Apply to Caistor Grammar School, in plain English.
Caistor Grammar is a co-educational selective academy in Caistor, Lincolnshire. Your child qualifies by reaching a fixed standardised-score standard of 220 in the school's own 11+ — the county-wide Lincolnshire grammar standard, designed to select the top 25% by ability; it is a pass mark, not a ranking. It then has a 6.5-mile catchment area, and qualified children living inside it take priority, so register for the test by 14 August 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 — the catchment then decides priority.
Caistor sets its own 11+ — two papers, sat in the autumn of Year 6. The standardised scores are added together, and a child needs a total of 220 (the county-wide Lincolnshire standard, 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. If too many qualified children apply for the 96 places, it is the oversubscription criteria — chiefly whether you live within 6.5 miles of the school — that decide. The test score is then used only to rank children within an oversubscribed criterion.
Caistor has a 6.5-mile catchment — living inside it gives strong priority.
Qualified children whose home is within 6.5 miles in a straight line of the school are placed above qualified children who live further away. Up to 12 places are then reserved for Pupil Premium (Ever 6) children from outside the catchment, and only after that does everyone else compete. Any qualified child can apply from anywhere — out-of-catchment children are ranked by test score for the remaining places — but the catchment comes first.
Registering for the test and applying for the place are two separate jobs — with two separate deadlines.
Register your child for Caistor's 11+ by 14 August 2026 (when they are in Year 5) — sitting the test is not an application. You then have to name Caistor 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 the summer, sit the papers in September, apply by 31 October.
Caistor's test registration closes on 14 August, before the autumn term starts. Put the registration date in your calendar now — it is the easiest one to miss.
If too many children qualify, these four criteria decide — in order.
Children with an EHCP naming Caistor are admitted before these criteria apply. All other qualifying children are placed in the highest criterion that applies to them; within an oversubscribed criterion they are ranked by their test score. Tap any criterion to read the detail.
In plain English: Qualified 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 who were in state care outside England), get the highest priority. Where they live does not matter.
What the document says: Qualified candidates who are in Public Care (Looked After Children), and previously looked-after children, will be considered first in the allocation of places.
In plain English: Qualified children whose principal home is within 6.5 miles of the school, measured in a straight line, are admitted next. This is usually the criterion in which places run out. If it is oversubscribed, children are ranked by their test score (highest first); their straight-line distance is used only to break a tie, then a lottery. "Principal home" means where the child sleeps at least five nights in seven during term time, fixed at 1 September of the year before entry.
What the document says: After EHCP students and Looked After Children, the next students to be admitted are those who qualify and are in-catchment — whose principal residency is within 6.5 miles in a straight line distance from the Post Office Address of the School.
In plain English: Up to 12 places are reserved for qualified children who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium (Ever 6 — free-school-meals-related funding). In-catchment Pupil Premium children will already have a place under the criterion above, so this reservation is for Pupil Premium children from outside the catchment, taken in test-score order. You must tell the school on the application form, or by email before 14 August 2026, that your child is eligible.
What the document says: In the main admissions round, up to 12 places will be reserved for students who are in receipt of Pupil Premium (Ever 6). Out-of-catchment students currently in receipt of Pupil Premium (Ever 6) will make up the remainder of these places, based on the highest V.R. scores.
In plain English: Any places still left go to all other qualified children — those living more than 6.5 miles away who have not taken one of the reserved Pupil Premium places. Here the test score does the ranking — highest scores first — with mean rank position, then the written-paper marks, then a lottery, breaking ties.
What the document says: Priority between children who do not fall into the above categories will go to the applicants with the higher V.R. scores.
A 6.5-mile catchment — living inside it puts you ahead.
Caistor's catchment is a 6.5-mile circle drawn straight-line from the school's Post Office address. Once your child reaches the qualifying standard of 220, a child living inside the 6.5 miles is placed above a child living further out, whatever their test scores. Distance is measured by Lincolnshire County Council to three decimal places, so a few hundred yards can matter near the edge. After in-catchment children, up to 12 places are reserved for Pupil Premium children from outside the area, and only then is everyone else ranked. A test score above 220 makes no difference unless a single criterion is oversubscribed — and then it ranks children within that one criterion.
The circle on our map is the school's 6.5-mile catchment6.5-mile catchmentThe boundary is a true 6.5-mile straight-line radius from the school — exactly how the policy measures in-catchment status. It is a priority area, not a wall: out-of-catchment qualified children can still win the remaining places on test score. If you are close to the edge, check your exact distance with the school or the council's tool., measured exactly as the policy does — but check your address if you are near the boundary.
See the catchment area on the GrammarBound mapTwo qualified children — the one inside the 6.5 miles ranks higher.
Both children have reached the qualifying standard of 220. Child A lives within 6.5 miles of the school, so ranks above Child B, who lives further away — even if Child B scored higher in the 11+. Score only separates children within the same criterion.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your child met the qualifying standard but was offered a lower-preference school, they are placed on Caistor's waiting list (unless you were offered a higher preference). The list is held in oversubscription-criteria order — not by how long you have waited — so a higher-priority later applicant can move above them. Lincolnshire County Council keeps the list until 1 September of the admitting year, after which the school maintains it.
Appeal
You can appeal if a place is refused, provided you named Caistor on your application form. The school's Board of Trustees administers independent appeals; an independent panel hears the appeal and its decision is binding. A child who did not reach the qualifying standard of 220 can only be admitted on appeal if the panel accepts they are of grammar-school ability. Appealing does not affect your position on the waiting list.
Joining Year 12 — external students welcome.
Caistor's sixth form admits students from other schools alongside its own Year 11. The grade floor is grade 4 in GCSE Maths and English, with four further GCSEs at grade 5 or above.
Grade 4 in Maths and English, four more GCSEs at grade 5+, and grade 6 in each A-level subject.
The general requirement is at least grade 4 in GCSE Mathematics and GCSE English (Language or Literature), together with four further GCSE passes at grade 5 or above. On top of that, for each A level your child wants to study they should usually have grade 6 or above in that subject at GCSE (BTEC Engineering aside). The same requirements apply to Caistor's own Year 11 and to external applicants.
Apply direct to the school — internal students continue automatically.
Students continuing from Caistor's own Year 11 progress automatically once they meet the grade requirements; external students apply directly to the school for the remaining places. Contact the Head of Sixth Form for an application form and to arrange a visit.
See caistorgrammar.com for the sixth form entry booklet and subject entry requirements.