Apply to Rugby High School, Rugby, in plain English.
Rugby High School is an oversubscribed girls' selective grammar in Rugby, with a co-educational sixth form. Girls sit the Warwickshire 11+ and must reach the qualifying score set each year; places then fill in rank order of score, but girls living in the school's two catchment areas — the Eastern Area of Warwickshire first, then the wider 10-mile Priority Circle — are offered places ahead of equally-qualifying girls further out. Register for the test via Warwickshire's online portal by 4pm on 30 June 2026 — separately from, and months before, the October Common Application Form.
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 30 June 2026 — long before the CAF.
Rugby High School uses the Warwickshire 11+ Selection Test, run by Warwickshire Admissions on the school's behalf. Registration opens on 7 May 2026 through Warwickshire's online parent portal and closes at 4pm on 30 June 2026 — months before, and completely separate from, the October Common Application Form. Miss the registration deadline and, apart from evidenced exceptional circumstances, there is no route to a place for 2027 entry.
This is a score-led school — but two catchment areas decide the order.
Every applicant must reach the Automatic Qualifying Score set each year; below it, a girl is not eligible. Above it, qualifying girls are ranked by where they live: those inside the Eastern Area of Warwickshire come first, then those inside the wider 10-mile Priority Circle, then girls living beyond it. A high score matters, but the catchment areas decide which queue you join.
It's a girls' school, and you must prove where you live.
Only girls are eligible for Year 7. The Priority Circle is measured from the Rugby Water Tower with a radius of 10.004 miles, and the Eastern Area is Rugby plus a list of named parishes around it. Your daughter must live at the address you give, inside the catchment, and Warwickshire can ask for evidence of where you live by 31 December 2026. Check the GrammarBound map to see which area your home falls inside.
Four steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Registering for the Warwickshire 11+ (step 1) closes at 4pm on 30 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 girls reach the standard than there are places, these criteria decide.
A girl with an EHCP naming the school is admitted first, within the 150 (the Admission Number reduces accordingly). Everyone else who reaches the qualifying score is then placed in the order below — children in care, then Pupil Premium and Service Premium girls inside the catchment, then children of staff, then girls in the Eastern Area, then the wider Priority Circle, then those beyond it, each ranked by test score. Straight-line distance breaks ties. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Girls in council care, or who were in care before being adopted (including from state care outside England), come first — provided they reached the Automatic Qualifying Score, or scored within 20 marks of it. Tell the council about looked-after status when you apply.
What the document says: Criterion 1 — Looked-after children and previously looked-after children who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score or above, or between one and twenty marks below it, or who achieve the required minimum academic standard for admission, whichever is the lower.
In plain English: Girls eligible for the Pupil Premium through Free School Meals (at the point of registering for the test) who live inside the Eastern Area or the Priority Circle and reach the qualifying score (or score within 20 marks of it) are placed next, ranked by test score. Up to thirty places in total are reserved for this category. Warwickshire will ask for evidence of Pupil Premium eligibility.
What the document says: Criterion 2 — Up to 30 places will be allocated to children who were eligible for the Pupil Premium at the point of registering to sit the entrance test living in the Eastern Area of Warwickshire or the Priority Circle, who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score or above, or whose scores are between one and twenty marks below it.
In plain English: Girls eligible for the Service Premium (the children of armed-forces personnel) who live inside the Eastern Area or the Priority Circle and reach the qualifying score (or score within 20 marks of it) come next, ranked by test score. Up to five places in total are reserved for this category.
What the document says: Criterion 3 — Up to 5 places will be allocated to children who were eligible for the Service Premium at the point of registering to sit the entrance test living in the Eastern Area of Warwickshire or the Priority Circle, who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score or above, or whose scores are between one and twenty marks below it.
In plain English: Daughters of staff who have worked at the school for two or more years (teaching or non-teaching, on a permanent contract) and reach the qualifying score are placed next, ranked by test score.
What the document says: Criterion 4 — Children of staff who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score or above where the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the application is made (all teaching and non-teaching staff on permanent contracts, excluding casual/temporary appointments).
In plain English: This is how most girls get in. After the categories above, places go to qualifying girls who live inside the Eastern Area of Warwickshire — Rugby plus the named parishes around it — strictly in rank order of test score. A high score wins an Eastern-Area place; distance only settles a tie.
What the document says: Criterion 5 — Children living in the Eastern Area of Warwickshire who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score or above for this school for this particular year of entry.
In plain English: If Eastern-Area girls don't fill all 150 places, the remaining places go to qualifying girls living inside the wider 10-mile Priority Circle (which includes the Eastern Area), again in rank order of test score.
What the document says: Criterion 6 — Children living in the Priority Circle who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score or above for this school for this particular year of entry.
In plain English: If the catchment areas don't fill all 150 places, qualifying girls living outside them are offered places in rank order of test score. (Any of the 30 Pupil Premium / 5 Service Premium places left unfilled inside the catchment are also offered to eligible girls outside it first.) Girls who reach only the lower required minimum academic standard go onto the waiting list. Where two girls have exactly the same score, the place goes to the one living nearer the school, measured straight-line to the school centroid; a computerised random draw settles a complete tie.
What the document says: Criteria 7–10 — the balance of the Pupil Premium (30) and Service Premium (5) places to eligible children outside the catchment areas; then children living outside the catchment areas who achieve the Automatic Qualifying Score; then children inside or outside the catchment areas who achieve the required minimum academic standard for the waiting list. Within all criteria, highest test score ranks first, with distance the tie-break.
Two catchment areas — the Eastern Area, inside a 10-mile circle.
Rugby High School uses two nested catchment areas, the same as the neighbouring Lawrence Sheriff School. The first is the Eastern Area of Warwickshire — the aggregated catchment of the Bilton, Ashlawn and Avon Valley schools: Rugby itself plus around three dozen named parishes (Dunchurch, Wolston, Long Lawford, Brinklow, Monks Kirby and the rest). Wrapped around it is the Priority Circle: a circle of 10.004 miles measured from the Rugby Water Tower, which contains the whole Eastern Area and reaches out to towns like Lutterworth, Daventry and Southam. Qualifying girls in the Eastern Area are offered places first, then girls in the Priority Circle, then girls living beyond it. GrammarBound draws both: the darker inner shape is the higher-priority Eastern Area.
There is no single published distance cut-off: within each category, places are decided by test score, with straight-line distance only the tie-break between equal scores. That distance is measured from your home address point (Ordnance Survey co-ordinates) to the school centroid — not by road.
See the catchment areas on the GrammarBound mapEastern Area first, then the circle, then beyond.
Child A lives inside the Eastern Area, so once she reaches the qualifying score she is ranked (by score) ahead of girls in the wider circle. Child B lives in the Priority Circle but outside the Eastern Area — considered after the Eastern-Area queue. Child C lives beyond the circle, normally offered a place only if there aren't enough qualifying girls inside the catchment. All three must first reach the Automatic Qualifying Score.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your daughter isn't offered a place, she goes onto a waiting list held by Warwickshire Admissions of girls who reached the required minimum academic standard but didn't receive an offer. It is kept in strict oversubscription-criteria order until 31 December 2027 — and re-ranked each time a girl is added, so a later application can move ahead of an earlier one. When a place comes free it goes to the highest-ranked girl, not the longest waiter. A girl who hasn't yet sat the test can be tested and ranked before the list is dissolved.
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 decision not to offer a place. Appeals are heard by an independent appeal panel; for girls who didn't qualify, the panel takes account of the child's position in the test process, and prejudice to the school is only considered once the year group is full. A refusal does not stop you joining the waiting list — you can do both at once.
Joining Year 12 at Rugby High School.
The sixth form is co-educational — it welcomes external female and male applicants alongside Rugby High's own Year 11. The Eastern Area does not apply to sixth-form entry (the Priority Circle features only as a lower tie-break). Entry is on GCSE results, confirmed after Results Day in August 2027.
The grade floor.
You need four grade 6s and two grade 5s or above at GCSE (or the equivalent), taken from the list of subjects in the Sixth Form Prospectus. There are subject-specific GCSE requirements for individual A-level courses, set out in the Sixth Form Course Guide. International qualifications are assessed against GCSE levels using UK ENIC guidance.
Apply direct to the school.
External applications go directly to Rugby High School — not through the CAF — with a deadline of 18 December 2026, and confirmed places follow GCSE Results Day in August 2027. Current Rugby High Year 11 students who meet the criteria do not need to apply formally. If external places are oversubscribed, applicants are ranked first by looked-after status, then by Pupil Premium / Service Premium eligibility, then by children of staff, then by children living within the Priority Circle, then by best-eight capped GCSE points.