Apply to Dr Challoner's High, in plain English.
Everything a parent needs to know about a Year 7 place at Dr Challoner's High School, Little Chalfont, for September 2027 — the Bucks 11+, the score of 121 your daughter needs to qualify, who gets priority when the school is full, and what to do if she misses out. The legal version is one click away.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch Buckinghamshire parents out.
Your daughter needs 121 on the Bucks 11+.
Dr Challoner's High only admits girls who score at least 121 on the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test — two papers covering verbal, non-verbal and maths reasoning. Score 121 or more and she qualifies; below it, you can ask for a Selection Review.
You name the school on your council form.
Qualifying is not the same as applying. You must also list Dr Challoner's High as a preference with your home council by 31 October 2026 — even if you live outside Buckinghamshire.
Catchment, then distance, decide.
If more girls qualify than there are places, the school looks at the catchment area (Little Chalfont, Amersham, Chesham, the Chalfonts, and the rest) and then straight-line distance. A qualified girl living outside catchment can still get a place once those rules are exhausted.
Five steps, spread over a year.
From registering for the Bucks 11+ to your daughter starting Year 7. Step 3 is the deadline that catches families out — miss it and the rest doesn't matter.
Qualify on the 11+ first — then these 8 rules decide.
Every girl who scores 121 or more is eligible. If more girls qualify than there are places, the school works down these rules in order. Tap any rule to see the document's exact wording.
In plain English: Girls in the care of a council, or who were in care before being adopted, get top priority. This also covers girls adopted from state care outside England.
What the document says: "Looked After, Previously Looked After, Internationally Adopted and Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After girls (LAC/Post-LAC, IAC, or IAPLAC)." A looked-after child is one in the care of, or housed by, a local authority under Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989.
In plain English: If your daughter qualifies, lives inside the catchment area and gets the Pupil Premium (which includes the Service Pupil Premium), she comes next. You'll need to declare this on the Supplementary Information Form.
What the document says: "Girls in receipt of Pupil Premium, including Service Pupil Premium who qualify and live in the Catchment Area of the school on or before 1st April in the calendar year preceding the year of entry." Pupil Premium covers children eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years. There is also a separate reserved allocation — see rule 3.
In plain English: Within the 180 places, up to 12 are held for Pupil Premium (or looked-after) girls who live in catchment and score at least 115 — slightly below the usual 121 mark. If fewer than 12 are taken, up to six of those go to similar girls scoring 110–114 whose score wouldn't otherwise qualify them.
What the document says: "Within the existing PAN of 180, in Year 7 up to 12 places to girls, resident in the Catchment Area, who are in receipt of Pupil Premium … or who are LAC/Post-LAC, IAC, or IAPLAC, at the time of application, and who have achieved a standardised score of at least 115. If not all 12 places are filled, then up to six of these 12 places will be made available to girls … who have achieved a standardised score of between 110–114 … and whose score would not otherwise qualify them for admission."
In plain English: A qualified girl whose parent has worked at the school for at least two years, or was hired into a hard-to-fill role. Note this sits above the sibling rule here — unlike the boys' school, where siblings come first.
What the document says: "Daughters of staff who work at the school (teaching and support) where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application for admission to the school is made and/or where the member of staff is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage."
In plain English: All other qualified girls who live inside the catchment area. To count, you must have lived at the address continuously since 1 April 2026. Within this rule, places go to the closest addresses first.
What the document says: "Girls living in the Catchment Area of the school on or before 1st April in the calendar year preceding the academic year of entry." The applicant must have been resident at their Normal Home Address continuously from or before that date. See the "How distance works" section below for exactly how distance is measured.
In plain English: A qualified girl who will have a sister at Dr Challoner's High (in Years 7–12) when she starts gets priority here.
What the document says: "Sisters of girls who are on the roll of the school at the time allocations are made and who will be on the roll of the school at the time of the proposed admission." A sister shares one or more parent, or any child who permanently lives at the same address and for whom the parent has parental responsibility. The older sister must be on roll both when places are allocated and when your daughter would start.
In plain English: A qualified girl with an exceptional medical or social need that only this school can meet. You must supply independent professional evidence (for example from a doctor or Education Welfare Officer) with your application, and a panel decides.
What the document says: "Girls who have exceptional medical or social needs which can only be met at this school." A panel of independent education professionals considers each application on receipt of evidence from the parent showing why this school is the most suitable.
In plain English: Any remaining qualified girl, wherever she lives, ranked by straight-line distance. This is how an out-of-catchment girl who scored 121 can still win a place.
What the document says: "Once the above rules have been applied, then any further places will be offered in distance order using straight line distance between the family's Normal Home Address and the main entrance to the school on Cokes Lane." If two girls are exactly the same distance, a random selection by ballot supervised by an independent person decides.
A priority area, then a straight line.
Dr Challoner's High has a published catchment area — broadly Little Chalfont, Amersham, Chesham, Great Missenden, Prestwood, the Chalfonts (St Giles and St Peter) and Gerrards Cross, the same south-east Chilterns geography shared with Dr Challoner's Grammar and Chesham Grammar. Living inside it gives your daughter priority in rules 2, 3, 5 and 6 above. It is not a hard boundary: a qualified girl from outside catchment can still get a place under rule 8.
Where distance is used as a tie-break, the school measures a single straight line between your normal home address and the main entrance on Cokes Lane. Routes, bus times and travel difficulty are not considered. To count as in-catchment you must have lived at the address continuously since 1 April 2026. You can check whether an address falls inside the line on the Bucks address checkerBuckinghamshire address checkerThe council's online tool that tells you which grammar-school catchment areas a postcode falls into..
See the catchment on the GrammarBound mapHow two addresses get ranked.
Both girls scored 121, both live in catchment, neither has a sister at the school. Inside rule 5, House A's straight-line distance to the Cokes Lane entrance is shorter — so it ranks higher. If two addresses tie exactly, an independently-supervised random ballot decides.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
From National Offer DayNational Offer DayThe single day around 1 March on which every English council releases secondary-school offers. You hear by email or letter., Buckinghamshire Council runs the waiting list through the County Scheme, and the school takes it over later in the year. It is re-ranked every time a child joins, using the same rules — so a later applicant in a higher rule can move above you. There is no simple "queue", and no priority for the date you applied.
The list is held until the end of August. In-year vacancies after that are handled under the school's Immediate In-Year and Late Transfer procedures (curriculum tests in English and maths).
Appeal
Once places are allocated, you can appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if your daughter was refused because the school is full. Your refusal letter sets the deadline and grounds. A panel hearing won't normally re-examine whether your daughter was capable of qualifying — that belongs to the Selection Review (see below).
Appealing does not affect your waiting-list position.
If you believe your daughter would have reached 121 but for particular circumstances during the test, you can ask Buckinghamshire Council for a Selection Review. A panel of serving headteachers — taking advice from an educational psychologist where needed — decides before places are allocated. If they deem her qualified, she is eligible for any of the 13 Bucks grammars. Girls with an EHCP naming the school are admitted under separate statutory rules.
A separate route in at 16.
Year 7 is for girls who pass the 11+, but the Sixth Form also takes up to 40 external girls each year (plus up to six more for disadvantaged applicants), on a different application and a GCSE grade floor.
The grade floor.
A minimum of 48 points from your best eight GCSEs (where grade 9 = 9 points, grade 8 = 8, and so on), including at least grade 5 in both English (Language or Literature) and Maths. On top of that, each A-level subject has its own minimum entry grade, published in the Sixth Form prospectus.
Apply direct to the school.
Apply to the school directly, with a window that opens in the autumn of Year 11. If qualified external applicants outnumber places, the school applies the same priority order — looked-after, in-catchment Pupil Premium, then the rest — before ranking on predicted GCSE aggregate score, provided your chosen subjects can be offered.