Apply to Upton Court Grammar School, in plain English.
Upton Court is a super-selective, co-educational grammar in Slough that admits on the Slough Consortium 11+ — you must register for the test separately from your council application, and the deadline is 5 June 2026. There is no catchment area: any child who scores 111 or more can be considered, and after the priority groups places fill first by test rank, then by distance. Demand far exceeds the 165 places, so a qualifying score does not guarantee an offer.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
You sit one test — the Slough Consortium 11+ — and you must register by 5 June 2026.
Upton Court is one of four schools in the Slough Consortium of Grammar Schools. Children sit a single GL Assessment 11+ on Saturday 19 September 2026; the same result is shared with all four schools. You register through the Consortium, separately from your council's application — the window is 1 May to 5 June 2026 and late entries are not accepted. A standardised score of 111 or above makes a child eligible for consideration.
Up to 20 places are reserved for Pupil Premium children — claim it on the council form.
Of the 165 places, up to 20 are set aside for children eligible for the Pupil PremiumPupil Premium (PP)Children eligible for free school meals now, or at any point in the previous six years. Upton Court asks you to show eligibility at the closing date for the Common Application Form (31 October 2026)., ranked among themselves by test score. After PP come children of staff and the two named feeder schools — then the bulk of places fill by test rank, and the rest by distance.
There is no catchment — but distance still fills the last places.
Upton Court has no designated catchment area, so a qualifying child anywhere can apply. Up to 120 places go to the highest scorers regardless of where they live; the remaining places (up to the PAN of 165) then go to the nearest qualifying children, measured in a straight line. So living close to the school helps only for the final tranche of places, not for the score-ranked majority.
Five steps — starting now.
If more qualifying children apply than there are places, these criteria decide.
First, EHCP children naming the school are admitted. Then, among children scoring 111+, places are allocated in the order below. Within every criterion, ties are settled by straight-line distance to the school. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A child currently in council care, or who left care through adoption or a guardianship order, gets first priority — provided they reached the qualifying score. In practice this is a small group.
What the document says: A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after became subject to an adoption, child arrangements, or special guardianship order, including those who were in state care outside England and ceased to be so as a result of being adopted.
In plain English: Up to 20 places are reserved for qualifying children eligible for the Pupil Premium, ranked among themselves by test score (then distance). Pupil Premium means eligible for free school meals now, or at any point in the previous six years. You must be able to show eligibility as at the Common Application Form closing date.
What the document says: Up to 20 places will be offered to applicants who are currently eligible, or have been eligible within the previous six years, for Free School Meals (Pupil Premium). If more than 20 apply, places are offered in rank order by 11+ score, then distance.
In plain English: Children of staff who have worked for the trust at Upton Court for at least two years (at 0.5 full-time or more), or who were recruited to a shortage post, come next — again provided they qualified on the test.
What the document says: Children of members of staff employed by Pioneer Educational Trust for 2 years or more prior to the final CAF submission deadline, on 0.5 of full time or above or filling a vacant post where there is a skills shortage, and working at Upton Court Grammar School.
In plain English: Qualifying children attending one of the two designated feeder schools at the time of application — Foxborough Primary School or Trevelyan Middle School — come next. Attending a feeder school is a priority, not a catchment: it only helps if your child reached the qualifying score.
What the document says: Children that are attending, at the time of application, Foxborough Primary School or Trevelyan Middle School, as the designated feeder schools.
In plain English: After the groups above, up to 120 places go to the highest-scoring qualifying children, in rank order, regardless of where they live. This number reduces if places have already gone to the earlier criteria.
What the document says: Up to 120 pupils in rank order of performance in the 11+ tests. If pupils are admitted through earlier criteria, this number reduces accordingly.
In plain English: The last places, up to the PAN of 165, go to the nearest qualifying children, measured in a straight line from your home to the school's main entrance using the council's mapping system. This is the only point where living close to the school helps.
What the document says: The remaining offers, up to the PAN of 165, will be made by proximity to the school, nearest first, measured 'as the crow flies' from the main entrance of the school to the child's permanent home address, using Slough's Geographical Information System (GIS).
Tie-breaks: Within any criterion, the closer child wins. If one place is left and two children are exactly equal in distance, it is decided by independently supervised lot. Multiple-birth siblings of the last child admitted are taken together, even if this briefly exceeds the 165 places.
No boundary — but the last places go to the nearest children.
Upton Court has no designated catchment, so a qualifying child from anywhere can be considered on equal terms. The bulk of places — up to 120 — go to the highest scorers, wherever they live. Only the remaining places, up to the PAN of 165, are decided by distance: nearest qualifying child first, measured in a straight line. So a strong test score matters most; proximity only decides the final tranche and the tie-breaks.
Distance is measured 'as the crow flies' from your permanent home address to the school's main entrance, using Slough's mapping system — not by walking or driving route. The displayed circle on our map is illustrative only; it is not a real boundary, and no fixed cutoff distance is published.
See Upton Court's location on the GrammarBound mapA high score travels; a near miss leans on distance.
Child A lives far away but scored very highly, so wins one of the 120 rank places — distance is irrelevant. Child B lives close and only just qualified; A's seat is already taken on score, but B can still pick up one of the remaining distance places ahead of equally-scoring children who live further out. A high score is the surest route; being close helps only for the last places.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Qualifying children who were not offered a place are placed on a waiting list, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria and re-ordered each time a name is added or removed. It runs to 31 December 2027 in the first instance; you can write in to extend it.
Request a waiting-list place via Upton Court directly.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent panel, which follows the statutory School Admissions Code. Appealing does not remove your child from the waiting list — you can do both.
Joining Year 12 from outside.
Upton Court has around 140 places in Year 12 and expects to offer at least 20 to external students, with more depending on how many of its own Year 11s stay on.
The grade floor.
Entry is by GCSE results. A "pass" means a grade 5 or higher, and you need grade 5+ in both GCSE English Language and Maths, plus specific minimum grades in the subjects you intend to take at A-level. Full subject-by-subject requirements are in the Sixth Form Prospectus, which forms part of the admission arrangements.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants apply directly to Upton Court by the published deadline and attend a guidance interview; a conditional offer is confirmed on GCSE results day once grades are met. If external applicants are oversubscribed, places go to looked-after children, then children of staff, then by GCSE average points across the best 8 subjects. Students must come straight from Year 11 — no repeating Year 12.