Fully selective co-educational grammar in Waterfoot, Rossendale. GL Assessment entrance exam (Verbal Reasoning, Maths, English) held Saturday 26 September 2026, up to 180 Year 7 places; results are due before the 31 October 2026 CAF deadline. Expert one-to-one preparation from Leading Tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationChecked September 2026
Ofsted's June 2026 inspection, published in September 2026, graded Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School Exceptional in every area, a sharp change from 2022's Inadequate finding.
The 26 September 2026 entrance exam has now taken place; Lancashire County Council notifies parents before the 31 October 2026 CAF deadline, with National Offer Day on 1 March 2027.
Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (widely known as BRGS) is a fully selective, co-educational grammar school for pupils aged 11 to 18, based in Waterfoot, in the Rossendale valley of east Lancashire. It is one of only a handful of fully selective grammar schools remaining in Lancashire, drawing applicants from the Rossendale towns of Bacup, Rawtenstall, Waterfoot, Newchurch, Stacksteads and Crawshawbooth, as well as from Haslingden, Edenfield, Helmshore, Whitworth, Stubbins, Shawforth and parts of Accrington. With around 1,087 pupils on roll across Years 7 to 13, including a substantial sixth form, BRGS is one of the larger grammar schools in the county.
Unlike Kent's countywide 11+ or the multi-school GL Assessment consortiums found around Manchester and Birmingham, Lancashire does not run a single county-administered grammar test. Individual grammar schools set and administer their own entrance examinations, and the independent schools within reach do the same — Bolton School runs a single mid-January examination of three multiple-choice papers that candidates for both its Boys' and Girls' Divisions sit on the same day. BRGS is one of these standalone selective schools: every child seeking a Year 7 place at BRGS must sit the school's own entrance examination, which is written and standardised by GL Assessment, the same organisation that produces many other UK grammar and independent school entrance tests. There is no non-selective route into Year 7 at BRGS, and passing the examination alone does not guarantee a place once the school's published oversubscription criteria are applied.
BRGS became part of Star Academies, a large multi-academy trust with schools across the North of England and the Midlands, in September 2023. Ofsted's most recent inspection, in June 2026, graded the school Exceptional in every evaluation area under its new report card framework — we cover the school's full Ofsted history in detail below, with a link to the published report.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| School name | Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School (BRGS) |
| Type | Fully selective co-educational grammar, Year 7–13, part of Star Academies |
| Location | Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire |
| Entrance test provider | GL Assessment (school's own standalone test) |
| Test papers | Three papers: Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics, English |
| Exam date (2027 entry) | Saturday 26 September 2026 |
| Year 7 places | Up to 180 (admission number) |
| Ofsted rating | Outstanding (2016); Inadequate (2022); Exceptional in every area at the most recent inspection, June 2026 (published September 2026) |
Because Lancashire does not operate a single county-wide 11+ test in the way Kent does, families researching BRGS need to understand that this is a standalone school entrance examination, not a shared consortium paper. The test is provided by GL Assessment and consists of three separate papers: Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English. This three-paper structure is broader than some regional consortium tests, which focus purely on verbal and non-verbal reasoning. BRGS's Mathematics paper is built around the Key Stage 2 national curriculum, and the English paper assesses reading comprehension and written expression, so preparation for BRGS genuinely needs to cover writing and mathematical problem-solving as well as verbal reasoning technique.
Free GL Assessment familiarisation materials, which give an authentic sense of question style and format, are available to download directly from the GL Assessment website. Families should use these alongside targeted practice, since GL-set papers have a recognisable style across codes, analogies, sequences, comprehension and multi-step arithmetic reasoning that benefits from focused, repeated exposure well before the test date.
There is no single published fixed pass mark for the BRGS entrance examination. Instead, children who reach the required standard are ranked by score, and offers are made according to the school's oversubscription criteria (set out below) until the 180 available places are filled. This means that a strong overall score across all three papers, rather than a pass/fail threshold on any one paper, is what actually determines whether a child receives an offer.
For children applying for a Year 7 place starting in September 2027, the opening evening, the registration deadline and the entrance examination below have now taken place; the Common Application Form deadline and National Offer Day are still ahead. Families should always confirm the current-cycle dates directly with the school, since timetables can shift slightly year to year.
Because registration and the exam itself both fall in September, and results need to feed into the CAF submitted by the end of October, the preparation window effectively closes in early autumn of Year 6. Families who want their child to sit the BRGS exam with genuine confidence, rather than last-minute cramming, should ideally begin structured preparation the previous academic year — in Year 5 or the summer before Year 6 — so that verbal reasoning technique, mathematical fluency and written English are all well established before the September test date arrives.
BRGS does not draw its intake from a single geographic catchment boundary in the way many comprehensive schools do. Instead, its admissions policy recognises two defined priority areas built around clusters of named primary schools:
When applications exceed the 180 available places — which happens most years — BRGS allocates offers in the following priority order: children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that names BRGS; looked-after and previously looked-after children; Area 1 pupils, with siblings of current BRGS pupils prioritised first and remaining Area 1 places ranked by exam score; Area 2 pupils, again with siblings prioritised first and remaining places ranked by exam score; children of staff members; siblings of pupils already attending the school who fall outside Areas 1 and 2; and finally, all other qualifying applicants, ranked purely by exam score. Where two or more children have the same score at the final cut-off point, straight-line distance from home address to school is used as the tie-break.
This layered system means that where a family lives, and which primary school a child attends, materially affects the likelihood of an offer, in addition to raw exam performance. Families outside Areas 1 and 2 can still apply and receive offers, but they compete for a smaller pool of remaining places purely on exam score, so a strong result across all three papers matters even more for out-of-area applicants.
Prospective families should be aware that BRGS's Ofsted history has changed significantly in recent years. The school was rated Outstanding by Ofsted in 2016. Its next inspection, in June 2022, judged the school Inadequate overall, with Quality of Education rated Good and Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management and Sixth Form Provision all rated Inadequate. BRGS joined Star Academies, a substantial multi-academy trust, in September 2023. Under Ofsted's new report card framework, its most recent inspection, on 9 June 2026 and published in September 2026, graded every evaluation area — Achievement, Attendance and Behaviour, Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, Leadership and Governance, and Personal Development and Wellbeing — Exceptional, with safeguarding standards met. Read the full report via the Ofsted Reports website.
None of this changes the admissions process itself: BRGS remains fully selective, the GL Assessment entrance examination is unaffected, and the 180 places continue to be allocated via the exam and the oversubscription criteria described above. But an informed decision about where to prioritise BRGS on a Common Application Form should take the current Ofsted position into account alongside academic selectivity, location and each family's own priorities.
Preparing for the BRGS 11+ Entrance Exam?
Our specialist tutors know the BRGS entrance examination inside out, having prepared pupils for the Saturday 26 September 2026 sitting of the full Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English test set by GL Assessment. We build structured, personalised programmes that address all three papers, so your child arrives at the exam confident across reasoning, arithmetic and written English, not just one narrow skill area.
See our full BRGS 11+ admissions guide for further background on the process.
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Our specialist tutors help children prepare for the Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School 11+ with personalised, one-to-one tuition.
Book a Free ConsultationFor families across Rossendale and the surrounding Lancashire towns, BRGS is frequently the only fully selective grammar school within realistic daily travelling distance. Its size — around 1,087 pupils across seven year groups, with a substantial sixth form — gives it breadth in subject choice and extracurricular provision that smaller schools cannot match. Because the school draws from a defined but non-exclusive pool of primary schools across Areas 1 and 2, and because it is one of relatively few fully selective options in this part of Lancashire, competition for the 180 available places is intense every year, and the number of applicants regularly exceeds supply.
This competitive landscape makes thorough preparation for all three papers — not just reasoning — genuinely important. A child who is strong in verbal reasoning but under-prepared for the Key Stage 2 mathematics content, or who has not practised timed written comprehension and creative writing, may underperform relative to their true ability on the day. Because BRGS's own test differs in structure from some neighbouring consortium and grammar school papers, generic 11+ practice materials are not always a perfect match, and preparation specifically targeted at the GL Assessment three-paper BRGS format gives children a genuine advantage.
Leading Tuition's specialist 11+ tuition programme works with families across Bacup, Rawtenstall, Waterfoot, Haslingden, Whitworth, Accrington and the wider Rossendale and East Lancashire area to prepare children specifically for the BRGS entrance examination. Families comparing selective schools across the North West often browse our other 11+ school guides and our free 11+ preparation resources alongside this page. We start with a diagnostic assessment covering Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English, which identifies where a child currently sits relative to the standard BRGS requires and shapes a tailored preparation plan around genuine strengths and gaps, rather than a generic off-the-shelf programme.
Verbal reasoning preparation covers the full range of GL Assessment question types — codes, analogies, sequences, word relationships and more — with an emphasis on both accuracy and speed under timed conditions, since the real exam is time-pressured. Mathematics preparation is built firmly around the Key Stage 2 curriculum but extends into the multi-step problem-solving and applied reasoning that selective entrance exams demand, going well beyond routine classroom arithmetic. English preparation focuses on comprehension technique — reading closely, answering precisely and referencing the text accurately — alongside creative and structured writing skills such as planning, vocabulary range, sentence variety and narrative or descriptive voice, all assessed under realistic timed conditions.
In the weeks before each BRGS test date, we shift the emphasis of every programme towards full timed mock papers that replicate the real exam conditions as closely as possible, building both stamina and composure. We also brief families on the wider admissions process itself — the opening evening, the registration deadline, the Area 1 and Area 2 priority system, and how the Common Application Form interacts with the exam outcome — so that no administrative step is missed during a busy autumn term.
Progress is tracked closely throughout. Our tutors use short diagnostic tasks at the start of every session to spot any drift in a particular skill area early, and adjust the following session's focus accordingly. Parents receive regular, honest updates on where their child stands, so that expectations going into the required-standard notification, due before the end of October, are realistic and well-informed rather than guesswork.
Because BRGS's registration deadline and exam both fall in mid-to-late September, and because the school's oversubscription criteria mean a strong overall score genuinely matters — even for children living within Area 1 or Area 2 — starting preparation early is one of the most reliable ways to improve a child's chances. We recommend beginning structured work in Year 5, so that the fundamentals of verbal reasoning, Key Stage 2 mathematics fluency and confident written English are firmly established well before the final run-up to the school's next entrance examination, leaving the final months for timed practice and exam technique rather than covering new content under pressure.
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Reviewed September 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against Ofsted's 2016, 2022 and June 2026 inspection reports, the DfE's Get Information about Schools record, Lancashire County Council's determined admission arrangements for Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School 2027/28, and archived copies of the school's own admissions pages (brgs.org.uk, via the Wayback Machine).
Yes. BRGS is a fully selective co-educational grammar school in Waterfoot, Rossendale, Lancashire. Every child seeking a Year 7 place must sit the school's own entrance examination, set and standardised by GL Assessment, and be ranked highly enough for an offer once oversubscription criteria are applied. There is no non-selective route into Year 7 at BRGS.
The exam is provided by GL Assessment and consists of three papers: Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English. The Mathematics paper is based on the Key Stage 2 curriculum and the English paper assesses comprehension and written expression, so preparation needs to be broader than reasoning practice alone. Free GL Assessment familiarisation materials are available from the GL Assessment website.
For September 2027 entry, the opening evening was held on Thursday 10 September 2026 (6.30pm–8.30pm) and registration closed at 12 noon on Monday 14 September 2026. The entrance examination took place on Saturday 26 September 2026, and parents are notified whether their child met the required standard before the Lancashire Common Application Form deadline of 31 October 2026. National Offer Day is 1 March 2027.
Up to 180 places for Year 7 entry each September, out of around 1,087 pupils on roll across Years 7 to 13. There is no published fixed pass mark — candidates who meet the required standard are ranked by score within each priority category, and passing the exam does not guarantee a place.
BRGS uses two priority areas rather than a single catchment: Area 1 covers Bacup, Rawtenstall, Waterfoot, Newchurch, Stacksteads and Crawshawbooth primary schools; Area 2 covers Haslingden, Edenfield, Helmshore, Whitworth, Stubbins, Shawforth and parts of Accrington. Places go first to EHCP and looked-after children, then Area 1 (siblings first, then by score), then Area 2 (siblings first, then by score), then staff children, then other siblings, then all remaining applicants ranked by score, with distance as the final tie-break.
BRGS was rated Outstanding in January 2016. Its June 2022 inspection judged the school Inadequate overall, with Quality of Education rated Good and Behaviour and Attitudes, Personal Development, Leadership and Management and Sixth Form Provision all rated Inadequate. BRGS joined Star Academies in September 2023, and its most recent inspection, on 9 June 2026 (published September 2026), graded every evaluation area Exceptional under Ofsted's new report-card framework, with safeguarding standards met. Read the full report via the Ofsted Reports website.
Preparation should cover Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English — the three tested papers. Use GL Assessment-style familiarisation materials for verbal reasoning, build Key Stage 2 mathematics fluency and problem-solving, and practise timed comprehension and creative writing for English. Because BRGS's three-paper test is set by GL Assessment and differs from some neighbouring consortium papers, practice should specifically reflect this format rather than a reasoning-only test.
Leading Tuition's specialist tutors provide personalised, one-to-one preparation for the Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School entrance examination, covering Verbal Reasoning, Mathematics and English to the standard BRGS requires. We begin with a diagnostic assessment, build a tailored programme around each child's strengths and gaps, and move to full timed mock papers as the test date nears. We also brief families on the wider admissions process, including the opening evening, registration, the Area 1 and Area 2 priority system and the Common Application Form, so that no administrative step is missed. Book a free consultation to discuss preparation for the school's next entrance examination.