Apply to Queen Mary's High School, in plain English.
Queen Mary's High School is a selective girls' grammar in Walsall that fills all 150 Year 7 places in rank order of the West Midlands Grammar Schools Consortium 11+ score — its admission arrangements state plainly that it has no defined catchment area. You register your daughter directly with the school by 26 June 2026, she sits the test on 12 September 2026, then you name the school on your council's Common Application Form by 31 October 2026.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Register directly with the school for the West Midlands 11+ — by 26 June 2026.
Queen Mary's selects on the West Midlands Grammar Schools Consortium 11+ — standardised papers in verbal, non-verbal and numerical reasoning, shared by the grammar schools across Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton, Warwickshire and Shropshire. Registration is directly with the school (the online portal opens on 5 May 2026) and closes at 4pm on 26 June 2026 — there is no late entry on time. Your daughter sits the test once and the standardised score is shared with the consortium schools you select on the form.
Places go in rank order of test score — there is no catchment.
The arrangements state plainly that "the School has no defined catchment area" and that "all parents living both within and beyond the Borough of Walsall may apply". Your daughter must first reach the minimum qualifying score (set by the Governors each November after the test), then — after looked-after children and the reserved Pupil Premium places — every remaining place is offered to the highest-scoring girls in rank order, wherever they live.
Pupil Premium gives priority — up to 45 places — so flag it before the test.
Up to 45 places (no more than 30% of the intake) are reserved for girls who reach the qualifying score and attract the Pupil Premium, ranked by score — and within that group, girls at a Walsall state-funded primary rank first. You must submit the completed Pupil Premium evidence before the day of the entrance test; evidence received later is treated as late. For the normal Year 7 round there is no sibling, staff, faith or distance priority.
Five steps — starting now.
If more girls qualify than there are places, these 3 criteria decide.
Only girls who reach the minimum qualifying score are considered. They are then placed in these priority groups; within each group, the highest test score comes first. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Girls who are or were in council care (including those adopted from care or under a special guardianship / child arrangements order, and children who were in state care outside England) get the highest priority, provided they reach the qualifying score. This group is small in practice.
What the document says: A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after … who achieve the minimum qualifying score by rank order of standardised score.
In plain English: Up to 45 places (no more than 30% of the intake) are reserved for girls who reach the qualifying score and attract the Pupil Premium, ranked by score. Within this group, girls who attend a Walsall state-funded primary school (listed in the policy appendix) are placed ahead of those who do not. You must submit the Pupil Premium evidence before the day of the entrance test; evidence received later is treated as late and considered only after the main allocation.
What the document says: Children in receipt of Pupil Premium at the time of the Test who achieve the minimum qualifying score by rank order of standardised score but limited to no more than 30% of students in this category (currently 45 places); priority is then given to students attending a State-funded Primary School in Walsall.
In plain English: Every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring qualifying girls in rank order, regardless of where they live. There is no catchment area and no residence requirement. Distance is not used at any stage — see the worked example below.
What the document says: Other children who have achieved the minimum qualifying score by rank order of standardised score until the Published Admissions Number is reached.
Tie-breaker: if two girls have identical standardised scores, the positions they achieved in the three skill areas (verbal, non-verbal and numerical) are added together, and the girl with the higher combined total is offered the place. If that still cannot separate them, a supervised, independently-verified random allocation decides. Distance from home to school is never used.
No geographic boundary. Rank order decides everything.
Queen Mary's High School has no catchment area and no residence requirement — the arrangements say "the School has no defined catchment area. All parents living both within and beyond the Borough of Walsall may apply." After looked-after children and the reserved Pupil Premium places are filled, every remaining place goes to the highest-ranking qualifying girls by standardised test score — regardless of where they live. A girl in Walsall, Birmingham, Wolverhampton or Lichfield competes on exactly the same terms. The circle drawn on our map is illustrative only — it is not a real boundary.
Unusually, distance is not even used as a tie-breaker: two girls with identical scores are separated by their combined position across the three skill areas, then by a supervised random draw. Home address has no bearing on the outcome at any stage.
See the school's location on the GrammarBound mapTwo girls ranked by score — not by where they live.
Both girls qualified and are in criterion 3. Child A scored higher and lives far from school; Child B scored lower and lives close by. Child A ranks above Child B because score — not proximity — decides. Living nearer would not help Child B even in a tie: distance is never part of the decision.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Girls who sat the test, reached the qualifying score and were not offered a place are held on a waiting list, ranked in strict oversubscription-criteria order — not by when you applied. The arrangements keep the Year 7 waiting list until the end of the first term; when a vacancy arises it goes to the next girl on the list, and the list is re-ranked each time a child is added.
After the first term, contact the school directly — later vacancies are filled through the in-year admissions process.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. For a selective school the panel must be satisfied your daughter reached the required standard, so successful appeals are uncommon. The appeals timetable is published on the school's website, and appeals are sent to the Clerk to the Governors. Appealing does not remove your daughter from the waiting list.
Joining Year 12 from outside.
Queen Mary's admits external students into Year 12, and the sixth form is co-educational — it takes both girls and boys. Entry is by GCSE grades, not the Year 7 test, so the selective 11+ criteria do not apply.
The grade floor.
You need at least seven GCSEs at grade 6 or above, which must include English and Maths. You are also normally expected to achieve at least grade 7 in each subject you wish to study at A-level (or an average GCSE points score of at least 6.8 where a subject was not taken at GCSE). Looked-after / previously looked-after and Pupil Premium applicants need six GCSEs at grade 6+ including English and Maths. Offers are conditional on results, and equivalent qualifications count only where the equivalence can be independently verified.
Apply direct to the school.
The sixth form is open to both girls and boys and admits external students into Year 12 each September, subject to places and the subjects chosen. Apply directly to the school (not the local authority) and nominate your A-level subjects; the Year 7 admissions criteria do not apply. Where places are over-subscribed, looked-after children come first, then students with the highest GCSE attainment — with a right of appeal if a place is not offered.