High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire · Buckinghamshire
Wycombe High School
Gives sibling priority to sisters of boys at John Hampden Grammar School — the two schools are formally paired, unlike the third High Wycombe grammar school, Royal Grammar School.
Wycombe High sets no score above Buckinghamshire's flat county-wide threshold, and its own admissions policy confirms a catchment-and-distance model rather than score-ranking. It's formally paired with John Hampden Grammar School (boys): each gives priority to the other's siblings, and their sixth forms share a joint 'Futures Programme' of mixed Wednesday-afternoon electives, though core academic teaching stays single-sex at both schools. No equivalent tie was found to the town's third grammar school, Royal Grammar School High Wycombe.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Buckinghamshire
- Established
- 1901
- DfE URN
- 136723
- Website
- https://www.whs.bucks.sch.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test (STT), marked by GL Assessment and administered county-wide by Buckinghamshire Council.
- Test format
- Two multiple-choice papers sat on the same day in autumn of Year 6, each about an hour including practice examples, assessing verbal, mathematical and non-verbal skills. The three age-standardised areas combine as a weighted sum — 50% verbal, 25% maths, 25% non-verbal — into a single Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS).
- Qualifying / pass mark
- An STTS of 121 for September 2026 entry, confirmed directly in the school's own determined admissions policy — the same flat threshold used identically across all Buckinghamshire grammar schools. Continuity at 121 for the following cycle is very likely (Buckinghamshire Council's live guidance still cites it) but wasn't independently confirmed against the school's newer policy document.partly verified
Confirmed for the September 2026 entry cycle from the school's own policy; the following cycle's version couldn't be extracted from the school's site during this research, though continuity is likely.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from the school's own admissions policy: any girl scoring 121+ automatically qualifies, with no further ranking by score. Oversubscription runs through care status, catchment Pupil Premium, a disadvantaged quota (113-120), sisters at this school, sisters of boys at John Hampden Grammar School, staff children, medical need, then two catchment tiers and distance — never by comparative test score among qualifiers.
Catchment & priority criteria
A two-tier catchment: Area A (inner, covering High Wycombe and the area to its north and west) and Area B (outer, covering the area south of High Wycombe toward Marlow and Beaconsfield). Used only within the oversubscription order, not as a precondition for applying.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Catchment Pupil-Premium-eligible girls
- Up to 12 places for disadvantaged catchment girls scoring 113-120
- Sisters of girls on roll at this school, in catchment
- Sisters of boys on roll at John Hampden Grammar School, in catchment
- Daughters of staff (2+ years' service, or a hard-to-fill vacancy recruit)
- Exceptional medical or social needs
- Girls living in Catchment Area A
- Girls living in Catchment Area B
- Remaining places by straight-line distance; random draw for exact ties
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 75.5 | 97.2% | +0.90 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.68 to +1.11) — this cohort predates the COVID-era gap. For trend context, 2023 Progress 8 was +0.80, also well above average. | — | — |
| A-level (183 students): DfE's own average grade/points measure was B+ (42.04 points). | |||||
| 2025 | 73.9 | 96.8% | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | verify with school | verify with school |
| A-level (195 students): DfE's own average grade/points measure was B+ (42.22 points), AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 27.7% (Buckinghamshire average 32.8%, England 17.5%), retention 99.5%. DfE's current 16-18 tables no longer publish an A*-A/A*-B breakdown for any school — this is a national reporting-format change, not specific to this school. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Outstanding, in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. The previous inspection (2012) also rated the school Outstanding.
- Date
- 30 April - 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/136723
- 2. School's own determined Admissions Policy for entry September 2026 — https://mmerevise.co.uk/app/uploads/2025/06/Determined-Admissions-Policy-from-September-2026-wycombe-high-school.pdf
- 3. Buckinghamshire Council — Marking the Secondary Transfer Test — https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-libraries-and-parks/school-admissions-and-appeals/guides-and-policies/guide-to-grammar-schools-and-the-secondary-school-transfer-test-11-plus/marking-the-secondary-transfer-test/
- 4. Ofsted report, inspected 30 April - 1 May 2024 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50250681
- 5. School's own History page — https://www.whs.bucks.sch.uk/school-history/
- 6. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136723/wycombe-high-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.