Apply to The Tiffin Girls' School, in plain English.
The Tiffin Girls' School is a super-selective girls' grammar in Kingston upon Thames and one of the most heavily oversubscribed grammars in the country, with 180 Year 7 places. Girls sit the school's own two-stage 11+ test (English and Maths); places then fill by combined test-score rank, with priority to girls living in the school's Designated Area of postcodes. Register for the Stage One Test — the online Supplementary Information Form (SIF) — by 12 noon on 1 September 2026, separately from and before the October CAF deadline.
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 test by 1 September 2026 — long before the CAF.
Tiffin Girls' sets its own 11+ test, not a council consortium test. To sit it you must submit the online Supplementary Information Form (SIF) by 12 noon on Tuesday 1 September 2026. The SIF is available on the school website over June–August 2026. Late forms are not accepted, and registering is separate from the October Common Application Form. Miss the SIF deadline and there is no route to a place for 2027 entry.
The test has two stages — and the Designated Area decides who gets in.
Stage One (English and Maths, computer-marked) is sat on 1–2 October 2026 and decides who is invited to Stage Two (written English and Maths) in November. Places then fill by combined test-score rank — but girls living in the school's Designated Area of postcodes are ranked ahead of girls outside it. A separate band of up to 60 places favours Pupil Premium girls and the smaller Inner Area.
In practice, every place goes to a Designated Area address.
The school states that since the Designated Area was introduced in 2014, all Year 7 places have gone to girls living inside it — so although out-of-area girls can technically be ranked, a place from outside is realistically out of reach. The Designated Area is a list of postal districts across Kingston, Richmond, Elmbridge and nearby. Your daughter must live at the qualifying address on the SIF deadline.
Four steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
Registering for the Tiffin Girls' 11+ test (step 1) closes at noon on 1 September 2026 — 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 5 criteria decide.
A girl with an EHCP naming the school is admitted first, within the 180. Everyone else who reaches the qualifying score is then placed in the order below, and within every criterion girls are ranked by their combined test score. Criteria 1–3 fill an initial band of up to 60 places (plus looked-after children); criteria 4–5 fill the rest. A tie for the last place is broken by the shortest straight-line distance to the school, then by random allocation. 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 qualifying score, which is the 350th-ranked mark in the Stage Two Test. Looked-after and Pupil Premium girls also get a 10% leeway applied to their standardised test marks. Tell the school about looked-after status with documentary evidence by the SIF deadline.
What the document says: Currently Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children whose combined mark is higher than or equal to the 350th ranked mark of all applicants who sat the Stage Two Test (paragraph 5.1.2.1).
In plain English: Within an initial band of up to 60 places, girls who qualify for the Pupil Premium (including the service premium and Ever6 free-school-meals eligibility) and live in the Inner or Designated Area are ranked first, by combined test score. A 10% leeway is applied to their standardised marks. You must provide documentary evidence of eligibility by the SIF deadline.
What the document says: Up to 60 girls whose combined mark is higher than or equal to the 350th ranked mark... in the following order of priority: (i) Girls whose permanent place of residence is within the Inner Area or within the Designated Area and who qualify for receipt of Pupil Premium Funding on the closing date to register for the Stage One Test (paragraph 5.1.2.2.i).
In plain English: The rest of the initial 60-place band goes to the highest-scoring girls living in the Inner Area — 13 named electoral wards around Kingston, Surbiton, New Malden and the Ham/Petersham/Richmond Riverside corner. This is a smaller, closer zone sitting inside the wider Designated Area.
What the document says: (ii) Girls whose permanent place of residence is within the Inner Area (paragraph 5.1.2.2.ii). The Inner Area comprises the wards Berrylands, Canbury Gardens, Coombe Hill, Coombe Vale, Green Lane & St James, Kingston Gate, Kingston Town, New Malden Village, Norbiton, St Mark's & Seething Wells, Surbiton Hill, Tudor, and Ham, Petersham and Richmond Riverside (paragraph 5.3.1).
In plain English: This is how most girls get in. After the initial 60-place band, the remaining places go to the highest-scoring girls living anywhere in the Designated Area — a list of postal districts across Kingston, Richmond, Elmbridge and nearby — in strict rank order of combined test score. There is no closer/further sub-zone within it; every in-area girl competes on the same score.
What the document says: The remaining places... will all be allocated from applicants who sat the Stage Two Test in rank order of the combined mark... Girls whose permanent place of residence is within the Designated Area of the School (paragraph 5.1.3.1). The Designated Area comprises the postal districts listed in paragraph 5.4.1.
In plain English: Girls living outside the Designated Area are only considered once every in-area girl who reached the standard has a place. In practice this does not happen — the school states that every place since 2014 has gone to a girl inside the Designated Area. An out-of-area girl still needs to pass both stages and be ranked by score, but should treat a place as very unlikely.
What the document says: Girls whose permanent place of residence is outside the Designated Area of the School (paragraph 5.1.3.2). Appendix A notes that since the Designated Area was first introduced in September 2014, all Year 7 places have been offered to and accepted by girls who live in the Designated Area.
A real boundary — a list of postcodes.
Tiffin Girls' admits by test score, but the Designated Area is the effective boundary. It is a list of postal districts — the KT codes around Kingston, Surbiton, New Malden, the Dittons, Esher and Walton, the TW codes across Twickenham, Richmond, Teddington and Hounslow, and parts of SW (Barnes, Mortlake, Putney, Wimbledon), W (Chiswick, Ealing), plus SM4 (Morden) and CR4 (Mitcham). Girls inside it who pass are ranked ahead of girls outside (after the initial 60-place band). A smaller Inner Area of 13 wards around Kingston gives extra priority for those first 60 places. Because the school says every place since 2014 has gone to a Designated Area address, the area is effectively the cut-off, even though it is technically a priority rather than a hard boundary.
Distance itself is only a tiebreaker: where two girls have the same score at the cut-off, the place goes to the girl living closer to the school gate, measured in a straight line using the council's computerised Geographical Information System and Ordnance Survey data, then by random allocation.
See the catchment area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: in the race. Outside: a place is very unlikely.
Girl A lives in Surbiton (KT6) — inside the Designated Area — so once she passes both stages she is ranked by score for the bulk of the places (criterion 4), or for the initial 60-place band if she is in the Inner Area or eligible for the Pupil Premium. Girl B lives in Sutton (SM1), outside the area, so she is only considered if places are left after every in-area girl is placed — which, on the school's own record, has not happened since 2014. Both must reach the qualifying score; the difference is the Designated Area.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
If your daughter isn't offered a place, the school holds a ranked waiting list of girls who sat the Stage Two Test. When a place comes free, it goes to the next girl under the same selection criteria — by score, not first-come-first-served, and with no need to re-sit. The list is maintained from 1 March 2027 until the last day of the 2027–28 school year. Girls who reach the year's cut-off score can reapply for Years 8–11 as in-year applicants.
Priority on the waiting list is by the selection criteria, not by the date you asked to join.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the school's decision not to offer a place; your council notifies you of the appeals process on National Offer Day. Appeals are heard by an independent panel, and you'll be told the deadline to lodge yours. A repeat appeal in the same year, for the same school, is only heard if your circumstances have materially changed. Appealing does not affect your daughter's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 at Tiffin Girls'.
The sixth form is for girls. Internal Year 11 girls who meet the academic requirements move up; there are at least 20 external places for girls from other schools. There is no Designated Area for sixth-form entry — it is purely on GCSE results.
The grade floor.
Applicants need eight full-course GCSE passes including English, Maths and a science — four at grade 7 or above and another four at grade 6 or above. To take a subject at A-level you generally need at least a grade 7 in that subject at GCSE, with higher requirements for the sciences and further maths. Ranking for places is by average GCSE point score.
Apply on GCSE results day.
External applicants bring their original results sheet to the school on GCSE results day in August 2027 — there is no advance application form. Places are then ranked by average GCSE point score, subject to demand and staffing for each subject combination. Oversubscription priority runs looked-after girls → Pupil Premium / service premium by point score → all other girls by point score, with distance as a final tiebreak. Unsuccessful applicants have the right of appeal.