Apply to The Queen Elizabeth's High School, Gainsborough, in plain English.
QEHS is a co-educational grammar school in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, and one of the 15 schools that share the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+. Your child qualifies by reaching a fixed standardised-score standard of 220 across the verbal and non-verbal reasoning papers — it is a pass mark, not a league table. There is no named catchment, but children living within 9 miles of the school by road ("local children") take priority for most places, so register for the test by 20 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 — it does not order them.
The Lincolnshire Consortium 11+ is two papers — verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. The standardised scores are added together, and a child needs an aggregate of 220 (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 for QEHS. If too many qualified children apply, it is the oversubscription criteria — chiefly distance by road — that decide, not who scored highest.
There is no named catchment — but a 9-mile "local children" boundary by road decides most places.
QEHS has no list of feeder schools, parishes or postcode tiers. Any qualified child can apply. But after looked-after children, siblings and children of staff, the next priority goes to "local children" — those whose home is 9 miles or less from the school by driving distance. Within that group, the children living closest by road rank first. Children beyond 9 miles can still be admitted, but only after local children, and ranked by their 11+ score.
Registering for the test and applying for the place are two separate jobs — with two separate deadlines.
Register your child for the 11+ by 20 March 2026 (when they are in Year 5) — sitting the test is not an application. You then have to name QEHS 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 in spring, sit the test in autumn, apply by 31 October.
Registration for the test closes in March, six months before the papers are sat. Put the registration date in your calendar now — it is the easiest one to miss.
If too many children qualify, these six criteria decide — in order.
Children with an EHCP naming QEHS are admitted before these criteria apply. All other qualifying children are placed in the highest criterion that applies to them. Tap any criterion to read the detail.
In plain English: 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 adopted from state care outside England), get the highest priority — provided they have reached the qualifying standard. Where they live does not matter.
What the document says: Looked after children and all previously looked after children, 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.
In plain English: Children with a brother or sister already on roll at QEHS at the time of application come next. Full, half and step-siblings, and legally adopted siblings, all count. There is no postcode restriction. If this group is oversubscribed, driving distance breaks the tie — closest first.
What the document says: Children with a brother or sister on roll at Queen Elizabeth's High School at the time of application.
In plain English: Children of a parent employed at the school come next, provided the child has reached the qualifying standard. If more apply than there are places in this group, driving distance decides — closest first.
What the document says: Children of staff employed at the school.
In plain English: "Local children" are those whose home is 9 miles or less from QEHS measured by driving distance (not in a straight line). This is the criterion that decides most places. Within the group, the children living closest by road rank first. If two children are tied for the last place, the higher 11+ aggregate score wins; if still tied, the shorter straight-line distance, then an independent lottery.
What the document says: The school is 9 miles or less from the child's home address by driving distance. Such children will be referred to as 'local children'. Priority will be given to the child living closest to the school by driving distance.
In plain English: A qualified child living more than 9 miles from school who is registered as Ever6FSM — entitled to or having had free school meals at any point in the last six years — is given priority ahead of other out-of-area children. This is a deliberate boost for disadvantaged children outside the 9-mile local zone.
What the document says: The child is registered as Ever6FSM at the time of application.
In plain English: Any remaining places go to qualified children living more than 9 miles from school by road. Here — and only here — the 11+ aggregate score is used to rank: the highest scores are offered places first. Ties are broken by driving distance, then straight-line distance, then an independent lottery.
What the document says: The school is more than 9 miles from the child's home address by driving distance. Children will be ranked by their aggregate standardised 11+ score in decreasing order, with the highest score being awarded a place first.
No named catchment — but a 9-mile "local" ring by road decides most places.
QEHS does not have a designated catchment area of named towns or parishes. Instead, once your child reaches the qualifying standard of 220, the key question is whether home is within 9 miles of the school by road. Local children (inside the ring) rank above almost everyone outside it, and within the ring the closest by road come first. Children beyond 9 miles can still be admitted — but only after local children, and then ranked by 11+ score. A test score above 220 makes no difference for a local child.
The 9-mile boundary is measured by driving distanceDriving distanceQEHS measures home-to-school distance along the road network, not in a straight line. The circle on our map is a straight-line approximation of the 9-mile road boundary, so it slightly over-covers — treat it as a guide to the local-priority zone, not an exact edge., not in a straight line, so the circle on our map is indicative only.
See the indicative local zone on the GrammarBound mapTwo qualified local children, no sibling link — the closer one by road ranks higher.
Both children have reached the qualifying standard of 220, both live within the 9-mile local ring, and neither has a sibling at the school. Child A is 4 miles away by road — they rank above Child B at 8 miles. Test score above 220 makes no difference inside the local ring; only road distance counts.
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 QEHS's reserve list automatically. The list is held in oversubscription-criteria order — not by how long you have waited — so a closer late applicant can move above them. The list is the LA's property until the end of August, then is kept by the school through Years 7–9.
Appeal
You can appeal if a place is refused on non-qualification, oversubscription, or both — provided you named QEHS on your application form. Appeals are organised independently by Legal Services at Lincolnshire County Council, and the panel's decision is binding. Appealing does not affect your position on the reserve list.
Joining Year 12 — around 35 external places.
QEHS's sixth form admits students from other schools alongside its own Year 11. The grade floor is a Best-8 GCSE points total of at least 42, including English and Maths, with higher grades needed in the specific subjects your child wants to study.
At least 42 points across the best 8 GCSEs — including English and Maths — plus subject grades for each A level.
The general requirement is a GCSE total point score of at least 42 points across the best 8 subjects, which must include GCSE English and Mathematics. On top of that, each A level needs its own subject grade — typically grade 6 in a subject with a direct GCSE equivalent, with at least grade 5 in GCSE English Language and Mathematics. Anyone wanting to study four A levels needs eight GCSEs at grade 7 or higher.
Apply through Applicaa — internal students continue automatically.
The external Year 12 admission number is 35, over and above students continuing from QEHS's own Year 11. Internal and external applicants meet the same academic criteria; external students apply through the Applicaa system, providing predicted grades and a school reference, with conditional offers confirmed once GCSE results are in.
See qehs.lincs.sch.uk for the sixth form prospectus and subject entry requirements.