Apply to Wolverhampton Girls' High School, in plain English.
Wolverhampton Girls' High School is a selective girls' grammar that fills all 180 Year 7 places in rank order of its own 11+ entrance test — its admission arrangements state plainly that parents within and beyond the City of Wolverhampton may apply, with no catchment area. You register your daughter directly with the school in late June 2026, she sits the test in September 2026, then you name the school on your council's Common Application Form by 31 October 2026.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these.
Register directly with the school for its own 11+ — in late June 2026.
Wolverhampton Girls' selects on its own entrance test — standardised papers in verbal and non-verbal reasoning (the West Midlands grammar schools' GL papers, but marked and standardised by the school). Registration is directly with the school via its website, and closes in late June 2026 (the 2025 cycle closed on 27 June). Your daughter sits the test once; the school sets its own qualifying score afterwards. Confirm the exact deadline on the school's admissions page.
Places go in rank order of test score — there is no catchment.
The arrangements state that "all parents/carers living both within and beyond the City of Wolverhampton may apply" — there is no defined catchment or relevant area. Your daughter must first reach the minimum qualifying score (set by the school in October after the test), then — after looked-after children and the reserved Pupil Premium places — every remaining place is offered to the highest-scoring girls in strict order of merit, wherever they live.
Pupil Premium gives priority — 25 reserved places — so flag it before the test.
The first 25 places are reserved for the highest-scoring girls who reach the qualifying score and attract the Pupil Premium, ranked by score. You must confirm Pupil Premium status at registration and provide proof before your daughter sits the test. For the normal Year 7 round there is no sibling, staff, faith or feeder priority — and distance is used only to break a tie for the very last place.
Five steps — starting now.
If more girls qualify than there are places, these 3 criteria decide.
Only girls who reach the minimum qualifying score 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: Girls who are or were in council care (including those adopted from care or under a special guardianship / child arrangements order, and children who were in state care outside England) get the highest priority, provided they reach the qualifying score. This group is small in practice.
What the document says: A "Looked After Child", or a child who was previously looked after … will be offered a place if they have achieved a score equal to or exceeding the qualifying score.
In plain English: The first 25 girls who attract the Pupil Premium, reach the qualifying score and rank highest by test score are given an automatic place. You must confirm Pupil Premium status when you register and provide proof before the day of the entrance test; any Pupil Premium girls beyond the first 25 are slotted back into the main order of merit and considered with everyone else.
What the document says: The first twenty five "Pupil Premium" students … whose test scores are ranked highest in the merit order, and have achieved a test score equal to or exceeding the qualifying score, will be offered a place.
In plain English: Every remaining place goes to the highest-scoring qualifying girls in strict order of merit, regardless of where they live. There is no catchment area and no residence requirement. Distance only comes into it if two girls are tied for the very last place — see the worked example below.
What the document says: Following the allocation of places under Stage 1 … the remaining places are allocated in strict order of merit in accordance with girls' scores in the test.
Tie-breaker: if two girls are tied for the last available place, priority goes to a looked-after child, then a Pupil Premium girl, then the girl living nearest the school by straight-line distance. Same-address ties (e.g. flats) and twins/triplets are settled by lot or by birth order. Distance is only ever used to separate equal scores — it does not earn a place on its own.
No geographic boundary. Rank order decides everything.
Wolverhampton Girls' High School has no catchment area and no residence requirement — the arrangements say "all parents/carers living both within and beyond the City of Wolverhampton may apply". After looked-after children and the first 25 Pupil Premium places are filled, every remaining place goes to the highest-ranking qualifying girls by standardised test score — regardless of where they live. A girl in Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley or Telford competes on exactly the same terms. The circle drawn on our map is illustrative only — it is not a real boundary.
Distance only matters as a last resort: if two girls are tied for the very last place, the one living nearest the school (by straight-line measurement) takes it. For everyone else, where you live has no bearing on the outcome.
See the school's location on the GrammarBound mapTwo girls ranked by score — not by where they live.
Both girls qualified and are in criterion 3. Child A scored higher and lives far from school; Child B scored lower and lives close by. Child A ranks above Child B because score — not proximity — decides. Living nearer would only help Child B if the two had identical scores and were tied for the final place.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Girls who sat the test and scored within 2% of the lowest automatic-place score are held on a waiting list, ranked in strict oversubscription-criteria order — not by when you applied. The arrangements keep the Year 7 waiting list until the end of the autumn term 2027; when a vacancy arises it goes to the next girl on the list, and the list is re-ranked each time a child is added or removed.
After the autumn term, contact the school directly — later vacancies are filled through the in-year admissions process.
Appeal
You have the right to appeal to an independent appeal panel. For a selective school the panel must be satisfied your daughter reached the required standard, so successful appeals are uncommon. You indicate your intention to appeal in writing to the school by the date specified, and the school then sends you the forms and timetable. Appealing does not remove your daughter from the waiting list.
Joining Year 12 from outside.
Wolverhampton Girls' admits external students into Year 12 (PAN 30). Entry is by GCSE grades, not the Year 7 test, so the selective 11+ criteria do not apply.
The grade floor.
You need at least six GCSEs at grade 6 or above (or legacy grade B), which must include grade 6 in Maths and English Language, plus a minimum average points score of 6.5 across your best six subjects. On top of the general floor, each course sets its own minimum grade — published annually in the school prospectus. Offers are conditional on results, and subjects that are not GCSEs (deemed equivalents) are not accepted towards the requirement.
Apply direct to the school.
External applicants apply in writing to the school by completing an application form, then meet a senior member of staff to discuss subject options and course requirements; the Year 7 admissions criteria do not apply. Where there are more external applicants meeting the requirements than places, looked-after children come first, then students ranked by average GCSE points score — with a right of appeal if a place is not offered.