Apply to Boston High School, in plain English.
Boston High is a girls' grammar school in Boston, Lincolnshire, and one of the schools that share the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+. Your daughter qualifies by reaching the Consortium's common qualifying standard across the verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers — it is a pass mark, not a league table, so a higher score does not buy a better place. There is no catchment area: if more qualified girls apply than the 108 places, straight-line distance decides, so register for the test by 31 March 2026.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
The 11+ is a pass mark, not a ranking. Reaching it makes your daughter eligible — it does not order her.
The Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ is two papers — verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. The standardised scores are added together, and a child needs to reach the common qualifying standard (set each year to identify the top 25% of children by ability). Once a girl has reached that standard she is fully qualified; scoring higher carries no extra weight. If places run short, it is distance — not score — that separates qualified girls.
There is no catchment area. Distance only matters if the school is oversubscribed by qualified girls.
Boston High does not have a designated catchment, a feeder list or postcode tiers. (It names a Designated Transport Area, but that only governs free council transport, not who gets a place.) Every qualified girl is eligible to apply. The school says it has always been able to admit every girl who reached the qualifying standard, so in practice distance has not been needed — there is no published distance cutoff, and the circle on our map is indicative only.
Registering for the test and applying for the place are two separate jobs — with two separate deadlines.
Register your daughter for the 11+ by 31 March 2026 (when she is in Year 5) — sitting the test is not an application. You then have to name Boston High on your home council's secondary application form by 31 October 2026. Miss the test registration and she cannot sit; miss the application and she cannot be offered a place, even if she passed.
Five steps — register in spring, sit the test in autumn, apply by 31 October.
Registration for the test closes in March, six months before the papers are sat. Put the registration date in your calendar now — it is the easiest one to miss.
If too many girls qualify, these four criteria decide.
Children with an EHCP naming Boston High are admitted before these criteria apply. All other qualifying girls are placed in the highest criterion that applies to them; within each criterion, closest girls rank first. Tap any criterion to read the detail.
In plain English: Girls who are currently in council care, or who were previously in care and left it through adoption, a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order (including those adopted from state care outside England), get the highest priority — provided they have reached the qualifying standard. Where they live does not matter.
What the document says: Looked after children and all previously looked after children including those children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care because of being adopted.
In plain English: Qualified girls who are registered for the Pupil Premium — that is, who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years (not the universal infant free meals in Key Stage 1) — are ranked next, ahead of all other applicants apart from looked-after children. Within this group, the closest girls rank first.
What the document says: The child is registered for Student Premium defined as those registered for free school meals at any point in the last six years (not including Key Stage 1 statutory free school meals).
In plain English: Qualified girls with a brother or sister already on roll at Boston High at the time she would be admitted come next. Within this group, the closest girls rank first.
What the document says: Siblings of students already attending the school at the time of admittance.
In plain English: Every other qualified girl — anyone not admitted under criteria 1 to 3 — competes for the remaining places ranked by straight-line distance from home to school, closest first. This is the criterion that would decide places in an oversubscribed year. If two girls live an identical distance away and only one place is left, an independent lottery breaks the tie.
What the document says: Students living near to the school based on a straight-line distance as calculated electronically to three figures after the decimal point by Lincolnshire County Council school admissions team from the Post Office Address Point of the home to the Post Office Address Point of the school.
No catchment — closer to school simply means a higher rank.
Boston High is distance-ranked with no catchment area. Once your daughter reaches the qualifying standard, her position in the deciding criterion is set entirely by how far she lives from school — closest first. Score does nothing beyond the qualifying threshold, and there are no postcode tiers, feeder schools or designated catchment areas. Because the school does not publish a distance cutoff — and has historically admitted everyone who qualified — how far "close enough" reaches depends on how many qualified girls apply that year.
Distance is measured in a straight line, to three decimal places, by Lincolnshire County Council from the Post Office Address PointPost Office Address PointA fixed coordinate for each address used by Lincolnshire's admissions team. The straight-line distance runs from your home's address point to a fixed address point at the school. of your home to the address point of the school.
See the indicative area on the GrammarBound mapTwo qualified girls, no sibling link — the closer one ranks higher.
Both girls have reached the qualifying standard and neither has a sibling at the school or Pupil Premium priority. Girl A is 3.0 miles away — she ranks above Girl B at 6.5 miles. Test score above the threshold makes no difference; only distance counts.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Reserve list
If your daughter met the qualifying standard but was offered a lower-preference school, she is placed on Boston High's reserve list. The list is held in oversubscription-criteria order — not by how long you have waited — so a closer late applicant can move above her. Because the school is rarely oversubscribed, a place often becomes available; the list runs through the coordinated round and is then kept by the school.
Appeal
You can appeal if a place is refused on non-qualification, oversubscription, or both — provided you named Boston High on your application form. Appeals are heard by an independent panel and the decision is binding. Appealing does not affect your position on the reserve list.
Joining Year 12 — open to girls and boys. Around 30 external places.
Boston High's sixth form is mixed: it admits both girls and boys from other schools. The grade floor is a pass (grade 4) in English or Maths, with subject-specific grades set in the sixth form prospectus.
Five GCSEs at grade 4–9 including English or Maths — plus the grades each subject sets.
The minimum is grades 4 to 9 in at least five GCSE subjects, including English or Maths. On top of that, each A-level subject sets its own entry grade, applied on results day. The thresholds are reviewed every year, so check the sixth form prospectus for the exact subject requirements.
Internal students transfer automatically — apply directly to the school.
The external Year 12 admission number is around 30 (run as a minimum), on top of girls continuing from Boston High's own Year 11, who transfer automatically if they meet the standard. Where external applicants exceed the places, priority goes to looked-after children, then Pupil Premium, then siblings, then the highest average GCSE points score. Apply directly to the sixth form at Boston High.
See bostonhighschool.co.uk for the sixth form prospectus and subject entry requirements.