Apply to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School, in plain English.
BRGS is a co-educational selective grammar in Rossendale (part of Star Academies) that fills its 180 Year 7 places using its own GL Assessment entrance test — there is no catchment area. You register directly with the school by 12 noon on 14 September 2026, your child sits the test on Saturday 26 September 2026, then you name the school on your council's Common Application Form by 31 October 2026.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Register directly with the school for its own test — by 12 noon on 14 September 2026.
BRGS selects on its own entrance examination, set and standardised by GL Assessment and sat on site — three papers in verbal reasoning, maths and English. There is no Lancashire-wide 11+. You register directly through brgs.applicaa.com by 12 noon on Monday 14 September 2026, and your child sits the test on Saturday 26 September 2026. Passing is a qualifying standard — meeting it does not guarantee a place.
There is no catchment — but children at feeder primaries get priority.
BRGS has no catchment area. If more children qualify than there are places, priority goes first to children attending an Area 1 feeder primary (in and around Bacup, Rawtenstall, Waterfoot and Stacksteads), then an Area 2 feeder primary (Haslingden, Helmshore, Whitworth, Edenfield and nearby) — ranked by exam mark within each group. The circle on our map is illustrative only; it is not a real boundary.
Sitting the test isn't enough — you must also name BRGS on the council form.
To be considered for a place you must list Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School on your home local authority's Common Application Form by 31 October 2026, as well as sitting the test. If you don't name it on the form, no place is offered — however well your child scores. After the feeder-area and family criteria, every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring children, wherever they live.
Five steps — starting now.
If more children qualify than there are places, these criteria decide.
Only children who reach the required standard in the test are considered. They are then placed in these priority groups, in order; within the feeder-area groups, the highest exam mark comes first. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Children who are or were in council care (including those adopted from care or under a special guardianship / child arrangements order, and children who were in state care outside England), and children with an Education, Health and Care Plan that names BRGS, are admitted first — provided they reach the required standard in the test.
What the document says: Looked after children or a child who was previously looked after … Children with an EHC plan naming the school are admitted before the oversubscription criteria are applied.
In plain English: Children attending one of the 18 named Area 1 feeder primaries — in and around Bacup, Rawtenstall, Waterfoot, Stacksteads, Crawshawbooth and Newchurch — are ranked by exam mark, with children who have a brother or sister already at BRGS given a sub-priority. Attendance must be for the whole of Year 6, as a minimum. This is a list of named primary schools, not a postcode area.
What the document says: Children attending Area 1 primary schools ranked in order of overall entrance examination mark. Priority will be given to children with sibling(s) in years 7-11 attending the school.
In plain English: Children attending one of the 13 named Area 2 feeder primaries — in Haslingden, Helmshore, Whitworth, Edenfield, Stubbins, Shawforth and nearby — are ranked by exam mark, again with a sibling sub-priority. Area 2 is considered after Area 1, and attendance must be for the whole of Year 6.
What the document says: Children attending Area 2 primary schools ranked in order of overall entrance examination mark. Priority will be given to children with sibling(s) in years 7-11 attending the school.
In plain English: Children of a member of staff who has worked at BRGS for two or more years at the time of application, or who was recruited to fill a role with a demonstrable skill shortage, come next — after the two feeder-area groups.
What the document says: Children of staff employed at the school for 2 or more years … and / or recruited to fill a post where there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
In plain English: A child with a brother or sister in Years 7–11 at BRGS at the time of application and offer is prioritised here — for children who are not already covered by the Area 1 or Area 2 sibling sub-priority. The sibling must live at the same address. (Note: a sibling link also boosts ranking within the two feeder-area groups above.)
What the document says: Children with a sibling(s) in years 7-11 attending the school at the time of application and offer of a place.
In plain English: Every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring children who reach the required standard, in order of exam mark, regardless of where they live or which primary they attend. There is no catchment area and no residence requirement — see the worked example below.
What the document says: All other children ranked in order of overall entrance examination mark.
Tie-breaker: if two children are tied within a criterion, the child who lives nearest the school in a straight line is given priority; if the distance is identical, places are decided by random allocation. Distance is used only to break a tie — not as a catchment.
No geographic boundary — feeder primary, then exam mark, decides.
BRGS has no catchment area and no residence requirement. Priority runs by feeder-primary area (Area 1, then Area 2) and then by exam mark, with staff and sibling criteria, before every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring children wherever they live. The circle drawn on our map is illustrative only — it is not a real boundary. The "areas" in the policy are lists of named primary schools, not postcodes, so what matters is which primary your child attends in Year 6, not your street.
Distance from home to school is used only as a tie-breaker when two children are otherwise level within a criterion — measured in a straight line, with random allocation if even that is equal.
See the school's location on the GrammarBound mapTwo children — the feeder primary, then the score, decides.
Both children passed the test. Child A attends an Area 1 feeder primary and lives further away; Child B attends a non-feeder primary and lives close by. Child A is placed in a higher priority group, so where they live barely matters — distance only breaks a tie between children level within the same criterion.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Children who met the required standard but were not offered a place are held on a waiting list in priority order of the admission criteria — not by when you applied. Lancashire County Council maintains the Year 7 list until 31 December 2027; when a place comes free it goes to the child at the top of the list, so your position can move up or down as families join or leave.
From January, parents complete an in-year application form to remain in consideration; in-year transfers into BRGS are handled separately by the school.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. For a selective school the panel must be satisfied your child reached the required standard, so successful appeals are uncommon. There is also a review process before appeals: if your child narrowly missed the standard you can ask the school's admissions committee to reconsider the test result with any supporting evidence, within five days of the notification letters. Appealing does not remove your child from the waiting list.
Joining Year 12 from outside.
BRGS has a co-educational sixth form and admits external students into Year 12. Entry is by GCSE grades, not the Year 7 test, so the selective admissions criteria above do not apply.
The grade floor.
You need at least grade 4 in GCSE English Language and grade 4 in GCSE Maths, on top of a minimum standard measured by your best 8 GCSE points (the threshold is reviewed each year). Individual A-level subjects then set their own higher minimum grades, published by the school. Offers are conditional on results.
Apply direct to the school.
Information about the sixth form and the application process is published on the school website; external applicants apply direct to BRGS. Where there are more applicants meeting the requirements than places, the school allocates in line with its sixth-form admission arrangements, with a right of appeal if a place is not offered.