Apply to Upton Hall School FCJ, in plain English.
Upton Hall is a selective Roman Catholic grammar school for girls in Upton, Wirral, in the Diocese of Shrewsbury. Girls sit the school's own entrance examination — apply online by 10 July 2026 — and must reach the qualifying standard to be considered; places are then ranked by Roman Catholic faith, baptised Catholics first, with no catchment area. Around 321 girls apply for 156 places, so reaching the standard does not guarantee an offer.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Your daughter sits Upton Hall's own entrance exam — apply by 10 July 2026.
Upton Hall runs its own entrance examination, separate from the shared Wirral 11+. It is two papers sat on one morning — a verbal reasoning test (50 minutes) and an English test of comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar (45 minutes) — taken on 19 September 2026 (with a reserve date of 23 September for illness or access needs). You apply online directly to the school by 10 July 2026. Your daughter must reach the school's qualifying standard, including a minimum in each paper, to be considered; you are told the result by 23 October 2026.
Faith comes first — and you must produce a Baptism certificate to be ranked on it.
Among girls who reach the standard, places are allocated by faith category: baptised Roman Catholics first, then girls (of any faith or none) whose parents want them to have a Catholic education. To be ranked as a baptised Catholic you must produce a Catholic Baptism certificate during the application process; the child must have been baptised before registering for the exam. Without it your daughter is treated as a girl seeking a Catholic education and ranks in the lower categories.
There is no catchment — free school meals lift you within a band, distance only breaks ties.
Upton Hall has no designated catchment area and accepts applications from outside Wirral. Within the Catholic band, and within the Catholic-education band, girls eligible for free school meals are placed in a higher category. Once the categories are set, places are filled in order of merit by exam score, and the shortest safe walking distance to the school is used only to separate girls with the same score. So distance matters only for tie-breaks, not for the faith ranking itself.
Five steps — starting now.
If more qualifying girls apply than there are places, these criteria decide.
First, a girl with an EHC plan naming Upton Hall who has reached the standard is admitted. Then, among girls who reached the standard, the 156 places are allocated by the categories below. Within every category, places are filled in order of merit by exam score, with the shortest safe walking distance only as the final tie-break. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: A girl who has reached the standard and is currently in council care, or who left care through adoption, a child arrangements order or special guardianship, has the very first priority. This applies whatever her faith.
What the document says: Applicants who are looked after, previously looked after and those who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care as a result of being adopted (or who became subject to a child arrangement order or special guardianship order).
In plain English: A baptised Roman Catholic girl who has reached the standard and is eligible for free school meals at the time of application. This includes a girl baptised a Christian who was later received into the Roman Catholic Church. Free-school-meals eligibility is verified by Wirral Council, and a Baptism certificate is required.
What the document says: Baptised Roman Catholic girls (including any girl who was baptised a Christian and can demonstrate that she has subsequently been admitted to the Roman Catholic Church) who are eligible for free school meals at the time of application.
In plain English: Any other baptised Roman Catholic girl who has reached the standard — those not eligible for free school meals. This is where most Catholic applicants sit. A Baptism certificate is required.
What the document says: Baptised Roman Catholic girls (including any girl who was baptised a Christian and can demonstrate that she has subsequently been admitted to the Roman Catholic Church).
In plain English: A girl whose parent has worked at Upton Hall for two or more years when the application is made, after the Catholic categories above. Faith is not required for this category.
What the document says: Children of school staff where the member of staff has been employed by the school for two or more years.
In plain English: A girl who has not been baptised into the Roman Catholic Church but whose parents want her to have a Catholic education, and who is eligible for free school meals at the time of application. She does not need a Baptism certificate, but ranks below the baptised-Catholic categories.
What the document says: Girls, who have not been baptised into the Roman Catholic Church, whose parents wish them to have a Roman Catholic education and who are eligible for free school meals at the time of application.
In plain English: Any other girl who has reached the standard and whose parents want her to have a Catholic education — the broadest category, covering girls of other faiths or none. A girl does not have to be Catholic to apply, but ranks below all the categories above.
What the document says: Girls, who have not been baptised into the Roman Catholic Church, whose parents wish them to have a Roman Catholic education.
Within each category: if more girls apply than places remain, they are ranked in order of merit by their total examination score; where two girls have the same score, the one whose home is the shortest safe walking distance from the school (measured by Wirral's computer mapping system) is placed first. Reaching the standard does not guarantee a place, and an offer can be withdrawn if false evidence is given on baptism, residence or any other information.
No boundary — faith decides, and distance only breaks ties.
Upton Hall has no designated catchment, so a girl who reaches the standard can be considered from anywhere — applications from outside Wirral are accepted on equal terms. What orders the list is faith: baptised Roman Catholics first (free-school-meals girls, then the rest), then children of staff, then girls seeking a Catholic education (free-school-meals girls, then the rest). Within each group, exam score decides the rank. Distance is only the final tie-breaker for the last place in a category.
Distance is measured as the shortest available safe walking distance from your home to the school, using Wirral's computer mapping system. The displayed circle on our map is illustrative only; it is not a real boundary, and no fixed cutoff distance is published.
See Upton Hall's location on the GrammarBound mapFaith ranks ahead of a closer home from another group.
Both girls reach the standard. Girl A is a baptised Catholic, placing her in the Catholic categories; Girl B lives closer but is in the lower Catholic-education category. Because faith sets the order before distance, Girl A is ranked ahead. Distance would only separate two girls inside the same category with the same score.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Girls who reached the standard but were not offered a place are held on a waiting list, ranked by the same oversubscription criteria — not by the order you joined. The list is kept until 31 December 2026. Ask Upton Hall to keep your daughter on the list.
Request a waiting-list place via Upton Hall directly.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent panel, which follows the statutory School Admission Appeals Code. Submit your appeal in writing to the Clerk to the Governors within 20 school days of the refusal letter. Appealing does not remove your daughter from the waiting list — you can do both.
Joining Year 12.
Upton Hall has a co-educational sixth form — it admits boys and girls into Year 12, including around 30 external places for students from other schools.
The grade floor.
The minimum standard is five GCSE passes at grade 5 or above, including English and Mathematics, with at least a grade 6 in the subjects to be studied at A level. Mathematics needs a grade 7 at GCSE to be taken at A level, and Further Mathematics a grade 8. A few courses set a grade 5 in English or Maths instead of grade 6 in the subject.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants apply directly to Upton Hall by 6 February 2027 — sixth-form entry is not co-ordinated by the local authority. Applicants are interviewed by a senior leader, and offers are confirmed by mid-March once the grade requirements are met. Where the external places are oversubscribed, looked-after applicants come first, then external students who meet the academic criteria, with the shortest safe walking distance as the tie-break.