Newport Girls' High School has 120 places in Year 7, and its qualifying score is set by a panel after the test, not published in advance. It is one of the 19 West Midlands partnership schools, so your daughter sits the same entrance test as she would for Birmingham or Walsall.
It is also the smallest intake of any school a Birmingham family is likely to consider, and that shapes everything else on this page.
How the qualifying score is decided
Most schools set a number and publish it. Newport Girls' High School does something unusual, and worth understanding.
According to its determined admissions policy, a panel determines the score necessary for entrance. The panel includes the headteacher of Newport Girls', the headteacher of Burton Borough School, a local authority representative and two primary headteachers from another part of Shropshire. They reach the figure by viewing work from a selection of students in local primary schools, and a piece of free writing.
The score varies slightly from year to year and is known as the qualifying score.
The practical consequence: there is no number to prepare against, and anyone quoting you a fixed figure for Newport Girls' is guessing. Several national tutoring sites quote a standardised score in the 116 to 121 range for this school. That is the generic national GL scale. It is not the scale this partnership uses, and it will mislead you.
The numbers
| What | Newport Girls' High School |
|---|---|
| Places in Year 7 | 120 |
| Qualifying score | Set by panel after the test, varies annually |
| Entrance test | The shared West Midlands partnership test |
| Sibling priority | None |
| Transport | Parents arrange and pay. Coaches from Telford, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton |
No sibling priority, which is rare
Worth flagging because families assume the opposite. The policy states there is no provision for the admittance of siblings.
The one exception is narrow: where twins or triplets hold the same standardised score and one would miss out because the admission number has been reached, the school will admit above its number to keep them together.
So if you have an older daughter at the school, that does nothing for a younger one. She qualifies on her own result or not at all.
Pupil premium here has a geographical condition
This is where a Birmingham family needs to read carefully, because the pupil premium route at Newport Girls' is not open to everyone who is eligible for pupil premium.
The policy requires all three of the following: the child is receiving pupil premium support at the time of applying for the entrance test, she attends a primary school within Telford and Wrekin listed in the policy's appendix, and she has scored no less than 95% of the qualifying score.
The middle condition rules out Birmingham children. A Birmingham girl on pupil premium is considered in the later stages on her score, like any other out-of-area applicant.
That is a meaningful difference from Haberdashers' Adams down the road, where the pupil premium criterion carries no geographical condition at all, and from Wolverhampton Girls', where there is no catchment of any kind. These schools are twenty minutes apart and their rules are not the same. Read each one.
Transport is on you, and the coaches do not come from Birmingham
The policy is direct about this: parents are responsible for arranging transport, and should expect to arrange and pay for it. The school's coaches run from Telford, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton.
Not from Birmingham. So a Birmingham family is looking at a drive to a coach pick-up, or a drive the whole way, every day for five years.
I would want a family to have actually done that journey, at the right time of morning, before putting the school on a preference form. It is the single most common reason an out-of-area place turns out to be the wrong one.
Who this school is actually for
Being straight with you: for most Birmingham families this is a long shot and a long drive. 120 places, no sibling priority, a pupil premium route that requires a Telford primary, and no coach from Birmingham.
Where it makes real sense is if you are in the north west of the region already, or if you are genuinely willing to relocate or drive. If that is you, it is an excellent school and the test result you already have is the one that counts.
For the rest, put your energy into the schools in our Birmingham grammar schools guide and into ranking your preferences properly.
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Twenty minutes apart, and completely different rules
If you take one thing from this page, make it this. Newport Girls' and Haberdashers' Adams are practically neighbours, and their admissions rules are not the same. Adams' gives pupil premium children a 5% lower threshold with no geographical condition. Newport Girls' requires a Telford and Wrekin primary school as well. Wolverhampton Girls' has no catchment at all.
Parents reasonably assume that one test means one set of rules. It does not. One test, nineteen schools, nineteen sets of criteria, and the differences between them are exactly where places are won and lost.
So read the determined admissions policy for every school you are serious about. Not the summary on a tutoring site, the actual policy PDF on the school's own site. It takes twenty minutes a school and it is the best-value twenty minutes in this whole process.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
What score do you need for Newport Girls' High School?
There is no published figure. A panel including the headteacher, the headteacher of Burton Borough School, a local authority representative and two primary headteachers sets the qualifying score after the test, by viewing work from local primary pupils and a piece of free writing. The score varies slightly from year to year.
How many places does Newport Girls' High School have?
120 places in Year 7. The school's determined admissions policy states that if the 120th girl is admitted during the first three stages of the priority order, the process stops there.
Does Newport Girls' High School give priority to siblings?
No. The policy states there is no provision for the admittance of siblings. The only exception is that where twins or triplets hold the same standardised score and one would miss out because the admission number has been reached, the school will admit above its number to keep them together.
Does pupil premium help at Newport Girls' High School?
Only if the child also attends a primary school within Telford and Wrekin listed in the policy's appendix, and scores no less than 95% of the qualifying score. All three conditions must be met, so the pupil premium route is not open to a Birmingham child, who would be considered on score in the later stages.
Is there school transport from Birmingham to Newport Girls' High School?
No. The school's coaches run from Telford, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, and the policy states that parents are responsible for arranging and paying for transport. A Birmingham family should expect a drive to a pick-up point or a drive the whole way.
Is Newport Girls' High School worth applying to from Birmingham?
For most Birmingham families it is a long shot and a long journey: 120 places, no sibling priority, a pupil premium route requiring a Telford primary school, and no coach from Birmingham. It makes sense if you are already in the north west of the region or are genuinely willing to drive it daily.