Contents
Thinking about applying to Royal Grammar School? Find out everything you need to know about admissions and how to prepare your child for success in the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test.
Key information about Royal Grammar School
Address: Royal Grammar School, Amersham Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP13 6QT
Number of pupils: 1,300+
Admissions contact: [email protected]
Number of places in Year 7: 192 (182 day places and 10 boarding places)
11+ exam: Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test
Catchment area: Yes
Dates for your diary
11+ registration opens: Friday 3rd May 2024
11+ registration closes: Friday 14th June 2024
11+ exam date: Thursday 12th September 2024
11+ results released: Friday 11th October 2024
Secondary school application deadline: 31st October 2024
School allocations: 3rd March 2025
About Royal Grammar School
The Royal Grammar School, or RGS High Wycombe, is a selective state school for boys aged 11 to 18 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. From September 2025, the school will accept girls into its sixth form.
Education at RGS High Wycombe combines centuries of tradition with the best of modern educational practice. It offers more than 25 subjects at GSCE and A levels. Almost all students choose to go on to university, including Oxford and Cambridge.
Unusually for a state school, the Royal Grammar School can offer up to 70 boys accommodation within a state-of-the-art boarding house. Boarders enjoy extra study time, continuous academic and pastoral support, and a wide range of activities. They also benefit from boarding fees at one-third of the cost of private school boarding.
How to apply to Royal Grammar School
Royal Grammar School is a selective school. This means that your child will need to take the 11 plus exam to be eligible for a place. In Buckinghamshire, the 11 plus is known as the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test.
All children who go to a primary school in Buckinghamshire are entered to take the test. This means that you will not need to register your child separately.
If your child goes to a primary school outside of Buckinghamshire, you’ll need to register them to take the test. Registration for the 2024 exam opens on Friday 3rd May 2024 and closes on Friday 14th June 2024.
The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test will take place on Thursday 12th September 2024. You’ll receive your child’s results on Friday 11th October 2024. You can then use these results to decide whether to apply for a place at Royal Grammar School.
To apply, you’ll need to name the school as one of your preferred schools on the secondary school common application form. This will be available on your home council website from early September and must be submitted by Thursday 31st October 2024.
Remember – passing the entrance exam doesn’t guarantee that your child will be allocated a place at your preferred school. Many grammar schools are often oversubscribed with qualified children. Schools and their admissions authorities work through admissions criteria to prioritise children for places. We’ve included the admissions criteria for Royal Grammar School below.
What subjects are on the Secondary Transfer Test?
The Secondary Transfer Test consists of two one-hour papers supplied by GL Assessment.
One paper tests verbal skills. This includes English comprehension, technical English, and verbal reasoning.
The other paper tests maths and non-verbal skills. This includes Key Stage 2 maths, non-verbal reasoning and spatial reasoning.
Free Buckinghamshire 11+ course
Is your child taking the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test within the next year?
Boost exam preparation, learn key skills and build confidence with Atom's free course for the Buckinghamshire 11+. Get Buckinghamshire practice papers and video lessons sent straight to your inbox – for no cost.
How does place allocation work at Royal Grammar School?
Your child’s total score in the entrance exam will be age-standardised and weighted. Find out how this mark is worked out in our guide to the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test.
The qualifying mark for entry to Buckinghamshire grammar schools is 121. Children are not ranked beyond this point – places are then based on your target school’s admissions criteria.
If more than 192 children applying to Royal Grammar School achieve a score of 121 or higher, the school applies oversubscription criteria. Children are prioritised for places in the following order:
Looked after and previously looked after boys
Boys living in the catchment area who qualify for free school meals
Brothers of boys on roll at RGS High Wycombe
All other boys living in the catchment are
Sons of a member of staff at RGS High Wycombe
All remaining places will then be allocated in distance order, with boys living closest to the school offered priority. If there is an absolute tie, then each boy in the tie will be admitted.
How can I help my child prepare for the Buckinghamshire Test?
The Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test is designed to be challenging. Here are our top tips to help your child prepare for the exam in September 2024.
Bitesize learning
It’s important to build a good knowledge base before the 11 plus. Using a ‘little and often’ approach when learning is key – our brains encode new information more effectively when dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of information. For children aged 10–11, child psychologists recommend regular study sessions of 20–30 minutes.
Atom Home makes learning a more enjoyable process for your child. They'll explore exciting worlds full of interactive questions, earning coins to spend in the Atom shop. Atom adapts to your child, showing them questions at just the right level of difficulty to keep them motivated.
Read widely
11 plus exams test your child’s ability to analyse and interpret written information. Regular reading is a great way to help your child build these skills.
Encourage them to read books from different genres and by a diverse range of authors. Increasing the variety of your child’s reading will help them understand different styles, tones and purposes. Meanwhile, reading a little every day will help widen their vocabulary, sharpen their analytical thinking, and enhance their imagination.
Refine exam technique
When your child feels confident with the topics they’ve learnt in Year 5, they’ll be ready to put their knowledge to the test.
Practice tests can help your child develop problem-solving skills and build confidence working under test conditions. They’re also a great way to consolidate learning and highlight knowledge gaps for further improvement.
With Atom Home, you'll unlock online mock tests and printable practice papers. Enjoy automatic marking and progress tracking with the online tests, and help your child get familiar with the real exam experience with printable practice papers.
Celebrate progress
Setting regular, achievable goals and celebrating your child’s progress – no matter how big or small – will help keep their motivation high.
Make sure to encourage a growth mindset. This means celebrating effort, as well as achievement! When your child makes mistakes or struggles to understand a particular topic, help them understand that they’ll improve through practice. Regular praise will help your child improve their resilience when tackling new and challenging topics.
Tailored preparation for the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test
Wish you could give your child a roadmap to success in the Secondary Transfer Test? You can. Atom Home has everything you need to get prepared, in one package.
You don't need a tutor to get into your top-choice grammar school. You just need Atom. We’ll create a tailored plan for your child and support them along their fun revision journey.
Online and printable 11 plus practice papers
90,000+ adaptive questions
500+ hours of on-demand video lessons
Automatic marking and instant progress data
Navigate the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test with confidence.
Start your free trial today. Our local admissions specialists will get to work on your child’s plan. Relax, Secondary Transfer Test prep is sorted.
Contents