Apply to Spalding High School, in plain English.
Spalding High is a girls' grammar school in Spalding, Lincolnshire, and one of the 15 schools that share the Lincolnshire Consortium 11+. Your daughter 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, so a higher score does not buy a better place. There is no catchment area: when more qualified girls apply than the 150 places, straight-line distance decides, 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 daughter eligible — it does not order her.
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 girl has reached 220 she is fully qualified; a score of 250 carries no more weight than 221. If places run short, it is distance — not score — that separates qualified girls.
There is no catchment area. Distance only matters if the school is oversubscribed by qualified girls.
Spalding High does not have a designated catchment, a feeder list, or postcode tiers. Every qualified girl across Lincolnshire (and beyond) is eligible to apply. If more than 150 qualified girls list the school, the remaining places — after looked-after children and siblings — go to those living closest in a straight line. There is no published distance cutoff; the furthest distance offered changes every year, so the circle on our map is indicative only.
Registering for the test and applying for the place are two separate jobs — with two separate deadlines.
Register your daughter for the 11+ by 31 March 2026 (when she is in Year 5) — sitting the test is not an application. You then have to name Spalding High on your home council's secondary application form by 31 October 2026. Miss the test registration and she cannot sit; miss the application and she cannot be offered a place, even if she 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 girls qualify, these three criteria decide.
Children with an EHCP naming Spalding High are admitted before these criteria apply. All other qualifying girls are placed in the highest criterion that applies to them; within each criterion, closest girls rank first. Tap any criterion to read the detail.
In plain English: Girls 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 previously looked after children, including those children 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: Girls with a brother or sister already on roll at Spalding High — or due to be attending at the time she would start — come next, as long as both children live at the same address. Full, half and step-siblings, and legally adopted siblings, all count. There is no postcode restriction. Within this group, the closest girls rank first.
What the document says: Children with a brother or sister on roll at Spalding High School at the time of application or who will be attending the school at the expected time of admission. In all cases both children must live at the same address.
In plain English: Every other qualified girl — anyone not admitted under criteria 1 or 2 — competes for the remaining places ranked by straight-line distance from home to school, closest first. This is the criterion that decides most places. If two girls live an identical distance away and only one place is left, an independent lottery breaks the tie.
What the document says: Straight line distance from the home to the school, with those living closest having priority. If the distance criterion is not sufficient to distinguish between two or more applicants for the last remaining place, a lottery will be drawn by an independent person.
No catchment — closer to school simply means a higher rank.
Spalding High is distance-ranked with no catchment area. Once your daughter reaches the qualifying standard of 220, her position in the deciding criterion is set entirely by how far she lives from school — closest first. Score does nothing beyond the 220 threshold, and there are no postcode tiers, feeder schools or designated areas. Because the school does not publish a distance cutoff, how far "close enough" reaches depends on how many qualified girls apply that year.
Distance is measured in a straight line, to three decimal places, from your home's address point in the OS AddressBaseOS AddressBaseThe Ordnance Survey address database. Lincolnshire's "Synergy" system measures a straight line between the 12-figure coordinates of your home and a fixed point at the school. database to a fixed point at the school.
See the indicative area on the GrammarBound mapTwo qualified girls, no sibling link — the closer one ranks higher.
Both girls have reached the qualifying standard of 220 and neither has a sibling at the school. Girl A is 3.0 miles away — she ranks above Girl B at 6.5 miles. Test score above 220 makes no difference; only distance counts.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Reserve list
If your daughter met the qualifying standard but was offered a lower-preference school, she is placed on Spalding High'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 her. The list runs until the end of the coordinated round in August, then is kept by the school to the end of the year.
Appeal
You can appeal if a place is refused on non-qualification, oversubscription, or both — provided you named Spalding High on your application form. Appeals are organised independently by Legal Services Lincolnshire, and the panel's decision is binding. Appealing does not affect your position on the reserve list.
Joining Year 12 — open to girls and boys. Around 50 external places.
Spalding High's sixth form is mixed: it admits both girls and boys from other schools. The grade floor is a pass (grade 4) in Maths and English, with higher grades needed in the specific subjects your daughter or son wants to study.
Grade 4 in Maths and English, plus four more at 4–9 — and grade 6 in chosen A-level subjects.
The minimum is at least grade 4 in GCSE Mathematics and in English Language or English Literature, plus four further GCSEs at grade 4 to 9. On top of that, each A-level needs at least grade 6 in the related GCSE subject (grade 5 in English for subjects not taken at GCSE). Check the sixth form prospectus for the exact subject thresholds.
Internal students prioritised — apply directly to the school.
The external Year 12 admission number is around 50, not counting students continuing from Spalding High's own Year 11. Where there are more applicants than places, priority is decided on the applicant's average GCSE points score, higher first. Apply directly to the sixth form at Spalding High.
See spaldinghigh.lincs.sch.uk for the sixth form prospectus and subject entry requirements.