Admissions into Year 7 2025

King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls (“the school”) is an Academy for girls aged 11-18 years and is designated as a selective grammar school under S104 of the School Standards and Framework Act, 1998. Admission to the school is on the basis of selection by reference to ability. Only girls who attain the required standard in the prescribed arrangements for selection are eligible to be considered for admission to the school. These arrangements require that prospective pupils are considered for admission on the basis of a combined score, standardised according to the age of the pupil, on standardised tests of verbal, numerical and non-verbal reasoning ability. All girls born between 1 September 2012 and 31 August 2014 will have attained the age of 11 years by 1 September 2025 are eligible to apply for admission in September 2025.

Applicants are required to sit an entrance test and must achieve the qualifying score in order to be eligible for admission to the school. Where the number of eligible applications for admission exceeds the number of places available at the school, places are offered as follows: 

  1. Looked After Children / Previously Looked After Children who achieve the qualifying score. Applicants in this category will be ranked by test score and then by distance from the school. 
  2. Children attracting the Pupil Premium who achieve the qualifying score and live within the school catchment area*. Applicants in this category will be ranked by distance from the school. 
  3. If fewer than 48 places (25% of the PAN) are filled by applicants in category 2, offers will be made to children attracting the Pupil Premium who achieve the qualifying score and live outside the catchment area, until a total of 48 children attracting the Pupil Premium have been offered. If 48 or more places are filled by applicants in category 2, there will be no offers made from this category. Applicants in this category will be ranked by test score. Where scores are equal, priority will be given to those with a sibling** at the school; then by distance from the school. 
  4. Applicants who achieve the priority score and live within the school catchment area*. Applicants in this category will be given priority if they have an older sibling** at the school; then ranked by distance from the school. 
  5. Applicants achieving the qualifying score. Applicants in this category will be ranked by test score. Where scores are equal, priority will be given to those with a sibling** at the school; then ranked by distance from the school. 

The qualifying score and priority score will be published on www.birminghamgrammarschools.org  prior to the entrance test.

*The catchment area consists of home addresses that are within the following electoral wards: 

Birmingham 

Alum Rock, Aston, Birchfield, Bromford & Hodge Hill, Castle Vale, Edgbaston, Erdington, Garretts Green, Glebe Farm & Tile Cross, Gravelly Hill, Handsworth, Handsworth Wood, Heartlands, Holyhead, Kingstanding, Ladywood, Lozells, Nechells, Newtown, North Edgbaston, Oscott, Perry Barr, Perry Common, Pype Hayes, Shard End, Sheldon, Soho & Jewellery Quarter, Stockland Green, Sutton Four Oaks, Sutton Mere Green, Sutton Reddicap, Sutton Roughley, Sutton Trinity, Sutton Vesey, Sutton Walmley & Minworth, Sutton Wylde Green, Ward End, Yardley East, Yardley West & Stechford 

Sandwell 

Smethwick, Soho & Victoria, St Pauls, West Bromwich 

Solihull 

Castle Bromwich, Chelmsley Wood, Kingshurst & Fordbridge, Smith’s Wood 

A map of the catchment area is available to view on the school website. To check which ward an address falls into, visit your local authority website. 

**Siblings are considered to be those children who live at the same address and either have one or both natural parents in common, are related by a parent’s marriage or are adopted or fostered by a common parent. Unrelated children living at the same address, whose parents are living as partners, are also considered to be siblings. Children not adopted or fostered or related by a parents’ marriage or with one natural parent in common, who are brought together as a family by a same sex civil partnership and who are living at the same address, are also considered to be siblings. 

Older siblings on roll in the Sixth Form (who will still be in attendance in September 2023) will be classed as a sibling claim. An older sibling on roll at King Edward VI Handsworth Grammar School for Boys will also be included as a valid sibling claim for King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls. 

A Looked After Child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989). 

A Previously Looked After Child is a child who after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order including those who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. 

Distances are calculated on the basis of a straight-line measurement between the applicant’s home address and a point decided by the school (the front gates). The local authority uses a computerised system, which measures all distances in metres. Ordnance Survey supply the co-ordinates that are used to plot an applicant’s home address within this system. An applicant’s home address will be verified by the local authority as part of the school application process. If a parent/carer knowingly provides false information which would affect the success of their application, they may have the offer of a school place withdrawn. 

Children attracting Pupil Premium are those who have been registered for free school meals (not universal infant free school meals) at any point in the 6 years prior to the closing date for test registration (30 June 2022). The Foundation Office will require evidence of Pupil Premium registration and reserves the right to withdraw the offer of a place if the offer has been made on the basis of an incorrect, fraudulent or misleading application. Parents/carers of children attracting Pupil Premium must have ticked the Pupil Premium box when registering their child for the test. Alterations cannot be made after the entrance test has been taken. 

Parents will need to provide evidence of Pupil Premium registration to the Foundation Office by a date in November that will be specified in the entrance test results letter/email. Any evidence received after this date will be considered as late and will be considered after the main round of allocations has been made.

Where parents have shared responsibility for a child, and the child lives with both parents for part of the week, then the main residence will be determined as the address where the child lives the majority of the week. Parents may be requested to supply documentary evidence to support the address used.

In a very small number of cases it may not be possible to decide between the applications of those pupils who are the final qualifiers for a place, when applying the published admission criteria. For example, this may occur when children in the same year group live at the same address, or where there are twins, or if the distance between the home and school is exactly the same, for example, blocks of flats. If there is no other way of separating the application according to the admissions criteria and to admit both or all of the children would cause the legal limit to be exceeded, the local authority will use a computerised system to randomly select the child to be offered the final place.

Information explaining the entrance test arrangements for admission in September 2023 will be available online at www.birminghamgrammarschools.org  from May 2022 onwards and advertisements will be placed in the local press. 

The information will contain details of relevant Open Sessions at each of the King Edward VI Grammar Schools. Prospective pupils and their parents are encouraged to attend an Open Session at each of the schools in which they may be interested. 

Test registration is made electronically via the relevant website and must be submitted by 30 June 2022. All registration forms received will be acknowledged. Children will be issued with a candidate number and allocated to a test centre (which may be any one of the Birmingham grammar schools or another venue used as an overflow centre). 

Parents will also have to complete their home Local Authority (LA) common application form ranking their choice of schools in order of preference. This list may contain grammar schools and other schools. Only the LA will know the rankings and forms must be returned to the LA by 31 October 2022. Any change of address after this date will not be considered until after places have been offered in March 2023. 

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, King Edward VI Grammar Schools will consider requests for adjustments to the entrance test from parents/carers of a disabled pupil who wishes to attend the school. Parents must approach the Foundation Office with information on the child’s disability and will be provided with a form to complete. This must be returned to the Foundation Office, accompanied by a supporting letter from the child’s current school and any detailed medical evidence, by 15 June 2022. A specialist panel will consider the information submitted to decide whether reasonable adjustments should be made for the candidate. Where the school has been named on a child’s Education, Health & Care Plan (EHC) the child will be admitted. The naming of the school is undertaken after a statutory consultation with the school so as to consider whether the school is suitable for the child’s age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs. The school would require and expects to see cogent evidence that the child’s ability is of the requisite academic standard as part of that process evidenced by the child having achieved the qualifying score in the admission test. This is not an oversubscription criterion but the Admission Number will reduce accordingly for all other applicants. 

The entrance test will take place in September 2022. 

The deadline for registering for the test is 30 June 2022 and is published in admissions literature. Candidates who are not registered by the deadline may only be tested in exceptional circumstances and considered after the main round of allocations has been made. 

Children who move into the local area (defined as the following local authorities: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Staffordshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire) between the test registration deadline and the test date will be tested and considered in the main round of admissions. Applications received after the test will be considered after initial allocations have been made. Places at the school will be offered in accordance with the admissions policy outlined above. Parents will be notified in writing on 1 March 2023 or next working day which school their child has been offered. Parents have a statutory right of appeal if they are not satisfied with the place offered. Parents can appeal for only the preferred schools that have been indicated on the LA preference form. Appeals must be lodged by a date in March, which will be specified in the LA offer letter. Appeal hearings are normally held in May and June. 

Places at the school will be offered in accordance with the admissions policy outlined above. Parents will be notified in writing on 1 March 2023 or next working day which school their child has been offered. 

Parents have a statutory right of appeal if they are not satisfied with the place offered. Parents can appeal for only the preferred schools that have been indicated on the LA preference form. Appeals must be lodged by a date in March, which will be specified in the LA offer letter. Appeal hearings are normally held in May and June.

Girls who will not have reached the age of 11 years by 1 September 2023, but who are taught in the same year group at primary school as those who will have done so, may be considered for admission to the school in September 2023. 

Summer born children who are outside the stated age group but have been taught with a younger cohort throughout primary school may be considered for admission to the school in September 2023. 

Requests to sit the entrance test and apply for a place at the school outside the normal age group must be made by contacting the Foundation Office prior to the closing date for test registration (30 June 2022). A letter confirming the child is taught outside their normal age group and the reason(s) for this will be requested from the primary school along with any other evidence that is deemed relevant to each case. The Admission Authority will make a decision whether to allow the child to sit the entrance test outside their normal age group based on the circumstances of each case and will notify the parent/carer of its decision. If the child meets the admission criteria and is offered a place, they will be admitted to Year 7. 

A child in either of these groups has only one opportunity to sit the entrance test and the offer of a place will be withdrawn if the offer has been made on the basis of an incorrect, fraudulent or misleading application.

The entrance test will take place in September 2024.

The deadline for registering for the test is 28th June 2024 at 4pm and is published in admissions literature. Candidates who are not registered by the deadline may only be tested in exceptional circumstances and considered after the main round of allocations has been made.

Children who move into the local area (defined as the following local authorities: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Staffordshire, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire) between the test registration deadline and the test date will be tested and considered in the main round of admissions. Applications received after this date will be considered after initial allocations have been made.

Places at the school will be offered in accordance with the admissions policy outlined above. Parents will be notified in writing on 3rd March 2025 or next working day which school their child has been offered.

Parents have a statutory right of appeal if they are not satisfied with the place offered. Parents can appeal for only the preferred schools that have been indicated on the LA preference form. Appeals must be lodged by a date in March, which will be specified in the LA offer letter. Appeal hearings are normally held in May and June.

Admissions policy September 2023

Admissions policy September 2024

Admissions policy September 2025

King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls Catchment Area