Apply to Clitheroe Royal Grammar School, in plain English.
CRGS is a mixed selective grammar that fills its 180 Year 7 places through its own 11+ entrance examination. Children must first reach the required standard; if more qualify than there are places, those living in the immediate Ribble Valley catchment are ranked ahead of the wider Lancashire catchment, and test score decides within each tier. Register directly with the school by 4 September 2026 — separately from, and weeks before, the October Common Application Form deadline.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
Register for the CRGS 11+ by 4 September 2026 — directly with the school.
Lancashire runs no county-wide test, so CRGS sets and marks its own 11+. Your child sits two age-weighted standardised papers in English and Mathematics (set by Future Stories Community Enterprise, FSCE) on Saturday 26 September 2026 at the Chatburn Road site. You must complete the school's own online application form by 12 noon, Friday 4 September 2026. This is completely separate from the Common Application Form you send your home council.
Reach the required standard, then the immediate Ribble Valley catchment ranks first.
Children must reach the required standard in the test (a pass/fail bar set each year — there is no published numeric score). Among those who reach it, children whose home is in the immediate catchment (the named Ribble Valley civil parishes) are ranked ahead of the wider catchment (twelve other Lancashire districts plus Blackburn with Darwen), which in turn ranks ahead of everyone else. Within every tier, places go in order of test score.
Living outside the catchment does not rule your child out.
The catchment confers priority, not exclusion. CRGS has always drawn pupils "not only from the catchment area, but from other places within travelling distance" — children living outside both tiers (Categories 6–7) are admitted if places remain. A high enough score wins a place from beyond the catchment.
Five steps — the first deadline is September, not October.
Test registration (step 1) closes at noon on 4 September 2026 — weeks before the Common Application Form deadline that catches most families out. Miss it and there is no route to a place at CRGS for 2027 entry until after National Offer Day.
If more children qualify than there are places, these 7 criteria decide.
Only children who reach the required standard in the entrance test are considered at all. If more qualify than the 180 places, they are placed in the order below — and within every category they are ranked strictly by their total test score. An exact tie on score is settled by straight-line distance to the school's Chatburn Road entrance, then a random draw. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Looked-after and previously looked-after children come first, as long as they reach the required standard. This covers children in council care, and those adopted from care (including children who left state care outside England through adoption, a child arrangement order or special guardianship).
What the document says: Category 1 — "Looked after children or a child who was previously looked after, but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangement order, or special guardianship order ... (see Appendix 1, Note 7)." A child with an EHC plan naming CRGS who reaches the required standard is offered a place before the oversubscription criteria are applied.
In plain English: Children living in the immediate catchment (the named Ribble Valley civil parishes) who attract Pupil PremiumPupil PremiumChildren eligible for Pupil Premium funding, or who have ever qualified for Free School Meals. Tell the school in writing before the entrance examination. funding via Free School Meals come next, ranked by test score.
What the document says: Category 2 — "Candidates whose permanent residence is within the immediate catchment area and who qualify for Pupil Premium* funding at the time of registering to take the Entrance Examination." The footnote adds: "If a candidate qualifies for Pupil Premium funding or has ever qualified for Free School Meals, parents should inform the school in writing, prior to the Entrance Examination."
In plain English: Children whose permanent home is inside the immediate catchment — the 42 named civil parishes of the Borough of Ribble Valley (Clitheroe, Whalley, Sabden, Chatburn, Slaidburn, Gisburn, Read and the rest) — ranked by test score. This is the criterion that places most in-area children, and it sits above the wider-catchment and out-of-area children below.
What the document says: Category 3 — "Candidates whose permanent residence is within the immediate catchment area." Appendix 2 lists the immediate catchment as the 42 named Civil Parishes of the Borough of Ribble Valley.
In plain English: The same Pupil-Premium (Free School Meals) priority, now for children living in the wider catchment — the twelve other Lancashire districts plus Blackburn with Darwen — ranked by test score.
What the document says: Category 4 — "Candidates whose permanent residence is within the wider catchment area and who qualify for Pupil Premium* funding at the time of registering to take the Entrance Examination." Appendix 3 lists the wider catchment districts.
In plain English: All other children living in the wider catchment who reach the required standard, ranked by test score. The wider catchment is large — the districts of Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley (the parts not in the immediate list, such as Longridge), Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire and Wyre, plus the Blackburn with Darwen unitary authority.
What the document says: Category 5 — "Candidates whose permanent residence is within the wider catchment area." Note: a candidate whose address is in the immediate catchment is not also considered in the wider catchment.
In plain English: Children living outside both catchment tiers who attract Pupil Premium (Free School Meals) funding, ranked by test score — admitted if places remain after Categories 1–5.
What the document says: Category 6 — "Candidates whose permanent residence is outside the catchment area and who qualify for Pupil Premium* funding at the time of registering to take the Entrance Examination."
In plain English: Children who live beyond both catchment tiers and reach the required standard can still be admitted — but only if places remain after Categories 1–6, in order of test score. CRGS has always taken pupils "from other places within travelling distance".
What the document says: Category 7 — "Candidates whose permanent residence is outside the catchment area." Candidates in over-subscription categories 2–7 are ranked by ability as demonstrated in the testing process; an equal-score tie is settled by proximity to the school (Note 4: straight-line distance from the home front door to the Chatburn Road entrance), then a random draw.
Two catchment tiers — not a catchment wall.
This is the bit parents most often get wrong, in both directions. The immediate catchment is the 42 named civil parishes of the Borough of Ribble Valley — Clitheroe, Whalley, Sabden, Chatburn, Slaidburn, Gisburn, Read and the rest. Children there are ranked first (Categories 2–3), ahead of the much larger wider catchment (Categories 4–5) — twelve other Lancashire districts (Burnley, Preston, Lancaster, Pendle, Hyndburn, Chorley, Fylde, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre and the rest) plus Blackburn with Darwen — which in turn ranks ahead of children living anywhere else (Categories 6–7). Within every tier, ranking is by test score.
There is no distance cut-off: distance only breaks an exact tie on score, measured straight-line from your front door to the Chatburn Road entrance. Note that parts of Ribble Valley not in the named-parish list — such as Longridge — fall into the wider tier, not the immediate one. The map shows both tiers as real boundaries.
See the catchment on the GrammarBound mapImmediate parish: ranked first. Wider district: still ahead of the rest.
Pupil A lives in Whalley, an immediate Ribble Valley parish, so a qualifying score places them under Category 3 — ahead of every wider-area and out-of-area child. Pupil B lives in Burnley, in the wider catchment, so they rank under Category 5 — behind the immediate-catchment children, but still ahead of anyone outside the catchment. Both are ranked on test score within their tier; a higher score never loses to a lower one in the same category.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your child passed the entrance examination but wasn't offered a place, they are held on a confidential waiting list, maintained for the academic year of admission (at least to 31 December 2027). When a place comes free it goes to the child ranked highest under the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served — so a later applicant in a higher category or with a higher score can move above you.
The Year 7 waiting list is held by the school until at least 31 December 2027.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place. The appeal form is on the school website, and must be returned within 20 school days of formal notification. Appeals are heard by an independent panel whose decision binds the school, and appealing does not affect your child's waiting-list position.
A separate route in at 16.
Year 7 is the main entry point, but CRGS Sixth Form (at the York Street site) also admits external students — it has a target of 235 students from outside the school joining its own Year 11s each year. External applicants apply direct to the school, not through the council form, and are judged on GCSE achievement.
The grade floor.
The General Entry Requirement is a minimum of four GCSEs at grade 6, including at least grade 4 in both GCSE English Language and Mathematics. Individual A-level courses then set their own higher subject grades, so check the requirement for each subject your child wants to study (published in the Sixth Form Guide).
Apply direct to the school.
External Sixth Form applications go straight to CRGS — not through the Common Application Form. Applicants submit an online form and are invited to an Options Meeting (a one-to-one discussion about A-level choices). Apply by the published closing date; later applications are considered as a separate category if there is over-subscription. See the school's sixth form admissions page for the form and deadline.