Apply to King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth, in plain English.
King Edward VI Grammar School (KEVIGS) is a co-educational selective academy in Louth, Lincolnshire. Your child qualifies by reaching a standardised score of 220 in the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ — the county-wide standard, designed to select the top 25% by ability; it is a pass mark, not a ranking. Siblings, and then qualified children who live in the traditional catchment area or attend a named feeder primary, take priority — around 230 children apply for its 145 places — so register for the test by 31 March 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 — siblings and the catchment then decide priority.
KEVIGS uses the Consortium of Lincolnshire Grammar Schools' 11+ — two papers (verbal and non-verbal reasoning), sat at the school in September 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 145 places, it is the oversubscription criteria — siblings first, then the catchment-and-feeder criterion — that decide. The test score is then used only to rank children within an oversubscribed criterion.
Priority goes to children in the traditional catchment area or at a named feeder primary.
After children in care and siblings, the next group is qualified children who are in Year 6 and either live in KEVIGS's traditional catchment area (Lincolnshire County Council's free-bus travel zone — the Wolds, east of Louth and north to Holton le Clay) or attend one of the school's named feeder primary schools. The two count equally, so a child at a named feeder primary qualifies for this priority even if they live outside the bus zone. Any qualified child can still apply from anywhere; out-of-area children are ranked by test score for the remaining places.
Registering for the test and applying for the place are two separate jobs — with two separate deadlines.
Register your child for the Lincolnshire 11+ by 31 March 2026 (registration opens in January of Year 5), through the Admissions section of the KEVIGS website — sitting the test is not an application. You then have to name KEVIGS 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 by 31 March, sit the papers in September, apply by 31 October.
The 11+ registration closes on 31 March 2026, well before the autumn term. Put the registration date in your calendar now — it is the easiest one to miss.
If too many children qualify, these five criteria decide — in order.
Children with an EHCP naming KEVIGS 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: Looked after children (LAC) and all previously looked after children (see note 1).
In plain English: Qualified children who will have a brother or sister still attending KEVIGS on 1 September of the year they start come next. Siblings include birth, step, foster and adopted siblings. The school prioritises siblings to keep rural families together, given the area's poor transport links. If this group is oversubscribed, children are ranked by their test score.
What the document says: Siblings of children who will still be attending King Edward VI Grammar School when the child is due to start (see note 3).
In plain English: Where twins (or other multiple births) have both reached the qualifying standard for the same year of entry, they are kept together in this criterion so that one is not separated from the other.
What the document says: Twins [or multiple births] who have both passed the test for the same year of entry.
In plain English: Qualified children in Year 6 who either live within KEVIGS's traditional catchment area — Lincolnshire County Council's designated free-bus travel zone covering the Wolds, east of Louth and north to Holton le Clay — or attend one of the school's named feeder primary schools (such as Kidgate, Lacey Gardens, St Michael's, Market Rasen, Holton le Clay and the Wolds villages). The two routes count equally. This is usually the criterion in which places run out, and if it is oversubscribed children are ranked by their test score.
What the document says: Eligible children who are in Year 6 and live within the traditional catchment area or are attending one of the named primary schools (see Appendix A+B). If there is oversubscription within this category, applicants who have passed the test will be ranked according to their test scores.
In plain English: Any places still left go to all other qualified children — those who live outside the catchment area and do not attend a named feeder primary. The school expects roughly a third of places each year to go to this group, many of them children from North-East Lincolnshire. Here the test score does the ranking, highest first, with the council's nearest-home-address test and then an independent lottery breaking ties.
What the document says: Remaining candidates will be ranked according to their test scores.
A traditional catchment area — plus named feeder primaries.
KEVIGS does not use a distance circle. Its priority area is the traditional catchment area — Lincolnshire County Council's designated free-bus travel zone, covering the Wolds, east of Louth and north to Holton le Clay — together with a list of named feeder primary schools across Louth and the Wolds villages. Once your child reaches the qualifying standard of 220, a child who lives in that area or attends a named feeder primary is placed above a child who does neither, whatever their test scores. The two routes count equally, so families just outside the bus zone whose child attends a feeder primary still get the priority. A test score above 220 makes no difference unless a single criterion is oversubscribed — and then it ranks children within that one criterion.
The shaded area on our map is built from the school's named feeder villagesNamed feeder villagesThe official catchment (the council's free-bus zone) is published only as a prospectus map, so our boundary is the real parish union of the feeder villages KEVIGS names in Appendix B — a close, buildable stand-in. It is a priority area, not a wall: out-of-area qualified children can still win the remaining places on test score. If you are near the edge, check with the school., the closest faithful boundary to the council's free-bus zone — but check your address and primary school with the school if you are near the edge.
See the catchment area on the GrammarBound mapTwo qualified children — the one in the catchment-or-feeder group ranks higher.
Both children have reached the qualifying standard of 220. Child A lives in the catchment area (or attends a named feeder primary), so ranks above Child B, who does neither — 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.
Reserve list
If your child met the qualifying standard but was offered a lower-preference school, they are placed on KEVIGS's reserve 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 the end of August, after which the school maintains it until 31 December of the admitting year.
Appeal
You can appeal if a place is refused, provided you named KEVIGS on your application form. Appeals are heard by an Independent Appeal Panel organised by the County Council's Legal Services, 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 reserve list.
Joining Year 12 — external students welcome.
KEVIGS sixth form admits up to 50 external students alongside its own Year 11. The grade floor is grade 4 in GCSE Maths and English, with grade 6 in each subject your child wants to study at A level.
Grade 4 in Maths and English, plus grade 6 in each A-level subject.
The general requirement is a minimum of grade 6 in each subject your child wishes to study at A level, plus grade 4 in both GCSE English and GCSE Mathematics. The same standard applies to KEVIGS's own Year 11 and to external applicants; some courses set higher subject grades, listed in the Sixth Form Course Guide.
Apply direct to the school — internal students continue automatically.
Students continuing from KEVIGS's own Year 11 progress automatically once they meet the grade requirements; external students apply directly to the school for up to 50 places. If the sixth form is oversubscribed, places go to children in care, then those with SEN, then the school's own Year 11, then siblings, then external students ranked by average best-8 GCSE point score.
See kevigs.org/sixth-form for the course guide and subject entry requirements.