Apply to Denmark Road High School, in plain English.
Denmark Road is a selective girls' grammar in Kingsholm, Gloucester that draws around 525 applicants a year for its 150 Year 7 places, all decided through the shared Gloucestershire G7 11+ — one set of GL Assessment papers used by all seven Gloucestershire grammar schools. Every girl must first reach the qualifying standard; girls living in Gloucester postcodes GL1, GL2, GL3 and GL4 are then given priority over applicants from further afield — and can qualify at a slightly lower bar. Register by 26 June 2026, separately from and months before the October council application.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
You register for the G7 11+ directly with the school — by 26 June 2026.
Denmark Road does not run a test of its own. It uses the shared Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Admission Test — one set of GL Assessment papers covering verbal, numerical and non-verbal reasoning, sat by all seven Gloucestershire grammar schools on the same Saturday. You register on the Denmark Road admissions page; registration opens 18 May 2026 and closes at 12 noon on 26 June 2026. Your daughter sits the test once, and you can ask for her result to be shared with the other Gloucestershire grammars. Registering for the test is separate from naming Denmark Road on your council form — you must do both.
Where you live matters — Gloucester GL1–GL4 girls get a real advantage.
Passing the test gets your daughter into the ranking. But girls living in Gloucester postcodes GL1, GL2, GL3 and GL4 are given priority over applicants from outside that area, and — uniquely — they can secure a place at the lower Priority Standard as well as the full Qualifying Standard. A girl outside GL1–GL4 must reach the higher Qualifying Standard and then competes only for the places left over. Living inside GL1–GL4 is the single biggest factor after the test itself.
Pupil Premium girls get priority — and you must send evidence before test day.
Qualifying girls entitled to the Pupil Premium are placed ahead of the general pool, with GL1–GL4 Pupil Premium girls taken first and others used to top up to the national Pupil Premium percentage of the 150 places. Evidence of Pupil Premium entitlement must reach the test centre before test day — it can't be added later. A sibling already at the school, and being a child of staff, also carry priority (see criteria 4–7 below).
Four steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Registering for the G7 11+ (step 1) closes on 26 June 2026 — months before the council application deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as naming Denmark Road on your council application; you must do both.
If more girls pass than there are places, this order decides.
Girls with an EHCP naming Denmark Road are admitted first, within the 150. Everyone else must reach the required standard in the G7 test; qualifying girls are then placed in the order below — Pupil Premium first, then staff and Gloucester GL1–GL4 girls, with the highest scorers offered first within each group. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A girl whose Education, Health and Care Plan names Denmark Road must be admitted before the oversubscription criteria are applied, even if the school is full. These places come out of the 150.
What the document says: Children who have an EHCP which names the School will be allocated a place even if the School is full. Where a child with an EHCP is allocated a place the number of available places will reduce accordingly.
In plain English: A girl who is in local-authority care, or who left care through adoption, a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order, is the first oversubscription category once she has met the Qualifying Standard.
What the document says: i) Looked after or previously looked after children as defined below who achieve the Qualifying Standard.
In plain English: The first slice of Pupil Premium places goes to qualifying girls who are registered for the Pupil Premium and live in Gloucester postcodes GL1, GL2, GL3 or GL4, ranked by test score. The number admitted across the Pupil Premium criteria is capped at the national Pupil Premium percentage of the 150 places (around 25%). You must send evidence to the test centre before test day.
What the document says: ii) Applicants who are registered for Pupil Premium who achieve the Qualifying Standard and live in postcodes GL1, GL2, GL3 or GL4 … ranked by test score. The maximum number who may be admitted under this category is the number equivalent to the national pupil premium percentage of the school's PAN.
In plain English: If the GL1–GL4 Pupil Premium girls don't fill the Pupil Premium quota, qualifying Pupil Premium girls from outside GL1–GL4 are taken next, by score, until that percentage is met. Any Pupil Premium girls not placed here are still considered under the staff, GL1–GL4 and sibling criteria below.
What the document says: iii) If fewer than the national pupil premium percentage of the school's PAN are filled by applicants in category ii), offers will be made to applicants attracting the Pupil Premium who achieve the qualifying score and live outside postcodes GL1, GL2, GL3 or GL4, until that percentage is met … ranked by test score.
In plain English: A qualifying girl whose parent or carer is employed by the school on a permanent contract — for two or more years, or recruited to fill a post with a demonstrable skill shortage — is placed in this band. Evidence is sought from the school.
What the document says: iv) Applicants who have achieved the Qualifying Standard and who have a parent/carer who is employed by the school on a permanent contract and who has been employed at the school for 2 or more years or has been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
In plain English: This is the criterion most local families compete under. Girls who live in GL1, GL2, GL3 or GL4 are placed here — and they qualify either by reaching the full Qualifying Standard or the lower Priority Standard (set each year, below the Qualifying Standard but still selective). Within this group, a girl with a sister already at the school is placed first, then the rest are ranked by test score.
What the document says: v) Applicants who have met the Qualifying Standard, or have achieved the Priority Standard, and live within postcodes GL1, GL2, GL3, GL4. … Within the category, applicants will be given priority if they have a sibling at the school; then ranked by their Admission test scores.
In plain English: A qualifying girl who has a sibling on roll at the school — wherever she lives — is placed in this band (above the general pool, below the GL1–GL4 area). Note an in-area girl's sibling priority is already handled within criterion 6; this band catches sibling girls living outside GL1–GL4.
What the document says: vi) Applicants who have met the Qualifying Standard and have a sibling at the School. Applicants in this category will be ranked by test score. (A sibling includes a brother or sister, half-sibling, step-sibling or adopted/fostered child living at the same address.)
In plain English: Whatever places remain after the bands above go to the highest-scoring qualifying girls, wherever they live. For a girl outside GL1–GL4 with no sibling or staff connection, this is the route — and it takes a high score.
What the document says: vii) All other applicants who have achieved the Qualifying Standard will be given priority by rank order of Admission test scores.
A postcode boundary — Gloucester girls get a real head start.
Denmark Road's catchment is not a radius but a defined area: Gloucester postcode districts GL1, GL2, GL3 and GL4 — the city centre, Kingsholm, Barton, Tredworth, Longlevens, Quedgeley, Tuffley, Hucclecote, Churchdown, Brockworth, Matson and Abbeydale. Girls living in this area are placed ahead of applicants from outside it, and — crucially — they can qualify at the lower Priority Standard as well as the full Qualifying Standard. A girl outside GL1–GL4 has to reach the higher bar and then competes only for the places left after the in-area girls are placed. Score sets your daughter's rank; living inside GL1–GL4 lowers the bar she has to clear and lifts her up the order.
Distance only breaks a final tie: where girls are otherwise equal for the last place, priority is decided by random allocation supervised independently — the school does not use distance as a general ranking. (The county measures home-to-school distance in a straight line, by OS Address Point, only where a tie remains.) A girl living closer but outside GL1–GL4 is still behind every in-area girl.
See the GL1–GL4 area on the GrammarBound mapInside GL1–GL4: a lower bar. Outside: a high score only.
Girl A lives in Gloucester (GL1), inside GL1–GL4, so she can qualify at the lower Priority Standard and is placed ahead of out-of-area girls. Girl B lives in Cheltenham (GL50), outside the area: she must reach the higher Qualifying Standard and then competes only for the places left over. Distance only breaks a final tie — it never moves an out-of-area girl ahead of an in-area girl.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
A girl who met the Qualifying Standard but isn't offered a place is held on a waiting list, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served. When a place comes free below the 150, it goes to the highest-ranked girl on the list. The list is held for as long as girls are eligible for entry (through Years 7 to 11). A girl who didn't register for the main test but goes through the council's waiting-list process can sit a Post-Allocation Test after 1 March to qualify.
A move into GL1–GL4 after the closing date is taken into account on the waiting list, with documentary evidence of the new permanent address.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the decision not to offer a place, exercisable once places have been offered. Appeals are heard by an Independent Appeal Panel whose decision binds both sides; appealing does not affect your daughter's waiting-list position. A girl who has no test score at the appeal stage can take an Appeals Test first, held after the appeals deadline and before the appeals are heard.
Joining Year 12 at Denmark Road.
Denmark Road has a co-educational sixth form that admits external students alongside its own Year 11 girls. The Year 7 criteria — the test and the GL1–GL4 area — do not apply: sixth form entry is decided on GCSE results. External applicants apply directly to the school, not through the council.
The grade floor.
There are two pathways. The four-A-level route (DRHS4) asks for seven GCSEs at grades 9–7; the three-A-level route (DRHS3) asks for six GCSEs at grades 9–6. Both require at least grade 5 in GCSE English and Mathematics, plus the subject-specific grades set for each chosen A level. Conditional offers are based on projected grades and confirmed against actual results in August.
Apply direct to the school.
A minimum of 35 external students are admitted into Year 12 each year, and the school may admit above that where it would not prejudice efficient education. Conditional offers are made on projected GCSEs; you confirm your place by submitting your results within a week of GCSE results day. Applications go straight to the school — see the sixth form admissions page for the current form and subject requirements.