Birmingham has four grammar schools a daughter can realistically apply to, and catchment decides which of them are genuinely open to you before her score does.
That order matters, and most comparison articles get it backwards. Catchment first, then the score, then the shortlist.
The girls' options in and around Birmingham
| School | Intake | Area |
|---|---|---|
| King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls | Girls | South Birmingham |
| King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls | Girls | North west Birmingham |
| Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls | Girls | Sutton Coldfield |
| King Edward VI Five Ways | Co-educational | South west Birmingham |
Just outside the city, the same test also opens Queen Mary's High School in Walsall, Wolverhampton Girls' High School, Newport Girls' High School, Rugby High School and Stratford Girls' Grammar School. All are in the partnership's own school list.
Catchment first, then the score
Here is how I actually work through it with a family, and it is deliberately not a league table.
Take a daughter who scores 225 and lives in the Handsworth area. Within catchment, on that score, the realistic options are King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls and potentially Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. That is the shortlist. Not because the other schools are better or worse, but because those are the ones her address and her mark open together.
From there the sensible move is the safer option: the school where she is most likely to secure a place on that score.
Run the same score from a different postcode and you get a different shortlist. There is no universal ranking to hand you.
When a high score changes the rules
Above a certain level, roughly from the 250s upward, a daughter has the freedom to apply almost anywhere, because she sits near the top of every ranked list and catchment stops being decisive.
That is a real and important exception. It is also a small group. For most families, and I want to be straight about this, the advice is still to go with catchment.
Five Ways is the mixed option, and that is why it is so competitive
Camp Hill, Handsworth and Sutton Coldfield all run separate boys' and girls' schools. King Edward VI Five Ways is the exception in Birmingham: it is co-educational.
For families who want a mixed environment, or who have a son and a daughter and would rather not run two school runs for seven years, that makes Five Ways unusually attractive. Which in turn makes it heavily oversubscribed. Factor that in rather than treating it as a safe bet.
Putting it on the form
- Map your catchment first, by ward, for each of the four.
- Then lay the score against it and see what both open together.
- Include the safer option, the one her mark most comfortably clears.
- Look outside the city too. Wolverhampton Girls' has no catchment at all, and Walsall sets lower thresholds.
- Rank truthfully. Equal preference means ambition at the top costs you nothing lower down.
See our catchment guide and our guide to Wolverhampton Girls' High School.
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Catchment comes first, and then the score
When I compare the girls' schools for a family, I do not start with the schools. I start with the postcode.
Say a daughter gets 225 and lives in the Handsworth area. The schools she can realistically apply for within catchment on that score are King Edward VI Handsworth and potentially Sutton Coldfield Girls. So the obvious thing is to go for the safer option, the one where she is most likely to get a place on that mark. Catchment comes first when applying, and then that coincides with the actual score she got.
A very high score does give you freedom to apply for pretty much all of the schools. It is still not guaranteed, because catchment matters so much, unless the score is very high indeed, perhaps 250 plus, and then the option to apply anywhere is genuinely open. For everyone else, and this is what I tell most parents, go with the catchment.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
Which girls' grammar schools are there in Birmingham?
Three girls' schools: King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, King Edward VI Handsworth School for Girls, and Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. King Edward VI Five Ways is co-educational and admits girls too, making four realistic options inside the city.
Should I choose a girls' grammar school by score or by catchment?
Catchment first, then the score. Your address determines which schools are genuinely open to you, and the score then determines which of those are realistic. A daughter scoring 225 in the Handsworth area has a different shortlist from a daughter scoring 225 in Kings Heath.
What score does my daughter need for a Birmingham girls' grammar school?
The King Edward VI Foundation set a qualifying score of 205 and a priority score of 224 for 2026 entry across its Birmingham schools. Those figures are reset annually, and clearing the qualifying score means being considered rather than being offered a place, because allocation then depends on catchment and rank.
Is King Edward VI Five Ways a girls' school?
It is co-educational, and it is the main mixed grammar school in Birmingham. That makes it attractive to families who want a mixed environment or who have a son and a daughter, and it is part of why the school is so heavily oversubscribed.
Can my daughter apply to girls' grammar schools outside Birmingham?
Yes, on the same test result. Queen Mary's High School in Walsall, Wolverhampton Girls' High School, Newport Girls' High School, Rugby High School and Stratford Girls' Grammar School are all in the same 19-school partnership. Wolverhampton Girls' has no catchment area at all.