Apply to The Crypt School, in plain English.
The Crypt School is a super-selective co-educational grammar in Gloucester that fills all 155 Year 7 places in strict rank order of the shared Gloucestershire Grammar School test score — there is no catchment area. You must register for the test by 26 June 2026 at midday, then name the school on your council's Common Application Form by 31 October 2026. Children eligible for Pupil Premium qualify at a lower standardised score.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
One shared test, used by all seven Gloucestershire grammars — register by 26 June 2026 at midday.
The Crypt uses the Gloucestershire Grammar School Admission Test (the G7 test), set by GL Assessment for 2027 entry. You register once and the same score is used by every G7 school you apply to. The test is sat on Saturday 12 September 2026; registration closes at noon on 26 June 2026 and there are no re-sits.
Places go in rank order of test score — there is no catchment.
The school doesn't have a designated area. After looked-after children, Pupil Premium children and staff children (see the criteria below), every remaining place is offered to the highest-scoring children in rank order, wherever they live. Meeting the qualifying standard does not guarantee a place — it only makes your child eligible to be ranked.
Pupil Premium children qualify at a lower score — flag it on the registration form.
The qualifying standard for children who are Pupil Premium, looked-after or previously looked-after is set lower than for other children. You must tick Pupil Premium eligibility on the test registration form; the school then verifies it with the local authority. There is no separate sibling, faith or feeder-school priority.
Five steps — starting now.
If more children qualify than there are places, these 4 criteria decide.
Only children who meet the qualifying standard 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: Children who are or were in council care (including those adopted from care or under a special guardianship / child arrangements order) get the highest priority, provided they meet the qualifying standard. This group is small in practice.
What the document says: 1. Looked After Children / Previously Looked After Children who have met the qualifying standard (incl. children adopted from care or subject to a child arrangements or special guardianship order, and internationally adopted previously looked-after children).
In plain English: Children eligible for Pupil Premium — broadly, registered for income-related free school meals at any point in the six years before the test registration deadline — are placed ahead of other applicants, ranked by test score. The qualifying standard for Pupil Premium children is set lower than for other children. Tick the box at registration; the school verifies it with the local authority.
What the document says: 2. Candidates in receipt of Pupil Premium who have met the qualifying standard (registered for free school meals at any point in the six years prior to the closing date for test registration). The qualifying standard for PP / LAC / PLAC children is lower than for children who are not.
In plain English: Children of staff get priority if the parent has worked at the school for two or more years, or was recruited to fill a post with a demonstrable skill shortage. They are still ranked by test score within this group.
What the document says: 3. Candidates who have met the qualifying standard who have a parent who is a member of School staff, provided the parent has been employed for a minimum of two years, or was recruited to fill a vacant post for which there was a demonstrable skills shortage at the time of appointment.
In plain English: Every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring qualifying children in rank order, regardless of where they live. There is no catchment area. Distance is used only to separate two children with exactly the same score (see the worked example below).
What the document says: 4. All other candidates who have met the qualifying standard, in Test rank order.
Tie-breaker: in criteria 1–3, if two children live the same distance from school, the higher test score ranks first. In criterion 4, if two children have an equal test score, the one living closest to the school ranks higher — measured in a straight line from home to the main school entrance using the local authority's computerised system (Ordnance Survey address points). If children still cannot be separated, places are decided by supervised random allocation.
No geographic boundary. Rank order decides everything.
The Crypt School has no catchment area and no geographic restriction. After looked-after, Pupil Premium and staff-child places are filled, every remaining place goes to the highest-ranking qualifying children by combined standardised test score — regardless of where they live. A child in Cheltenham, the Forest of Dean or the Cotswolds competes on exactly the same terms as one in Gloucester. The circle drawn on our map is illustrative only — it is not a real boundary.
Distance is used only as a tie-breaker between two children with identical scores: the one living closer (straight-line, by the LA's computerised system) ranks higher, and if still tied, a supervised random draw decides. For everyone else, home address has no bearing on the outcome.
See The Crypt School location on the GrammarBound mapTwo children ranked by score — not by where they live.
Both children are in criterion 4 (everyone else, by rank). Child A scored 342 and lives far from school; Child B scored 329 and lives close by. Child A ranks above Child B because score — not proximity — decides. Distance would only matter if their scores were exactly equal.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If the school is oversubscribed, a Year 7 waiting list is held by the local authority and then the school, prioritised by the same rank order (the tie-breaker applies if needed), irrespective of when you applied. Only children who met the qualifying standard can join it. From 28 February 2027 it switches to age-appropriate baseline tests and is maintained until the end of the academic year.
Request via the school's Admissions Office.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent appeals panel. Note that for a selective school the panel must be satisfied your child met the qualifying standard, so successful appeals are uncommon. Appealing does not remove your child from the waiting list.
Joining Year 12 from outside.
The Crypt admits a minimum of 25 external students into its co-educational Year 12 alongside its own Year 11 (the sixth form has capacity for at least 175 in total).
The grade floor.
You need a minimum of 48 points across your best 8 GCSEs, where each grade scores its own number (a grade 9 = 9 points, a grade 8 = 8, and so on). You must also have at least grade 5 in GCSE Mathematics and English Language, and at least grade 6 in any subject you wish to study at A Level. (Studying a fourth A Level needs at least 62 points.)
Apply direct to the school.
A minimum of 25 external places are available for September entry. Apply directly to The Crypt School; the Year 7 admissions criteria do not apply to sixth-form entry. Where external applicants are oversubscribed, looked-after children rank first, then Pupil Premium applicants, then children of staff, then others by total GCSE points (best 8). Confirm your place with results on GCSE results day.