Apply to Ilford County High School, in plain English.
Ilford County High is a heavily oversubscribed selective boys' grammar in Barkingside — around 570 families named it for 2025 entry, for 180 Year 7 places. Boys must reach the Redbridge 11+ consortium test's minimum standardised score of 104, after which places are filled in rank order of score, with priority to boys living in the shared 11+ Common Catchment Area. Register your son for the test via Redbridge's 11+ page by 15 June 2026 — separately from, and months before, the October CAF 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.
You register for the 11+ test by 15 June 2026 — long before the CAF.
Ilford County High shares the Redbridge 11+ selection test (set by GL Assessment) with Woodford County High. Registration opens 1 May 2026 and closes 15 June 2026 — months before, and separate from, the October Common Application Form. The test is provisionally sat on Friday 18 September 2026. Miss the registration deadline and there is no route to a place for 2027 entry.
This is a score-led school — but with a real catchment.
Every applicant must reach the minimum threshold score of 104; below that, a boy is not added to the ranked list at all. Above it, places are filled by total standardised score in rank order — but boys living in the 11+ Common Catchment Area are ranked ahead of boys living outside it. A quarter of places (45) are set aside for Pupil Premium boys by score.
The catchment is the whole of Redbridge and Waltham Forest.
The shared Common Catchment Area covers the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest. Redbridge advises that only children living in this area have been admitted in the last ten years — so in practice the catchment is the effective boundary, even though out-of-area boys can be considered if places remain. Your son must live at the qualifying address on the CAF deadline, 31 October 2026.
Four steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Registering for the Redbridge 11+ test (step 1) closes on 15 June 2026 — months before the CAF deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as applying for the school.
If more boys reach the standard than there are places, these 4 criteria decide.
Boys with an EHCP naming the school are admitted first, within the 180. Everyone else who reaches the minimum threshold score of 104 is then placed in the order below. Within every criterion, boys are ranked by their total standardised test score. A tie is broken by the shortest safe walking distance to the school's main entrance, then by random allocation. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Boys in council care, or who were in care before being adopted (including from state care outside England), come first — provided they reached the qualifying threshold score of 104 in the 11+ test. Tell the council about looked-after status when you apply.
What the document says: A "looked after child" or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order, including those who appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted. A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989).
In plain English: A quarter of the places — up to 45 — are reserved for boys eligible for the Pupil Premium, ranked by test score and regardless of where they live. You claim this when you apply for the grammar schools under this criterion; the council checks that your son was entitled to the Pupil Premium (including Ever6) in Year 5. This band sits above the catchment criteria, so a Pupil Premium boy from anywhere who passes is ranked here first.
What the document says: Places will be offered to 45 (25%) children who are entitled to the pupil premium (eligibility checks will be carried out to ascertain those who were eligible for pupil premium, including Ever6, on the date the application was made), ranked according to the total standardised score in overall order of merit.
In plain English: This is how most boys get in. After looked-after and Pupil Premium places, the remaining places go to the highest-scoring boys living in the Common Catchment Area (the boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest), in strict rank order. There is no closer/further sub-zone within the area — every in-area boy competes on the same combined test score.
What the document says: Other children living in the Common Catchment Area, ranked according to the total standardised score in overall order of merit.
In plain English: Boys living outside Redbridge and Waltham Forest are only considered once every in-area request has been met. In practice this almost never happens — Redbridge advises that only children living in the Common Catchment Area have been admitted to the grammar schools in the last ten years. An out-of-area boy still needs to pass the test and be ranked by score, but should treat a place as very unlikely.
What the document says: Children living outside the Common Catchment Area, ranked according to the total standardised score in overall order of merit. If parents live outside the Common Catchment Area, consideration for a place will be given after all the requests from those within the Common Catchment Area have been met.
A real boundary — two whole boroughs.
Ilford County High shares its 11+ Common Catchment Area with Woodford County High. It covers the London Boroughs of Redbridge and Waltham Forest — so Ilford, Woodford, Wanstead, Barkingside and Chigwell-side addresses, plus Walthamstow, Leyton, Leytonstone and Chingford, all fall inside. In-area boys who pass are ranked ahead of out-of-area boys (after the Pupil Premium band). Because Redbridge advises that only in-area children have been admitted in the last ten years, the catchment is effectively the boundary, even though it is technically a priority rather than a hard cut-off.
Distance itself is only a tiebreaker: where two boys have the same score at the cut-off, the place goes to the boy living closer to the school's main entrance on Fremantle Road, measured as the shortest safe walking distance using the council's computerised Geographical Information System, then by random allocation.
See the catchment area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: in the race. Outside: a place is very unlikely.
Boy A lives in Walthamstow — inside the Common Catchment Area — so once he passes the test he is ranked by score for the bulk of the places (criterion 3), or for a Pupil Premium place if eligible. Boy B lives in Romford (Havering), outside the area, so he is only considered if places are left after every in-area request is met — which, on Redbridge's own advice, has not happened in ten years. Both must reach the threshold score of 104; the difference is the catchment.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your son isn't offered a place, the council holds a ranked waiting list of boys who reached the threshold score. When a place comes free, it goes to the next highest-scoring qualifying boy under the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served, and with no need to re-sit the test. The list runs until 31 December 2027; after that you must submit an online in-year application to stay on it. Note the grammar schools do not admit into Years 10 or 11.
Priority on the waiting list is not based on the date you applied or asked to join.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the Admission Authority's decision not to offer a place. Appeals are heard by an independent panel; you'll be told the deadline to lodge yours when you're notified of the decision. A repeat appeal in the same year, for the same school, is only heard if your circumstances have materially changed. Appealing does not affect your son's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 at Ilford County High.
The sixth form is for boys. Internal Year 11 boys who meet the academic requirements move up automatically; there are at least 30 external places for boys from other schools, administered by the school on the council's behalf.
The grade floor.
Applicants need at least eight GCSEs with an average (capped) GCSE point score of 6 or higher, including a minimum of six GCSEs at grade 6+ with English Language and Maths among them. Subject-specific requirements for individual A-level courses sit on top of this floor and are published each year on the school website.
Apply direct to the school.
External applications go directly to Ilford County High through the school's online system (Applicaa) — not through the CAF. Offers are conditional and confirmed on GCSE results day. If external places are oversubscribed, boys are ranked by predicted/capped GCSE points; ties are decided in order of looked-after status → exceptional social or medical need → sibling at the school → shortest straight-line distance. Applicants are not interviewed.