UK Grammar Schools: List, Competition & Results
11 min read
How many grammar schools there are in England and where, how competitive they really are, why they're popular with parents, and how admissions criteria generally work.
Once a family starts looking seriously at the 11+, three questions come up almost immediately: how many grammar schools are there, how hard is it actually to get in, and why do parents want a place so much? Here’s the honest picture, sourced from public records rather than guesswork.
How many grammar schools, and where
England has around 163 state-funded, fully selective grammar schools — a small fraction of secondary schools nationally, concentrated heavily in a handful of counties and London boroughs. There are currently no state grammar schools in North East England, and several other regions have very few. This table is built from published county-by-county counts and gives a genuine sense of where the 11+ actually matters as a route into secondary school:
| Region | Grammar schools | Notable concentrations |
|---|---|---|
| South East England | ~56 | Kent (~31) and Buckinghamshire (~13) are the two largest grammar-school counties in England |
| South West England | ~20 | Gloucestershire, Plymouth, Torbay |
| West Midlands | ~19 | Birmingham, Warwickshire |
| North West England | ~19 | Trafford and Wirral (Greater Manchester / Merseyside) are the largest concentrations |
| Greater London | ~19 | Spread across several boroughs incl. Sutton, Bexley, Barnet |
| East Midlands | ~14 | Almost entirely Lincolnshire |
| East of England | ~8 | Essex, Southend-on-Sea |
| Yorkshire & the Humber | ~6 | Calderdale, Kirklees, North Yorkshire |
| North East England | 0 | No remaining state grammar schools |
In practice, this means whether the 11+ is even relevant to your family depends heavily on where you live — some counties (Kent, Buckinghamshire) have a genuinely selective system across most of the area, while most of the country has none at all. Always check your own local authority’s admissions page to see what applies to you specifically.
How competitive are they, really
“How hard is it to get in?” has no single answer — the 11+ is not uniformly competitive. It ranges from a handful of London “super-selective” schools that turn away the vast majority of applicants, to county grammar schools that admit a much larger share of the children who sit the test:
| School (example) | Roughly how many applicants | Roughly how many places | What that means |
|---|---|---|---|
| A London super-selective (e.g. Henrietta Barnett School) | 2,746 (2019-20) | 104 (2019-20; grown to ~120 more recently) | Around 26 applicants per place — among the most competitive schools in the country |
| The Tiffin School and Tiffin Girls’ School (separate schools, similar ratio) | 1,800+ each | 180 each | Roughly 10 applicants per place at each school |
| The Sutton consortium (5 schools together, incl. Wilson’s School and Nonsuch High School for Girls) | ~4,500 test sittings | ~900 | Roughly 5 applicants per place |
| A typical county grammar (e.g. Clitheroe Royal Grammar School) | ~460 | ~180 | Roughly 2–3 applicants per place — still selective, far less extreme |
Nationally, estimates of how many children sit an 11+-style test each year vary a lot depending on what’s being counted (different sources report anywhere from roughly 90,000 to well over 200,000) — there is no single centrally published figure, because not every local authority reports its numbers in the same way. What’s more consistent across sources: roughly 1 in 5 children who sit a grammar-school test go on to secure a place, though this ranges from “most children who sit and reach the qualifying score get in” in some county areas to “only the top few percent” at the most oversubscribed London schools.
Why they’re popular with parents
Grammar schools consistently post higher raw GCSE and A-level results, and stronger progression to competitive universities, than the national average — league tables make this very visible, and it’s the most obvious reason they’re in demand. Research by the Education Policy Institute found pupils at grammar schools achieve, on average, around a third of a grade higher across 8 GCSEs than similar pupils (matched on prior attainment and background) at comprehensive schools.
The honest complication: that comparison is against comprehensives generally. When the same research compares grammar-school pupils specifically against similar pupils at top-performing comprehensives, the gap mostly disappears — suggesting a meaningful part of the raw results gap reflects whoattends a grammar school (already high-attaining pupils, selected by test) rather than something inherent to the school itself. There’s also a documented downside: in areas with grammar schools, the non-selective schools nearby tend to show below-average results, likely because the local system as a whole sorts higher-attaining pupils away from them. This is a genuinely contested area of education research, not a settled fact either way — worth knowing before treating “grammar school = better outcome” as simple and certain.
Whatever the causal picture, the practical reason grammar schools are popular with parents is real and straightforward: strong league-table results, a more academically selective peer group, and — for many families — a genuine alternative to the cost of independent school fees.
How admissions generally work
Every grammar school (or the local authority coordinating several of them) sets its own admissions policy, so specifics vary — but most policies draw on a similar set of criteria:
| Criterion | How it typically works |
|---|---|
| 11+ test score | A qualifying score, or a rank order of scores, usually forms the core of the criteria |
| Catchment area / distance | Priority for children living within a defined area, or closer to the school |
| Sibling priority | Priority if an older sibling already attends the school |
| Faith criteria | Some grammar schools have a religious designation and prioritise faith-based criteria |
| Feeder schools | A small number of areas give priority based on the primary school attended |
This is a general picture, not a substitute for the real thing— the exact combination, the qualifying score, and how heavily each criterion is weighted are set individually by each school or local authority, and they do change between admissions cycles. Always check your target school’s (or local authority’s) own current published admissions policy directly before making any decisions based on this guide.
For what the test itself actually covers, see What Is the 11+? A Parent’s Guide and GL, CEM and ISEB: What’s the Difference?. For real, school-specific admissions detail, see our individual grammar school guides (Kent and Greater London so far), plus how the Kent Test works and how London’s own-test schools differ.
Common questions
Is there a full list of every grammar school by name?
Not a complete one yet. We've verified the county-by-county counts below against public records, and we've started building dedicated, individually verified pages for specific schools — starting with Kent (England's largest grammar-school county) and Greater London (home to the country's most competitive super-selectives). For regions we haven't covered yet, Wikipedia's "List of grammar schools in England" is a well-maintained public source to browse by name.
Is it true that grammar schools get better results?
Grammar schools do post higher raw GCSE and A-level results than the national average — that's real and it's a big part of why they're in demand. Whether that's because of the school itself or because they admit already high-attaining children is a genuinely contested question among education researchers (see below) — it's not as simple as 'grammar schools are just better.'
Are all grammar schools equally hard to get into?
No — this varies enormously. A handful of London 'super-selectives' turn away the large majority of applicants, while many county grammar schools (particularly in areas with several grammar schools serving a wide catchment) admit a much higher share of children who sit the test. Always check the specific school's own recent admissions figures.
Do all grammar schools use the same admissions criteria?
No. The general categories are consistent (test score, distance/catchment, siblings, sometimes faith or feeder-school links), but the exact rules — and how they're weighted — are set by each school or local authority individually. Always check the specific school's published admissions policy, not a generic guide.