Wallington, Greater London · Sutton
Wallington High School for Girls
No published pass mark exists by design — the school's own policy states it 'is not possible to state a pass mark in advance,' since each participating school sets its own threshold only after marking.
Founded in 1888, Wallington High School for Girls sits within Sutton's distinctive two-stage selective system, sharing a first-stage 'Selective Eligibility Test' with five other schools in the borough — not just the four other academically selective grammar schools, but also Greenshaw High School, a non-selective comprehensive that uses the same test to allocate a smaller number of ability places within its broader intake. Its second-stage exam is held jointly with, and uses fully shared selective-ability criteria alongside, neighbouring Nonsuch High School for Girls — a closer structural link than the three boys' schools have with each other, each of which sets its own pass criteria independently despite sharing the same paper. With around 2,000 applications for 210 places, and 100 of those places awarded by strict score rank 'irrespective of home address,' this is a genuinely superselective school even though it never uses the term itself.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- London
- Local authority
- Sutton
- Established
- 1888
- DfE URN
- 136789
- Website
- https://www.wallingtongirls.org.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- No external commercial test board identified — the Selective Eligibility Test (SET) and second-stage exam are set, administered and marked in-house by the participating Sutton schools, coordinated via Sutton Grammar School (Stage 1) and Girls' Learning Trust Admissions (Stage 2), rather than contracted to a provider like GL Assessment.partly verified
No named external test-setting body was found in any primary document — the test appears to be set and marked by the participating schools themselves, but the absence of a named provider isn't conclusive proof none is quietly contracted.
- Test format
- Two-stage test. Stage 1 (the Selective Eligibility Test): two multiple-choice papers of 40-50 minutes each, Maths and English, content broadly based on the Key Stage 2 curriculum, with no verbal or non-verbal reasoning — sat at one of six host-school venues on a single day. Stage 2, open only to those who clear the Stage 1 pass mark: two non-multiple-choice papers (Maths and English), held jointly with Nonsuch High School for Girls using fully shared selective-ability criteria between the two schools. The final ranking score combines Stage 2 marks with half the aggregate Stage 1 mark.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- Not published for any cycle, by the school's own explicit design. The school's own FAQ and policy documents state consistently across multiple years: 'It is not possible to state a pass mark in advance of the test. The pass mark will be decided by the participating schools after the test has been marked. Each School may determine its own pass mark.'verify with school
Not a research gap — the school's own primary sources confirm across multiple years that no fixed numeric pass mark exists or is published in advance; it's set independently by each school after marking.
- Superselective?
- Yes
The school never uses the term itself, but its own admissions policy describes a genuinely superselective mechanism: candidates must pass both stages, and 100 of the school's 210 places are then awarded by strict rank order of combined score, explicitly 'irrespective of home address.' Even the 110 places nominally linked to a catchment radius are awarded by highest score within that radius, not by distance or a simple threshold pass — catchment residency doesn't bypass ranking. The school's own site states it receives over 2,000 applications for 210 places, roughly 9-10 applicants per place.
Catchment & priority criteria
No hard catchment restricting eligibility — open to all who pass the test, regardless of address. A 6.7km radius from the school (verified by Sutton Council's GIS) is used only as one of several oversubscription routes, covering up to 110 of the 210 places; the other 100 general places are awarded by score irrespective of home address, alongside up to 35 places reserved for Pupil Premium-eligible children.
- Children of selective ability with an EHC Plan naming the school (pre-allocation, reduces the total places available below)
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children of selective ability, who may score up to 20% below the standardised pass mark subject to a minimum Stage 2 mark
- 100 places awarded strictly by highest test score, irrespective of home address
- Up to 35 places for children eligible for Free School Meals/Pupil Premium who meet the pass mark (or up to 20% below), ranked by score, irrespective of address
- Up to 110 places linked to a 6.7km catchment radius, awarded by highest score within that radius
- Any places left over from the Pupil Premium or catchment categories filled by highest score overall
- Tie-break: proximity to school, then an independently witnessed drawing of lots
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 79.23 | 99.5% | +0.92 — this cohort's KS2 SATs were sat pre-COVID (2019), so a genuine figure was calculable | — | — |
| A-level: DfE and the school report an average grade of B+ (44.72 average points per entry) rather than an A*-A/A*-B percentage breakdown. | |||||
| 2025 | 80.26 (school's own figure; a secondary aggregator states 80.5 for the same year, unreconciled) | 100% | Not calculated — confirmed as the nationwide COVID-era gap for this cohort (KS2 SATs due May 2020 were cancelled) | verify with school | verify with school |
| A-level: average grade A- (45.62 average points per entry). DfE's Compare School Performance portal was inaccessible during this research, so these figures come from the school's own published results page rather than DfE directly. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Under Ofsted's new report-card framework: 'Outstanding' in every category — Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management, and Sixth-Form Provision. The previous inspection (2019, a short Section 8 visit) rated the school Good — not directly comparable to the new scale, so this shouldn't be read as a decline.
- Date
- 18-19 March 2025
- 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/136789
- 2. School's own Admissions Policy, 2026 Admission Year — https://www.wallingtongirls.org.uk/_site/data/files/admissions/admissions-2025/68D96AEF6F904EBFF09F75403F8FE3D6.pdf
- 3. School's own Selective Eligibility Test FAQ — https://www.wallingtongirls.org.uk/_site/data/files/DD0993FDBF756CC3BD32CE04A534D355.pdf
- 4. School's own Admissions page — https://www.wallingtongirls.org.uk/page/?title=Admissions&pid=14
- 5. Sutton Council — secondary school tests, assessments and supplementary forms — https://www.sutton.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-admissions/information-applying-secondary-school-2027/secondary-school-tests-assessments-and-supplementary-forms
- 6. Ofsted report card, inspected 18-19 March 2025 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50276417
- 7. School's own Key Examinations Data page — https://www.wallingtongirls.org.uk/page/?title=Key+Examinations+Data&pid=185
- 8. School's own History and Traditions page — https://www.wallingtongirls.org.uk/about-us/historyandtraditions
Last updated 2026-09-01. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.