Grantham
Clearing the Lincolnshire qualifying score only earns a place in the competition, not a place at the school — every priority tier is then ranked by score.
Isaac Newton's own school (he attended 1655-1660) is one of only two genuinely superselective schools found across the entire Lincolnshire Consortium system researched for this index. Its own admissions policy shows that clearing the 220 qualifying score doesn't guarantee a place: every single oversubscription tier — care status, Pupil Premium within 30 miles, all applicants within 30 miles, then everyone else — is separately ranked by standardised score, not allocated by distance or a simple pass/fail. Boys-only throughout, including the sixth form, despite a well-known curriculum-sharing 'sister school' partnership with Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School that sometimes gets mistaken for shared enrolment.
Key facts
- Gender
- boys
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- East Midlands
- Local authority
- Lincolnshire
- Established
- 1528
- DfE URN
- 137166
- Website
- https://www.kings.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, confirmed directly on the consortium's own site as set by GL Assessment.
- Test format
- Two multiple-choice papers marked by OMR sheet: a Verbal Reasoning test (preceded by a 10-minute practice section, about 50 minutes) and a Non-Verbal Reasoning test covering spatial awareness, usually slightly shorter. Sat in September of Year 6, and can only be sat once at one consortium school.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- A minimum standardised score of 220, confirmed identically across the 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28 entry cycles — set to identify the most able 25% of pupils in Lincolnshire's selective areas. Meeting 220 makes a child eligible for consideration only; it doesn't guarantee a place, since the school's 174 places are then allocated by rank order of score within each priority tier.
- Superselective?
- Yes
Confirmed directly from the school's own admissions policy: once the 220 minimum is met, places are allocated by rank order of standardised score within every single oversubscription tier — looked-after children ranked by score, then Pupil-Premium-eligible children within 30 miles ranked by score (capped at 20 places), then all other children within 30 miles ranked by score, then any remaining places to everyone else, still ranked by score. Clearing the qualifying threshold only earns a place in the competition, not a place at the school — the defining structural feature of a superselective system, and a cleaner, more consistent score-ranking mechanism than some other Lincolnshire schools' hybrid geographic-then-score models.
Catchment & priority criteria
No exclusionary catchment. A 30-mile straight-line radius from the school functions as a priority band across two of the four oversubscription tiers — children beyond 30 miles remain eligible for any places left over, still ranked by score.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children, ranked by standardised score
- Pupil-Premium-eligible children within 30 miles, ranked by score (capped at 20 places)
- All other children within 30 miles, ranked by score
- Any remaining places: all other qualifying children, ranked by score
- Tie-break: nearest by straight-line distance, then independent lottery
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 70.7 (Lincolnshire LA average 45.2, England state-funded average 45.9) | 96.5% (Lincolnshire LA 42.8%, England 45.9%) | +1.10 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.88 to +1.32) — this cohort predates the COVID-era gap. For trend context, 2023 was +0.83, also well above average. | — | — |
| A-level (153 students): average grade B+ (44.34 points per entry, England average C+/34.38). | |||||
| 2025 | 72.7 (Lincolnshire LA average 45.1, England state-funded average 46.1) | 94.9% (Lincolnshire LA 41.9%, England 45.4%) | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | verify with school | verify with school |
| A-level (154 students): average grade B+ (43.0 points per entry, Lincolnshire average C+/34.44, England B-/36.1), progress score +0.32 ('Above average', confidence interval +0.21 to +0.42), AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 38.8% (Lincolnshire/England both 17.5%), retention 97.5%. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Good, in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. No inspection has occurred since.
- Date
- 13 December 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/137166
- 2. School's own Admission Arrangements 2027-2028 — https://www.kings.lincs.sch.uk/attachments/download.asp?file=3358&type=pdf
- 3. Lincolnshire Consortium of Grammar Schools — Testing Arrangements — https://grammarschools.lincs.sch.uk/the-11-plus/testing-arrangements/
- 4. Ofsted report, inspected 13 December 2022 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50207266
- 5. School's own History page — founded 1528, Isaac Newton attendance 1655-1660 — https://www.kings.lincs.sch.uk/history
- 6. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/137166/the-king-s-school,-grantham/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
- 7. DfE Compare School Performance — Advanced level qualifications, 2025 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/137166/the-king-s-school,-grantham/16-to-18/advanced-level-qualifications
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.