Apply to South Wilts Grammar School, in plain English.
South Wilts is a selective girls' grammar in Salisbury — ages 11–16, with a co-educational sixth form — that draws around 280 applications for its 160 Year 7 places, all decided by the school's own 11+: three GL Assessment papers in verbal reasoning, maths and English. Reaching the cut-off score makes a girl eligible; girls living inside the school's designated catchment area around Salisbury are then placed ahead of those outside it, with straight-line distance breaking ties. Register for the test directly with the school by 1 September 2026, separately from the council application that closes at the end of October.
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+ directly with the school — by 1 September 2026.
South Wilts sets its own 11+ selection test: three GL Assessment multiple-choice papers in verbal reasoning, maths and English, sat at the school on Saturday 26 September 2026. You register on the South Wilts admissions page; online registration opens 2 June 2026 and closes at midnight on 1 September 2026. Reaching the cut-off score makes your daughter eligible — it is a pass/not-pass standard, not a ranking. Registering for the test is separate from naming South Wilts on your council form: you must do both.
Where you live matters — the Salisbury catchment area decides ties.
Once she has passed, the biggest factor is the school's designated catchment area around Salisbury. Eligible girls living inside it are placed ahead of those living outside, and within every group the nearest by straight-line distance are taken first. A girl living closer but outside the area is still behind every in-catchment girl. There is no published distance cut-off — distance only ranks within each criterion.
Pupil Premium girls get a lower pass mark and reserved places.
Girls eligible for the Pupil Premium (or who have been looked after) pass at a mark 3% lower than the standard cut-off, and 10 places are reserved for them. Within-catchment Pupil Premium girls and Service Premium (armed-forces) families come near the top of the order, ahead of the general catchment criterion. Declare eligibility — with evidence — when you register, not afterwards.
Four steps — the test deadline is the summer, not October.
Registering for the 11+ (step 1) closes on 1 September 2026 — weeks before the council application deadline that catches most families out. Registering for the test is not the same as naming South Wilts on your council application; you must do both.
If more girls pass than there are places, this order decides.
Girls with an EHCP naming South Wilts are admitted first, within the 160. Everyone else must reach the cut-off score in the 11+; eligible girls are then placed in the order below — Pupil Premium and Service Premium families first, then the designated catchment area, then staff and out-of-catchment siblings, with straight-line distance ranking within each group. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A girl whose Education, Health and Care Plan names South Wilts, and who has passed the 11+, must be admitted before the oversubscription criteria are applied — even if the school is full. These places come out of the 160.
What the document says: Students with an EHCP where SWGS is named and have achieved the entry criteria will be admitted before all other oversubscription criteria.
In plain English: A girl who is in local-authority care, or who left care through adoption, a child arrangements order or a special guardianship order, is the first oversubscription category once she has met the required academic standard.
What the document says: Eligible students who are classed as a 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after … 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: Eligible girls who attract the Pupil Premium and live inside the designated catchment area are taken near the top of the order. Pupil Premium girls pass at a mark 3% below the standard cut-off, and 10 places across the Pupil Premium criteria are reserved for them. You must provide evidence as part of the registration process.
What the document says: c) (i) Students who attract the Pupil Premium … and are living within catchment. … The pass mark for those who qualify for pupil premium will be 3% lower than the standard pass mark and 10 places will be reserved for them.
In plain English: Eligible girls who attract the Service Premium — children of current or recent UK armed-forces personnel — sit alongside the in-catchment Pupil Premium band, near the top of the order, provided they have met the required academic standard. Evidence is asked for at registration.
What the document says: c) (ii) Students who attract the Service Premium who have met the required academic standard. … Service Premium children are children who have parents currently serving in the UK regular armed forces, or who have served at any time in the last six years, or who died serving and are in receipt of a relevant pension.
In plain English: This is the criterion most local families compete under. Eligible girls who live in the school's designated catchment area — Salisbury, Wilton and the surrounding villages — are placed here, ahead of any girl living outside the area. Within the group, the nearest to the school as the crow flies are taken first.
What the document says: d) Students who achieve the required academic standard who live in the school catchment area. The address is the place where the child is permanently resident with her parent or parents or legal guardians. … A map of the catchment area can be obtained from the school and is also available on the website.
In plain English: Eligible girls who attract the Pupil Premium but live outside the catchment area come next, after the in-area girls. They keep the 3%-lower pass mark; the nearest to the school are taken first.
What the document says: e) Students who attract … the Pupil Premium who have met the required academic standard but are living outside catchment. Parents will be asked to provide evidence as part of the registration process.
In plain English: An eligible girl who lives with a parent or step-parent who is a contracted member of the school's staff, and has been for at least two years at the time of enrolment, is placed in this band.
What the document says: f) Students who have met the required academic standard and at the time of enrolment, reside with at least one parent or step-parent who is a contracted member of staff at the School and has been so for at least two years.
In plain English: An eligible girl who lives outside the catchment area but has a sibling on roll at the school is placed above the general out-of-area pool. The sibling must be living at the same address and not in Year 11 or 13 at the date of offer; the nearest are taken first.
What the document says: g) Students who achieve the required academic standard in order of nearness to school as the crow flies who live outside the catchment area and have a sibling … attending the school and living at the same residence on the date of admission. The sibling link will not apply if the current student is in year 11 or year 13 at the date of offer.
In plain English: Whatever places remain after the bands above go to the other eligible girls by nearness to the school as the crow flies. For an out-of-area girl with no Pupil Premium, staff or sibling connection, this is the route — and proximity to Salisbury is what counts.
What the document says: h) Other students who achieve the required academic standard by rank order nearness to school as the crow flies. … Distance will be used as the tie breaker in each criterion with those living nearest the school given priority. … In the event of being unable to separate applicants based on distance, priority will be decided by random allocation through casting lots.
A designated area — not a radius — and in-area girls come first.
South Wilts has a genuine designated catchment area rather than a simple distance circle. It covers Salisbury and Wilton and a wide tract of south Wiltshire around them — the Nadder valley east of Tisbury (Teffont, Chilmark, Dinton), the Chalke valley (Broad Chalke, Bowerchalke), the Bourne and Avon valleys (Porton, the Winterbournes), north towards Shrewton and Stonehenge, and south-east to Whiteparish. Eligible girls living inside this area are placed ahead of every girl living outside it, with the nearest to the school taken first. Living inside the area, not your exact distance, is what lifts your daughter up the order.
Distance is the tie-break inside every criterion: among otherwise-equal girls, those nearest the school as the crow flies are offered first, and where two cannot be separated priority is decided by casting lots. The county supplies straight-line distances for the Year 7 round. A girl living closer but outside the catchment area is still behind every in-area girl. The GrammarBound boundary shown on the map is an approximate trace of the school's published catchment map (the school publishes it only as a printed map, with no postcode or parish list); always confirm a borderline address with the school.
See the Salisbury catchment area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: placed first. Outside: only the places left over.
Girl A lives in Wilton, inside the catchment area, so she is placed ahead of out-of-area girls and ranked by her distance to the school. Girl B lives in Andover, outside the area: she competes only for the places left after the in-area girls are placed, however close she lives. Distance ranks within each band — it never moves an out-of-area girl ahead of an in-area girl.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
A girl who met the required standard but isn't offered a place is held on a waiting list, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served. When a place comes free below the 160, it goes to the highest-ranked girl on the list, who starts at the beginning of the next term. The list is held for the academic year for which she sat the test; if no place is offered by the end of the year the application lapses and she would need to sit a late-entry test for the next year group.
A move into the catchment area after the closing date is taken into account on the waiting list, with documentary evidence of the new permanent address.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against a decision not to offer a place. Appeals are heard by an Independent Appeal Panel whose decision binds both sides, and must be registered within 20 school days of the date you received notification of refusal. For Years 7–11 an appeal can be made on either ground — that your daughter did not meet the entry criteria (selection), or that the school is full (resources). Appealing does not affect your daughter's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 at South Wilts.
South Wilts has a co-educational sixth form that admits external students — male and female — alongside its own Year 11 girls. The Year 7 criteria (the 11+ and the catchment area) do not apply: sixth form entry is decided on GCSE results. External applicants apply directly to the school, not through the council.
The grade floor.
The general requirement is at least grade 5 in GCSE English Language or English Literature and a "Best 8" GCSE points score of at least 48, plus the subject-specific grades set for each chosen A level (listed on the school's website). A conditional offer is made before results day to any applicant with the potential to meet these requirements, confirmed against actual grades in August.
Apply direct to the school.
The sixth form can accept up to 70 external students in addition to South Wilts' own Year 11 girls, and may admit above that at the Trustees' discretion. Apply directly to the school using the Option Choices for Sixth Form form by 29 January 2027; if more than 70 external students qualify, the sixth-form oversubscription criteria apply. See the South Wilts admissions page for the form and the subject-by-subject requirements.