Best grammar schools in London 2026

Greater London has 19 state grammar schools spread across seven boroughs, and most of them are heavily oversubscribed. Several of the headline names are super-selective: They take the very highest scorers from a pool of thousands, regardless of where the child lives. A few (notably some of the Sutton and Bexley schools) layer in a catchment tiebreaker once a child has qualified. That's the short version.

The longer version matters more. Each of London's grammars uses its own admissions process, sits in a different borough, and looks for slightly different things. If you're a Year 5 parent weighing up whether to apply, this guide walks through where the schools are, the tests they use, and the realistic odds. School counts and admissions detail are taken from gov.uk's grammar school list and each school's current admissions arrangements.

There are 19 fully selective state grammar schools in Greater London, spread across seven boroughs: Sutton (5), Bexley (4), Barnet (3), Bromley (2), Kingston upon Thames (2), Redbridge (2) and Enfield (1). The Department for Education's official list of 163 grammar schools in England puts London's share at roughly 12%, which is a meaningful slice but still well below the capital's share of the school-age population.

That under-supply is the main reason London grammars are so competitive. Demand massively outstrips supply, and many of these schools now use a two-stage admissions process to cope with application volumes that can run past 2,000 children for 180 places.

Below is the full list, with the test used at each school. Selectivity model and oversubscription rules change year to year, so check each school's current admissions arrangements before committing to a plan.

Super-selective typically means there's no distance tiebreaker. Places go to the highest scorers in the entrance test. A child living next door to the school competes on exactly the same terms as one travelling in from another borough or even another county.

In practice, several of the headline London grammars operate close to this purely-by-score model: Queen Elizabeth's School Barnet, Henrietta Barnett, Wilson's and Sutton Grammar. The Tiffin schools are different: The Tiffin Girls' School operates a Designated Area covering a large number of named postal districts and offers have overwhelmingly gone to candidates living inside it. Nonsuch High School for Girls splits its places: around 85 are awarded on score regardless of address and the larger share (roughly 125) is reserved for applicants within an approx 5 km catchment radius (the school's published radius). The Latymer School in Enfield uses a hard Inner Area postcode eligibility gate (a defined list of E, EN and N postcodes), so children living outside that area cannot apply at all. Wallington County Grammar reserves around 15 of its 150 places for Sutton residents specifically. Wallington High for Girls is the main score-then-distance hybrid: it uses the SET as a qualifying test but ranks qualifying applicants by distance from the school, so it operates more like a catchment-based grammar than a super-selective one. The Bexley grammars admit on a borough-wide basis with a Bexley-resident tiebreaker. Read each school's admissions arrangements carefully because the rules differ in important ways.

As a rule of thumb, children generally need to be among the strongest performers in the applicant cohort to have a realistic chance at the most competitive schools. Competition becomes significantly steeper outside that band.

Most London grammars run a two-stage admissions test in September and October of Year 6. Stage 1 is usually a GL Assessment paper covering English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning. The top scorers (often around 400-500 children) are then invited to a second stage, which is the school's own paper. The combined score determines who gets an offer.

The key dates to know:

The London Borough of Sutton runs the Sutton Selective Eligibility Test (SET), the shared entrance test used by the Sutton grammar schools. It filters applicants for all five Sutton grammars: Nonsuch High School for Girls, Sutton Grammar, Wallington County Grammar (boys), Wallington High for Girls, and Wilson's. The same SET also feeds the ability places at Greenshaw High. Children sit the SET once and the score feeds into stage 2 invitations for each school they've applied to.

This matters because it saves you registering for five separate stage 1 exams. It doesn't reduce competition, though: Several thousand children typically sit the SET each year for the combined Sutton grammar intake.

Tiffin School (boys) and The Tiffin Girls' School (girls) both run their own bespoke two-stage tests, not GL Assessment papers. Stage 1 for Tiffin Girls' for 2027 entry was held in early October 2026 (later than the early September slot some other London grammars use). Stage 2, sat in November, is the school's own written paper covering English and maths in more depth. Confirm the exact dates against the school's published 2027 timeline before planning around them.

Both schools take around 180 children per year. Both regularly sit in the top 10 for state school A-Level results nationally. The Tiffin Girls' School operates a Designated Area covering a large number of named postal districts across Surrey and south-west London; in practice, offers have overwhelmingly gone to candidates living inside the Designated Area, so out-of-area applicants face very long odds regardless of test score.

Queen Elizabeth's School in Barnet, a boys' grammar founded in 1573, runs its own school-set entrance assessment in September covering English and maths, with no consortium link. The school's published test format has changed across recent cycles, so check the school's admissions page for the current arrangements rather than assuming the format from a previous year. It's one of the most academically dominant state schools in the country. The Henrietta Barnett School (girls) uses a two-stage GL plus own paper approach. Barnet also has St Michael's Catholic Grammar School, a Catholic girls' grammar that selects on its own test alongside faith criteria.

Greater London has a small number of co-educational grammars: The Latymer School in Enfield, alongside Bexley Grammar and Chislehurst & Sidcup in the Bexley cluster. Latymer runs a two-stage test covering English, maths and verbal reasoning and admits around 192 places a year (confirm the current PAN on the school's admissions page).

Bromley has two grammars: St Olave's (boys, Christian foundation) in Orpington and Newstead Wood (girls) in Orpington. Both are fully selective state grammars and both run their own two-stage admissions process. The Bexley cluster (Bexley Grammar, Beths, Chislehurst & Sidcup, Townley) admits via a shared Bexley selection test, which is transitioning to Quest Assessments (confirmed for 2027 entry per the LA admissions update), with a Bexley-resident tiebreaker. Redbridge has Ilford County High (boys) and Woodford County High (girls), both with their own selective tests.

Honest answer: It depends on three things. Your child's confidence under timed test conditions, how much time you can give to preparation (many families who succeed start in Year 4 or early Year 5), and your backup plan if it doesn't work out.

The academic standards at London grammars are high. Wilson's and Henrietta Barnett tend to be among the strongest state schools nationally at GCSE in recent DfE performance tables. But the application process itself is intense, the prep can run into the thousands of pounds if you use a tutor, and the rejection rate is high enough that you need solid alternatives lined up.

A few questions worth asking yourself before you start: