Apply to Wallington County Grammar School, in plain English.
Wallington County Grammar School fills all 150 Year 7 places by competitive test — the Sutton Selective Eligibility Test (SET) plus a joint second-stage test — and is heavily oversubscribed, with around 820 families naming it for 2025 entry. Almost every place is decided on combined score from any address: only 15 are reserved for boys living in the SM1–SM7, KT4 8, CR0 4 and CR4 4 postcodes, with up to 25 more set aside for Pupil Premium boys wherever they live. Register via the school's admissions page by 31 July 2026 — separately from, and months 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.
There are two tests — and you register for them by 31 July 2026.
WCGS uses the Sutton Selective Eligibility Test (SET) on 15 September 2026, shared by six Sutton consortium schools. Boys who reach WCGS's pass mark are invited to a second-stage test on 3 October 2026 — a maths paper and an English paper, common to WCGS, Sutton Grammar and Wilson's. Registration opens 1 May 2026 and closes 31 July 2026 — separate from, and months before, the CAF. (Access-arrangement requests close earlier, on 12 June 2026.)
This is a score-led school — most places ignore your address.
Up to 110 places go to the highest-scoring boys from any address (after looked-after and staff children). A further up to 25 places are held for Pupil Premium boys — again, wherever they live. Your son's rank comes from a combined score: two-fifths the SET, three-fifths the second-stage test, adjusted for age.
Only 15 places give a postcode any priority.
One small criterion (up to 15 places) prioritises boys living in SM1–SM7, the KT4 8, CR0 4 and CR4 4 sectors — and even those are filled by score rank. Check the full postcode: a CR0 address only counts if it begins CR0 4, and a CR4 address only if it begins CR4 4. Your son must be resident at the qualifying address on the CAF deadline, 31 October 2026.
Five steps — the first deadline is summer, not October.
SET registration (step 1) closes on 31 July 2026 — months before the CAF deadline that catches most families out. Miss it and there is no route to a place at WCGS for 2027 entry.
If more boys reach the standard than there are places, these 5 criteria decide.
Boys with an EHCP naming WCGS are admitted first, within the 150. Everyone else who reaches the combined qualifying standard is then placed in the order below. Within each criterion, boys are ranked by their combined SET + second-stage score. At every level, a tie is broken by straight-line distance to the school's front entrance. Tap any criterion to see the exact wording.
In plain English: Boys in council care, or who were in care before being adopted (including from state care outside England), come first — provided they reached the combined qualifying standard from the SET and second-stage test. Tell the school about looked-after status.
What the document says: Priority for Looked After Children or children who were Previously Looked After who meet the combined qualifying standard from the SET and the WCGS Second Stage Test. A "looked after child" is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989), and a "previously looked after child" includes those adopted, or on a child arrangements or special guardianship order, immediately after being looked after — including children who were in state care outside England and ceased to be so through adoption.
In plain English: Boys whose parent is a permanent member of WCGS staff come next — but only if the parent has worked at the school for at least two consecutive years when the application is made, or was recruited to fill a post with a demonstrable skill shortage. The boy must still reach the test standard.
What the document says: Priority for children of permanent members of staff of the school who meet the combined qualifying standard where the member of staff has been employed at WCGS for two or more consecutive years at the time the application for admission is made, or has been recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill shortage.
In plain English: This is how most boys get in. Places go to the highest combined scorers from any postcode in England, in strict rank order — there's no residence requirement at all. Together with the looked-after and staff criteria above, this fills up to 110 of the 150 places before any address or Pupil Premium quota is applied.
What the document says: Students will be regarded as being of selective ability if they reach the combined qualifying standard from the SET and the WCGS Second Stage Test. Places will be allocated in rank order of performance. The total number of places allocated under Priority 1, 2 and 3 will not initially exceed 110.
In plain English: Up to 25 places are reserved for boys who attract Pupil Premium funding through their current school at the CAF deadline — ranked by combined test score, and regardless of where they live. Once your son passes both tests, the school asks for a short letter or email from his primary school as evidence. Any of the 25 places left unfilled roll back into the open competition at criterion 3.
What the document says: Up to 25 places are available for students who meet the combined qualifying standard and who are eligible for Pupil Premium through their current school at the time of the deadline for the Common Application Form (31 October). Places are allocated in rank order of performance. Any unfilled places under this priority on National Offer Day and thereafter will be filled by priority 3.
In plain English: The smallest quota — up to 15 places — goes to boys living in the named Sutton postcode area, ranked by combined test score. The home address is the one on your CAF, and your son must be resident there on the CAF deadline (31 October 2026). Boys here who miss out still compete for everything else on score; area boys not placed roll back into criterion 3.
What the document says: Up to 15 places are available for students who meet the combined qualifying standard where the permanent home address at the closing date for applications (31 October) is one of the following postcodes: SM1, SM2, SM3, SM4, SM5, SM6, SM7, KT4 8--, CR0 4--, and CR4 4--. Places are allocated in rank order of performance. Any unfilled places under this priority on National Offer Day and thereafter will be filled by priority 3.
A small priority area — and a low-stakes one.
WCGS is a score-led school. The named postcode area (SM1–SM7, plus the KT4 8, CR0 4 and CR4 4 sectors) gives boys living there priority for just 15 of the 150 places — and even those are ranked by test score. It does not guarantee a place, and it does not shut out boys living elsewhere: up to 110 places (plus up to 25 Pupil Premium places) are decided on combined score from any address. A boy in Croydon, Kingston or Kent with a high enough score gets in regardless of postcode.
Distance itself is only a tiebreaker: where two boys have the same rank at the cut-off in any criterion, the place goes to the boy living closer to the school's front entrance on Croydon Road, measured in a straight line using the London Borough of Sutton's computerised Geographical Information System.
See the priority area on the GrammarBound mapInside the area: a slim edge. Outside: still very much in the race.
Boy A lives in SM6 — inside the area — so he can take one of the 15 priority places if his score ranks him there, and otherwise competes for everything else on score. Boy B lives in KT1 (Kingston), outside the area, so he skips the postcode quota and competes for the 110+ open places. If Boy B's combined score is high enough, he gets a place; his address never disqualifies him. With only 15 of 150 places tied to postcode, the area edge is slim.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
The school holds a ranked waiting list of eligible boys who weren't offered a place and listed WCGS above the school they were offered. When a place comes free between March and December 2027, it goes to the next boy under the same oversubscription criteria — not first-come-first-served, and with no need to re-sit the tests. The list is cancelled on 31 December 2027; after that, the separate in-year admissions route applies via Sutton Council.
Contact WCGS's Admissions Officer after National Offer Day to confirm waiting-list placement.
Appeal
You have a statutory right of appeal against the Trust's decision not to offer a place. Appeals for September 2027 entry must be received by 16 April 2027 to be heard by the Independent Appeal Panel by 21 June 2027. Appeals are heard by a panel established by the Greenshaw Learning Trust, and appealing does not affect your son's waiting-list position.
Joining Year 12 — open to boys and girls.
WCGS's sixth form is co-educational — girls are admitted into Year 12. There are 175 places in Year 12, with a minimum of 25 external places (more likely 35–50 if some Year 11 students move on).
The grade floor.
External applicants need eight GCSEs: at least three at grade 7+, three at grade 6+ and two at grade 5+, plus a minimum of grade 4 in Maths and English Language. BTECs counted as a GCSE equivalent and GCSE short courses are not accepted. Subject-specific requirements for individual A-level courses sit on top of this floor.
Apply direct to the school.
Sixth-form applications go directly to WCGS — not through the CAF. External applicants apply online on GCSE results day in August. If oversubscribed, external places are ranked by Average Point Score of the best eight GCSEs; where students tie, places go in order of looked-after status → Pupil Premium → straight-line distance to the school. Internal students who meet the minimum attainment are admitted. See the school's sixth-form admissions page for the form and deadline.