High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire · Buckinghamshire

The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe

One of England's oldest schools (1562), using the same standard Buckinghamshire 121 threshold as every other county grammar — selectivity here is about oversubscription, not a higher published bar.

RGS traces its history to 1562, making it one of the oldest state schools in England. Boys are admitted for Years 7-11; the Sixth Form has been co-educational since September 2025. Like the county's other grammars it shares Buckinghamshire's Secondary Transfer Test and the standard 121 qualifying score — reaching that bar doesn't rank you higher, and places are decided by catchment area and distance instead.

Key facts

Gender: boys
Age range: 11-18
Region: South East
Local authority: Buckinghamshire
Established: 1562
DfE URN: 136484
Website: https://www.rgshw.com

Admissions

Admissions authority: The school sets its own test and criteria
Entrance test board: GL Assessment sets, marks and standardises the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test; Buckinghamshire Council administers registration and logistics for all Bucks grammar schools, including RGS.
Test format: Two papers sat the same day, each around 60 minutes including practice examples, assessing verbal, non-verbal and mathematical skills. Each skill area is age-standardised and summed into a single Secondary Transfer Test Score (STTS) on a 60-170 scale.partly verified
A Paper 1 (English & Verbal Reasoning) / Paper 2 (Maths & Non-Verbal Reasoning) split is reported by tutoring sites but not confirmed on Buckinghamshire Council's own marking-methodology page.
Qualifying / pass mark: An STTS of 121 or more, quoted directly from the school's own admissions policy — the same county-wide threshold as every Buckinghamshire grammar school. Scoring above 121 doesn't improve priority; places among qualifying boys are allocated by the criteria below, not by score rank. Boys below 121 can still be deemed qualified via a Selection Review Panel.
Superselective?: Nopartly verified
The 'false' conclusion is based on directly verified facts (uniform 121 threshold; catchment/distance ranking, not score ranking), but a reputational claim that RGS is one of the more oversubscribed Bucks boys' grammars couldn't be checked against real ranking data, since none is published.

Catchment & priority criteria

A two-tier geographic catchment ('Priority Area A' and 'Priority Area B') radiates from High Wycombe toward Stokenchurch/West Wycombe, Great Kingshill/Prestwood, and Gerrards Cross/Denham/Uxbridge — exact boundaries are published only as a council map, so check Buckinghamshire Council's postcode catchment tool directly. All applicants must first reach the 121 qualifying score.partly verified

The ordered oversubscription criteria are exactly quoted from the school's determined policy. The Priority Area A/B boundaries are read off a map graphic, not a postcode list — check Buckinghamshire Council's live catchment checker before relying on them.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children
Up to 6 places: in-catchment applicants eligible for Pupil Premium (or looked-after) scoring 115-120, or not otherwise deemed qualified
Qualified (121+) Pupil Premium-eligible children living in the catchment area
Siblings of day students already on roll
Applicants living in the catchment area (Priority Area A ranked ahead of Priority Area B if oversubscribed, each by distance)
Children of staff (2+ years' service, or a skill-shortage appointment)
Remaining places by straight-line distance to the school
Exact distance ties are both admitted

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2025	73.9 (Buckinghamshire average 53.4, England average 46.1)	97.6% (Buckinghamshire 58.7%, England 45.4%)	—	—	85.8%
85% of all Maths GCSE grades at 9-7, including 25% at grade 9.
2024	—	—	—	—	77.9%

Ofsted

Rating: Good (2019 graded inspection; a February 2025 ungraded monitoring visit found evidence the school may have improved significantly since, but did not reassign a new overall grade under Ofsted's post-2024 framework)
Date: 25-26 February 2025
Report: Read the full report

Sources

1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, capacity, LA — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/136484
2. Determined Admissions Policy (Day Places) for September 2027 entry — https://www.rgshw.com/_site/data/files/documents/admissions%20policies/2027/832D280A77710FCEE8794B5BBEB83A1D.pdf
3. Council-produced Priority Area A/B catchment map — https://www.rgshw.com/_site/data/files/documents/admissions%20policies/FE1276EB9867A6399C3B29629C3159AF.pdf
4. Buckinghamshire Council — Secondary Transfer Test marking methodology (GL Assessment, 60-170 scale) — https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-libraries-and-parks/school-admissions-and-appeals/guides-and-policies/guide-to-grammar-schools-and-the-secondary-school-transfer-test-11-plus/marking-the-secondary-transfer-test/
5. Buckinghamshire Council — confirms no school-by-school score data is published — https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/schools-index/school-admissions/grammar-schools-and-transfer-testing-11/secondary-transfer-test-results
6. Ofsted report, inspected 25-26 February 2025 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50273005
7. DfE Compare School Performance — 2025 GCSE results — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136484/the-royal-grammar-school,-high-wycombe/secondary
8. School's own results page — A-level history, GCSE Maths breakdown — https://www.rgshw.com/page/?title=Academic+Results&pid=181
9. School's own admissions page — co-ed sixth form since Sept 2025 — https://www.rgshw.com/page/?title=Admissions&pid=7

Last updated 2026-08-30. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.