There are six Warwickshire grammar schools, not three, and they are all part of the same West Midlands partnership as the Birmingham schools. Your child sits one entrance test for all of them.
What differs is who decides the pass mark. In Warwickshire that job belongs to a Committee of Reference, and it works differently from anything in Birmingham or Walsall.
The six schools
| School | Town | Intake |
|---|---|---|
| Alcester Grammar School | Alcester | Co-educational |
| Ashlawn School | Rugby | Co-educational, partially selective |
| King Edward VI School | Stratford-upon-Avon | Co-educational |
| Lawrence Sheriff School | Rugby | Boys |
| Rugby High School | Rugby | Girls |
| Stratford Girls' Grammar School | Stratford-upon-Avon | Girls |
All six appear on the list of all 19 partnership schools. If you have seen this group described as "Stratford, Rugby and Alcester", that is three towns, not three schools.
The Committee of Reference, and why it matters
Here is the structural difference. In Birmingham, the King Edward VI Foundation publishes a qualifying score that applies across its schools. In Walsall, each school sets and publishes its own.
In Warwickshire, a Committee of Reference sets two separate figures for each school, for each year of entry:
- the Automatic Qualifying Score (AQS), the score that puts a child in line for a place, and
- the Required Minimum Academic Standard, a lower figure used for the waiting list.
Alcester Grammar School's determined admissions policy for 2027/28 sets out how: the Committee considers the aptitude of the overall cohort, the oversubscription categories, and the number of places available, and allocates in line with the published admission number where it judges the children's aptitude to be comparable to cohorts previously admitted.
Two things follow. First, the figures are set after the test, so there is no target to prepare against. Second, a child below the AQS is not necessarily finished, because the lower minimum standard governs the waiting list.
Priority areas are real here
Unlike Wolverhampton Girls', the Warwickshire schools do use geography. Alcester's priority area, for instance, is defined as a circle with a radius of 16.936 miles drawn from the Fountain in Rother Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, to the county boundary south of Long Compton.
Most of Birmingham sits outside a boundary drawn that way, though the southern edge of the city is closer to it than people assume. Each school defines its own area, so check the one you care about rather than generalising, and confirm with Warwickshire School Admissions, which administers admissions for these schools.
What this means for a Birmingham family
Honestly? For most of Birmingham, Warwickshire is the least practical of the out-of-area options. It is further than Walsall, further than Wolverhampton, and unlike those two it layers a priority area on top of the score.
Where it genuinely works is for families in south Birmingham and Solihull, where the drive to Alcester or Stratford is realistic and the priority boundary is at least worth checking.
If that is you, the test result you already have counts, and adding a school to the preference form costs you nothing under equal preference. If it is not, I would put the energy into Walsall and Wolverhampton instead.
Before you add one to your form
- Read that school's own determined admissions policy. Each of the six sets its own admission number and priority area.
- Check the priority area against your actual address with Warwickshire Admissions, not by eye on a map.
- Do not look for a target score. The AQS is set after the test.
- Ask about the waiting list. The minimum academic standard is lower than the AQS, and that is a real route.
- Drive it once at eight in the morning before you commit.
For how to place these on your form, see our guide to ranking preferences.
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Two numbers, not one, and that is good news
Most parents hear 'qualifying score' and picture a single line you are either above or below. Warwickshire does not work like that, and the detail is genuinely in your favour if you know it.
There are two figures. The Automatic Qualifying Score puts a child in line for a place. Below it sits a Required Minimum Academic Standard, and that lower figure is what governs the waiting list. A child who misses the first number can still be sitting in a real queue against the second.
I mention it because families write off a near miss far too quickly, and in this county a near miss is explicitly provided for. If your child is in that gap, ask the school where she sits against the minimum standard rather than assuming the answer is no.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
How many grammar schools are there in Warwickshire?
Six: Alcester Grammar School, Ashlawn School in Rugby, King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon, Lawrence Sheriff School in Rugby, Rugby High School, and Stratford Girls' Grammar School. All six are part of the 19-school West Midlands partnership and use the same entrance test.
What is the Automatic Qualifying Score for Warwickshire grammar schools?
It is not published in advance. A Committee of Reference sets the Automatic Qualifying Score for each school for each year of entry, after the test, taking into account the aptitude of that year's cohort, the oversubscription categories and the number of places available.
What is the difference between the AQS and the minimum academic standard?
The Automatic Qualifying Score is the score that puts a child in line for a place. The Required Minimum Academic Standard is a lower figure used to govern the waiting list. Both are set per school per year by the Committee of Reference, which means a child below the AQS may still be eligible for the waiting list.
Do Warwickshire grammar schools have catchment areas?
Yes, they use priority areas, unlike some other partnership schools. Alcester Grammar School's is defined as a circle with a radius of 16.936 miles from the Fountain in Rother Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, to the county boundary south of Long Compton. Each school defines its own, so check the specific policy.
Can a Birmingham child apply to a Warwickshire grammar school?
Yes. They are part of the same partnership and use the same entrance test, so one test result covers them. In practice Warwickshire is the least convenient of the out-of-area options for most of Birmingham, and the schools layer a priority area on top of the score, so it suits south Birmingham and Solihull families best.