Apply to Bourne Grammar School, in plain English.
Bourne Grammar is a co-educational grammar school in Bourne, Lincolnshire, and one of the 15 schools that share the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+. Your child qualifies by reaching a fixed standardised-score standard of 220 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: when more qualified children apply than the 240 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 of 220, not a ranking. Reaching it makes your child eligible — it does not order them.
The Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ is two papers — verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning (with spatial awareness). The standardised scores are added together, and a child needs an aggregate of 220 (intended to identify the top 25% of children by ability) to reach the qualifying standard. Once a child has reached 220 they are fully qualified; a score of 250 carries no more weight than 221. If places run short, it is distance — not score — that separates qualified children.
There is no catchment area. Distance only matters if the school is oversubscribed by qualified children.
Bourne Grammar does not have a designated catchment, a feeder list, or postcode tiers. Every qualified child across Lincolnshire (and beyond) is eligible to apply. If more than 240 qualified children list the school, the remaining places — after looked-after children, siblings, staff children and 35 reserved Pupil-Premium/service-family places — go to those living closest in a straight line. There is no published distance cutoff; the furthest distance offered changes every year, so 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 child for the 11+ by 31 March 2026 (when they are in Year 5) — sitting the test is not an application. You then have to name Bourne Grammar on your home council's secondary application form by 31 October 2026. Miss the test registration and they cannot sit; miss the application and they cannot be offered a place, even if they 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 children qualify, these five criteria decide.
Children with an EHCP naming Bourne Grammar are admitted before these criteria apply. All other qualifying children are placed in the highest criterion that applies to them; within each criterion, closest children rank first. Tap any criterion to read the detail.
In plain English: Children 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 (LAC) and Previously Looked After Children (PLAC), including those children who appear to have been in state care outside of England and cease to be in state care as a result of being adopted (IPLAC).
In plain English: Children with a brother or sister on roll at Bourne Grammar at the time of application come next. Full siblings count whether or not they live in the same household, as does any child living for the majority of term time in the same household where an adult has parental responsibility.
What the document says: There is a sibling on roll at the School at the time of application.
In plain English: Children of members of staff come next — provided the parent has either worked at the school for two or more years when the application is made, or was recruited to fill a post for which there was a demonstrable skill shortage.
What the document says: Children of staff, where the member of staff has been employed at the School for two or more years at the time the application is made, or was recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
In plain English: The school sets aside 35 places for qualified children who are eligible for the Pupil Premium (registered for Free School Meals at any point in the last six years) or who are service-family children (a parent serving in the regular armed forces, registered as a service child in the last six years, or in receipt of a relevant armed-forces pension). Within this group, the child living closest to school ranks first.
What the document says: 35 places available to students who are eligible for the Pupil Premium or to children whose parent(s) are serving in the regular UK armed forces (or were in the past 6 years, or who receive a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme / War Pensions Scheme), who achieve the minimum qualifying standard. Priority will be given to the child who lives closest to School.
In plain English: Every other qualified child — anyone not admitted under criteria 1 to 4 — competes for the remaining places ranked by straight-line distance from home to school, closest first. This is the criterion that decides most places. If two children live an identical distance away and only one place is left, an independent lottery breaks the tie.
What the document says: The distance from the home to school. Priority will be given to the child living nearest the School. If two or more children are tied for the last place a lottery will be drawn by an independent person.
No catchment — closer to school simply means a higher rank.
Bourne Grammar is distance-ranked with no catchment area. Once your child reaches the qualifying standard of 220, their position in the deciding criterion is set entirely by how far they live from school — closest first. Score does nothing beyond the 220 threshold, and there are no postcode tiers, feeder schools or designated areas. Because the school does not publish a distance cutoff, how far "close enough" reaches depends on how many qualified children apply that year.
Distance is measured in a straight line, to three decimal places, from your home's address point in the OS AddressBaseOS AddressBaseThe Ordnance Survey address database. Lincolnshire County Council measures a straight line between the Post Office address points of your home and the school. database to a fixed point at the school.
See the indicative area on the GrammarBound mapTwo qualified children, no sibling link — the closer one ranks higher.
Both children have reached the qualifying standard of 220 and neither has a sibling at the school. Child A is 3.0 miles away — they rank above Child B at 6.5 miles. Test score above 220 makes no difference; only distance counts.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Reserve list
If your child met the qualifying standard but was offered a lower-preference school, they are placed on Bourne Grammar's reserve list automatically. The list is held in oversubscription-criteria order — not by how long you have waited — so a closer late applicant can move above them. The list runs until the end of the coordinated round in August, then is kept by the school to the end of the year.
Appeal
You can appeal if a place is refused on non-qualification, oversubscription, or both — provided you named Bourne Grammar on your application form. Appeals are organised independently and the panel's decision is binding. Appealing does not affect your position on the reserve list.
Joining Year 12 — around 50 external places.
Bourne Grammar's sixth form admits students from other schools alongside its own Year 11. The grade floor is a pass (grade 4) in Maths and English, with higher grades needed in the specific subjects your child wants to study.
Seven GCSEs at grade 4–9, including grade 4 in Maths and English — plus subject grades for each A level.
The minimum is 7 GCSE passes at grade 9 to 4, including at least grade 4 in English Language and grade 4 in Mathematics. On top of that, each A level has its own subject-specific entry grade, published on the school website. Check the sixth form pages for the exact subject thresholds.
Internal students prioritised — apply directly to the school.
The external Year 12 admission number is around 50, not counting students continuing from Bourne Grammar's own Year 11. Where there are more applicants than places, priority runs: looked-after children, then the school's own Year 11, then the highest grade in the relevant subject, then the highest average GCSE points score, with straight-line distance as the tie-break. Apply directly to the sixth form at Bourne Grammar.
See bourne-grammar.lincs.sch.uk for the sixth form prospectus and subject entry requirements.