Apply to Aylesbury High School, in plain English.
Everything a parent needs to know about a Year 7 place at Aylesbury High School, a girls' grammar in Aylesbury, for September 2027 — the Bucks 11+, the score of 121 your daughter needs to qualify, the Aylesbury catchment that decides who gets priority when the school is full, and what to do if she misses out. The legal version is one click away.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch Buckinghamshire parents out.
Your daughter needs 121 on the Bucks 11+.
Aylesbury High only admits girls who score at least 121 on the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test — two papers covering verbal, non-verbal and maths reasoning, sat on the same day. Score 121 or more and she qualifies; below it, you can ask for a Selection Review.
You name the school on your council form.
Qualifying is not the same as applying. You must also list Aylesbury High as a preference with your home council by 31 October 2026 — even if you live outside Buckinghamshire.
Catchment, then distance, decide.
If more girls qualify than there are places, the school looks at the Aylesbury catchment area (it covers Aylesbury, Wendover, Princes Risborough, Haddenham, Wing, Waddesdon and more) and then straight-line distance to its main entrance on Walton Road. A qualified girl living outside catchment can still get a place once those rules are exhausted.
Five steps, spread over a year.
From registering for the Bucks 11+ to your daughter starting Year 7. Step 3 is the deadline that catches families out — miss it and the rest doesn't matter. (Dates shown are for the September 2027 entry round.)
Qualify on the 11+ first — then these 7 rules decide.
Every girl who scores 121 or more is eligible. If more girls qualify than there are places, the school works down these seven rules in order. Tap any rule to see the document's exact wording.
In plain English: Qualified girls in the care of a council (or who were before being adopted) who live in the Aylesbury catchment area get the very top priority.
What the document says: "Looked After Child, Previously Looked After Child, Internationally Adopted Child or Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After Child at the time of application and who are living in the catchment area of the school as at and continuously from 1 September of the year preceding entry to Year 7 in September."
In plain English: Qualified girls who attract the Pupil Premium grant (which includes Service Children in Education) and live inside the catchment come next.
What the document says: "Girls who qualify for Pupil Premium and who are living in the catchment area of the school as at and continuously from 1 September of the year preceding entry to Year 7 in September." Pupil Premium entitlement must be current on 31 October in the offer year; evidence should be sent directly to the school.
In plain English: For Year 7 only, up to six places within the 189 are set aside for in-catchment girls who are looked-after or eligible for the Pupil Premium and who scored 115–120 — just below the usual 121 threshold — and who did not qualify through a Selection Review. If more than six qualify, the rest of the rules below decide between them.
What the document says: "For entry into Year 7 only — in receipt of Pupil Premium or a Looked After Child … and have achieved a standardised score of 115–120 in the admissions test. Maximum of 6 places … This rule only applies to girls who are living in the catchment area of the school as at and continuously from 1 September of the year preceding entry to Year 7 in September."
In plain English: If your daughter will have a sister on roll at Aylesbury High, or a brother on roll at Aylesbury Grammar School, when she starts — and that sibling is still expected to be there — she gets priority here.
What the document says: "Sisters of students who will be on the roll of Aylesbury High School or sisters of boys who will be on the roll of Aylesbury Grammar School at the time allocations are made and who are expected to be on roll of the School at the time of the proposed admission."
In plain English: A qualified girl whose parent has worked at Aylesbury High for at least two years, or was recruited into a hard-to-fill role.
What the document says: "Children of Aylesbury High School staff, who have been employed on a permanent contract by the school for two or more years at the time the application for admission to the school is made, and/or the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage, as per national shortage occupation lists for teaching staff."
In plain English: All other qualified girls who live inside the Aylesbury catchment area come next, ranked among themselves by distance. You must have lived at the address continuously since 1 September of the year before entry.
What the document says: "Girls living in the catchment area of the school as at and continuously from 1 September of the year preceding entry to Year 7 in September." The catchment area is published on the school website and on Buckinghamshire Council's catchment-area checker.
In plain English: Any remaining qualified girl, wherever she lives, ranked by straight-line distance to the school's main entrance on Walton Road. This is how an out-of-catchment girl who scored 121 can still win a place.
What the document says: "All other girls." Where a category is oversubscribed, places are allocated "by reference to the distance between the applicant girl's home address … and the middle of the school's main entrance gate on Walton Road in a straight line, with those living closest receiving higher priority." If two girls live exactly the same distance away, a random draw decides.
A priority area, then a straight line.
Aylesbury High shares the Aylesbury catchment area with Aylesbury Grammar School and Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School — broadly Aylesbury, Wendover, Princes Risborough, Haddenham, Stoke Mandeville, Wing, Waddesdon, Quainton and Cheddington. Living inside it gives your daughter priority in rule 6 above. It is not a hard boundary: a qualified girl from outside catchment can still get a place under rule 7.
Where distance is used, the school measures a single straight line between your normal home address and the middle of its main entrance gate on Walton Road, using the council's measurements. Routes, bus times and travel difficulty are not considered. To count as in-catchment you must have lived at the address continuously since 1 September of the year before entry. You can check whether an address falls inside the line on the Bucks address checkerBuckinghamshire address checkerThe council's online tool that tells you which grammar-school catchment areas a postcode falls into..
See the catchment on the GrammarBound mapHow two addresses get ranked.
Both girls scored 121, both live in catchment, neither has a sibling at the school. Inside rule 6, House A's straight-line distance to the Walton Road entrance is shorter — so it ranks higher. If two addresses tie exactly, a random draw decides.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
From National Offer DayNational Offer DayThe single day around 1 March on which every English council releases secondary-school offers. You hear by email or letter. onwards, Buckinghamshire Council runs the waiting list through the County Scheme on the school's behalf, for entry into Years 7, 8 and 9. It is re-ranked every time a girl joins, using the same seven rules — so a later applicant in a higher rule can move above you. There is no simple "queue".
In-year vacancies and entry to other year groups are handled under the school's Late Transfer Procedure (curriculum tests coordinated with Buckinghamshire Council).
Appeal
Once places are allocated, you can appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if your daughter was refused because the school is full. Buckinghamshire Council manages appeals on the school's behalf; your refusal letter sets the deadline and grounds. A panel hearing won't normally re-examine whether your daughter was capable of qualifying — that belongs to the Selection Review.
Appealing does not affect your waiting-list position.
If you believe your daughter would have reached 121 but for particular circumstances during the test, you can ask Buckinghamshire Council for a Selection Review. A panel of serving headteachers — taking advice from an educational psychologist where needed — decides before places are allocated. If they deem your daughter qualified, she is eligible for any of the 13 Bucks grammars. Children with an EHCP naming the school are admitted under separate statutory rules.
A separate route in at 16.
Alongside girls moving up from Year 11, the school takes a minimum of 30 external girls into Year 12 each year, on a different application and a GCSE grade floor.
The grade floor.
A minimum of 44 points across your best eight GCSEs (including English Language and Maths), with at least grade 5 in English Language or Literature and grade 5 in Maths, and at least grade 6 in the GCSE for each subject you want to take at A-level. A higher best-8 total (currently 64 points) is needed to take four A-levels.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants apply through the school's own form, which opens after the Sixth Form Open Evening and closes on the Monday of the first full week back after the Christmas holiday. Entry requirements are the same for internal and external students. Up to six places within the Year 12 PAN carry amended requirements for looked-after and Pupil Premium girls.