Apply to St Michael's Catholic Grammar School, in plain English.
St Michael's is a Catholic super-selective girls' grammar — every Year 7 place goes to a baptised girl from a practising Catholic family, ranked by the school's own entrance test. In 2025, 278 applicants competed for 128 places. You must submit the school's Supplementary Information Form (SIF), with a Certificate of Catholic Practice, by 4pm on 7 July 2026.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Your daughter must be a baptised, practising Catholic. This is the first gate, before any test score.
Every place at St Michael's goes to a girl who is a baptised Catholic from a practising Catholic family. You evidence this with a Certificate of Baptism in the Catholic Church and a Certificate of Catholic PracticeCertificate of Catholic Practice (CCP)Signed by your parish priest in the Diocese of Westminster's standard format, confirming the family has attended Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation for at least five years (or since the child turned seven). from your parish priest. Both are uploaded/submitted with the SIF by 4pm on 7 July 2026.
One entrance test, sat at the school on 11 September 2026 — set by St Michael's, not Barnet or any consortium.
Eligible girls sit four written papers on one day: Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, English and Maths. There is no Barnet 11+ and no shared consortium test. Results are issued before you finalise your council application in late October. Girls are ranked from the highest score down.
There is no catchment area. Where you live only matters as a last-resort tiebreak.
St Michael's has no geographic catchment. Among eligible Catholic girls, places go in test-rank order regardless of address. Home distance is used only if two girls have an identical rank after the test-subject tiebreaks (Verbal Reasoning, then Non-Verbal Reasoning, then English, then Maths). Living nearby gives no advantage on its own.
Five steps — starting now.
Only Catholic girls are admitted — then test rank decides.
All three ranked criteria require a baptised, practising Catholic girl who is among the top 175 in the entrance test. Within each, the highest test score comes first. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Baptised, practising Catholic girls who are in care or were previously in care (including adopted-from-care) get the highest priority, provided they are ranked in the top 175 in the entrance test. This group is small in practice.
What the document says: Baptised Catholic girls from a Practising Catholic family who are looked after or have previously been looked after, including internationally adopted previously looked-after girls, and are ranked amongst the top 175 places in the entrance test.
In plain English: Up to 32 places (25% of the intake) are reserved for baptised, practising Catholic girls eligible for the Pupil PremiumPupil PremiumCovers children eligible for free school meals (and, in this policy, Service Premium children of armed-forces families). Evidence is a letter from the child's current primary school., again from the top 175 in the test and filled in rank order. Notify the school and provide a primary-school letter when you apply.
What the document says: Baptised Catholic girls from a Practising Catholic family who are in receipt of the Pupil Premium and are ranked amongst the top 175 places in the entrance test. A maximum of 32 such children (25% of the total) will be admitted, allotted by rank order if there are more than 32. (Pupil Premium includes Service Premium.)
In plain English: All remaining places go to baptised, practising Catholic girls in test-rank order, highest score first, regardless of where they live. If two girls tie, the Verbal Reasoning mark decides, then Non-Verbal Reasoning, then English, then Maths, and only then home distance.
What the document says: Baptised Catholic girls from a Practising Catholic family in rank order in the entrance test beginning with the highest. Tie-break: Verbal Reasoning, then Non-Verbal Reasoning, then English, then Maths; then nearest home address.
If fewer than 175 Catholic girls apply: within living memory St Michael's has always filled all 175 test places with practising Catholic applicants. Only if it does not, a fallback order opens to other girls — Catholic girls by rank, then catechumens and Eastern Christian Church members, then other Christian denominations, then other looked-after girls, then other Pupil Premium girls, then any other girls.
No geographic boundary. Faith first, then test rank.
St Michael's has no catchment area and no distance cutoff. Once a girl meets the faith requirement, places are allocated by entrance-test rank — a practising Catholic girl in Enfield, Brent or Hertfordshire competes on exactly the same terms as one in Finchley. The illustrative circle on the map shows roughly where most families travel from; it is not an admissions boundary.
Home distance is used only as the final tiebreak, after the Verbal Reasoning, Non-Verbal Reasoning, English and Maths marks have each been compared. Proximity is measured straight-line ("as the crow flies") from the school's main entrance to your front door, using Barnet's GIS. In practice it separates only girls with otherwise identical results.
See St Michael's location on the GrammarBound mapTwo Catholic girls ranked by score — not by where they live.
Both girls are baptised, practising Catholics in criterion 3. Child A scored 312 and lives far from school. Child B scored 298 and lives much closer. Child A ranks above Child B because the test score — not proximity — decides. Living nearby gives no advantage unless scores are otherwise tied.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Every girl who sat the test, was ranked in the criteria above, and named St Michael's on her council form is automatically placed on the Year 7 waiting list. Position is set by the oversubscription criteria — not by when you ask — and vacancies are filled in rank order.
Held until 31 December in the year of entry, then by request.
Appeal
You can appeal to an independent panel against the decision. Year 7 appeals must be lodged by 4pm on 31 March 2027. Appealing does not remove your daughter from the waiting list — you can pursue both at once.
Joining Year 12 — open to girls and boys.
St Michael's Sixth Form is co-educational and admits external applicants alongside its own Year 11. The planned Year 12 number is 140 in total. Apply directly to the school by 28 February 2027.
The grade floor.
You need at least six GCSEs at grade 7 or above, including grade 7 in English Language and Mathematics, plus grade 7 in each subject you intend to study at A-level (Art and Psychology have limited grade-6 exceptions). Offers are conditional and confirmed at enrolment on GCSE results day. As a Catholic school, applicants are expected to support the school's Catholic ethos, but faith is not a bar to sixth-form entry.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants should apply to St Michael's by 28 February 2027. You will be told whether the school can make a conditional offer or a waiting-list place; any offer is provisional on GCSE results. Where the sixth form is oversubscribed, current St Michael's Year 11 students have first priority, then Catholic applicants, then others. A £40 enrolment registration fee applies via ParentPay.
Sixth-form appeals must be lodged by 4pm on 31 August 2027.