OPEN EVENTS 2026/27
Open Evening - Thursday 1 October 2026
On 1 October 2026 we extended a warm welcome to many parents and students to our autumn Open Evening. Talks from our Principal, Mr Knight, and the Marling Leadership Team, were held a number of times during the evening. The school was open for everyone to explore the curriculum subjects and school campus, talking to our wonderful teachers and students. An open evening is the time to ask your questions and gain the feel for Marling School. Our next evening event will be in October 2027.
Year 6 Qualifying Students (October 2026)
After students are notified of their results in mid-October, we hold open mornings, exclusively, for students who have gained a qualifying rank to Marling in the entrance test. The morning consists of a talk, a tour and an opportunity to ask questions. Our year 8 students always look forward to showing you around their school. A link to book a place is included in the result lettter which is emailed to the address you supplied on your test registration form. The results are out in mid-October and we advise that before they are released you read our Results are Out – What Happens Next document, a summary of the Gloucestershire grammar schools allocation procedure.
Open Mornings (May 2027)
Open Mornings will be held in May 2027. The mornings are primarily for students in year 4 and year 5, parents and carers, to come and see Marling School during a working morning. You will receive a talk from our Principal followed by a tour of Marling School with our key stage 3 students. Dates of these events will be available later in 2026.
Marling School is a non-fee paying, selective Grammar School for boys aged 11-16 years with a co-educational Sixth Form.
To gain entry to Year 7, all pupils must sit and gain a qualifying rank in the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Entrance Test. Registration for the Entrance Test is in the spring of Year 5 and the test is taken at the end of the summer term of Year 5. Marling School operates within the Gloucestershire County Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme for Year 7 entry.
In year admissions for Year 8 to Year 11 can be made and should be directed to our Admissions Officer by submitting an In Year Application Form to admissions@marling.school.
All Sixth Form admission enquiries should be directed to the Senior Sixth Form Administrator, Mrs Paula Searle-Edwards P.Searle-Edwards@marling.school.
In the normal primary to secondary route of entry, all boys in their correct chronological cohort for Year 5 must sit the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Entrance Test organised by the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools and can be sat at Marling School. Parents/carers must register their child for the Entrance Test by completion of the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Registration Form (usually in the spring term of Year 5). The Registration link will appear on this website at the appropriate time. Boys interested in a place at Marling School must share their result with Marling on the Registration Form.
Boys who achieve a qualifying score in the Entrance Test will need to declare Marling School as one of their choices on their Common Application Form (CAF) which must be submitted by 31 October (in the winter term of Year 6), if they wish to gain a place. In Gloucestershire, the form asks parents/carers to state their ranked preferences for up to five secondary schools. Only boys with a qualifying score will be considered for entry to Marling School.
All offers of school places will be made by the Local Authority (usually 1 March). This will be the school with the highest ranked preference for which your son has met the admission criteria.
Out of county applications will be accepted for candidates who live outside Gloucestershire, however, parents/carers will need to contact their own local authority in relation to the Common Application Form. The process should then enable your own local authority to liaise with Gloucestershire County Council regarding allocation of schools.
Out of cohort applicants must apply for approval from Marling School's Admissons Committee prior to registering for the Entrance Test in the summer. Read our Admissions Policy for more information.
2027 Entry (current Year 6 students)
May - June 2026: Registration window is now closed.
12 September 2026: Entrance Test. Test has been held.
Mid-October: Ranks emailed to parents.
31 October 2026: Common Application Form (CAF) deadline for secondary school choices to Local Authorities.
1 March 2027: National Allocation Day for Secondary School. Notification is by Local Authorities you should reply to your Local Authority by the date specified in the letter or email.
5 April 2027: Parents are notified of waiting list request outcomes by Gloucestershire County Council.
You can remind yourself of the procedure by reading our document Results Out - What Happens Next - September 2027 Entry (listed below), a summary of the Gloucestershire grammar schools allocation procedure. Please read this information before contacting Marling School's Admission Officer as it should answer your query.
2028 Entry (current Year 5 students)
Noon Monday 8 February 2027: Registration opens
Noon Friday 19 March 2027: Registration Closes
3 July 2027: Entrance Test
2028 Entry (current Year 5 students)
The Gloucestershire Grammar Schools Entrance Test for entry into Year 7 in September 2028 will take place on Saturday 3 July 2027. If your child is currently in Year 5 and wishes to apply for a place at a Gloucestershire Grammar School, they must take this test. Registration will open on Monday 8 February 2027 (12 noon) and close on Friday 19 March 2027 (12 noon). Following the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools announcement earlier this year, the test provider will be Future Stories Community Enterprise (FSCE). The admissions test will consist of three FSCE papers:
- Adventure Paper: English and Maths, with Multiple Choice Answer options
- Beacon Paper: English and Maths, where you respond with Short Written Answers
- Compass Paper: any of the following subjects you learn at school: Art & Design, Computing, Design & Technology, English, Geography, History, Languages, Maths, Music, Physical Education, Science, with Multiple Choice Answer options.
Any changes to your data? Please note that most correspondence with you will be through the email address you put on the registration form. The email and postal address you supply are important for communication and either may be used to send you final Entrance Test day forms and drop off and pick up details within three weeks prior to the test. Therefore if you change an email or postal address or any other detail, such as primary school, between registering and the three weeks prior to the entrance test, you must supply the Admissions Officer of the school at which your son is taking the test, with your new details.
Students are be ranked in order of result. The ranked results are emailed in early October. The closing date for the submission of the Common Applicaton Form to your Council or Local Authority is 31 October 2027. It is the local authority that allocate Marling School places on National Allocation Day, 1 March 2028.
2027 Entry (current Year 6 students)
The Gloucestershire Grammar Schools Entrance Test for September 2027 entry into Y7 took take place on Saturday 12 September 2026. It was organised into two sittings, morning and early afternoon. Registration for the test was open for six weeks from noon Monday 18 May 2026 to noon Friday 26 June 2026. If you missed the test registration window read the Missed Test Registration Window for September 2027 Entry document for your options.
Important and useful informaton on registration, the test, results and appeals is available in the document below, the Gloucestershire Admissions Information Booklet for 2027 Entry. Please read this document.
Students are ranked in order of result. Students ranks are emailed to the contact email entered into the registration form, in Mid October. The closing date for the submission of the Common Applicaton Form to your Council or Authority is 31 October 2026. It is the local authority that allocate Marling School places on National Allocation Day, Monday 2nd March 2027.
The Gloucestershire Grammar Schools admissions test for 2027 entry was provided by GL Assessment. It assessed students’ verbal and non-verbal abilities, English skills and Mathematics. All questions in this paper are multiple choice style questions. The familiarisation materials that were supplied can be found here.
- FSCE Information on Entrance Test for Year 7 Entry113.64 Kb
- FSCE FAQs for Prospective Parents (Gloucestershire)163.72 Kb
- FSCE Familiarisation Guide - Information for Parents (Gloucestershire)328.21 Kb
- FSCE Familiarisation Guide - Information for Children (Gloucestershire)4.44 MB
- Gloucestershire Admissions Information Booklet 2027 Entry309.82 Kb
- Missed Test Registration Window for September 2027 Entry595.40 Kb
The Grammar Schools of Gloucestershire are proud to be open and inclusive, and welcome pupils from all backgrounds.
To encourage even greater representation of children at the schools, we work in partnership with Atom Learning, the leading online 11+ preparation and Key Stage 2 learning platform, to provide students who are eligible for Pupil Premium with free 11+ preparation and KS2 learning resources.
Through their Atom account, children will access 11+ and KS2 practice questions, learning resources, mock tests and practice papers. We believe this is a good way to familiarise children with the style of questions they may be asked in the 11+ and help them build confidence ahead of their exam.
If your child has been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, please fill in the form by clicking here: 'Access Free 11+ and Learning Support'. They will be given free access to Atom Home when their Pupil Premium status has been verified by their primary school.
New Parent Evening - 5 July 2027
Marling School have a New Parent Evening at 6pm on Monday 5th July 2027, held in our School Hall. The Parent Staff Association (PSA) have nearly new uniform available for any purchases and our branded uniform supplier, Bateman's, attends for parents to book a fitting or order new uniform.
Student Induction Day - 6 July 2027
All of our 2027/28 intake will be invited to Marling School on Tuesday 6 July 2027, 9.30am to 3.00pm. We always look forward to meeting our new intake and introducing them to Marling School. Further details are emailed to parents and carers prior to this Induction Day.
Marling School is a non-fee paying, selective Grammar School for boys aged 11-16 years with a co-educational Sixth Form.
Marling School is an Academy and as such the Governing Body is the admissions authority. However, Marling School operates its admissions policy and procedures in line with Gloucestershire County Council’s coordinated scheme for school admission, which in turn operates within the School Admissions Code.
Any application for school places made outside the normal primary to secondary year of entry to the school must be made directly to Marling School’s Admissions Officer, through completion of an In-Year Application Form. Please return the completed form to Marling School, C/o Admissions Officer, Cainscross Road, Stroud, Glos GL5 4HE or admissions@marling.school .
The School will notify the applicant’s parent, within 15 school days of receipt of the application, of either the date of the assessment of academic ability or the reason for refusal of an assessment and/or offer of a place with information about the right of appeal (see the Appeal Process page).
If an assessment is not offered, the candidate can request to have their name added to the Indicated Interest Register to be notified if there is a change of circumstances.
In-Year Admission candidates for secondary school transfers will be assessed on academic ability at Marling School. Where, on balance, the candidate matches the standard of the cohort, a place will be considered by the Admissions Committee of the Governing Body.
If the number of qualifying in-year candidates for a particular year group exceeds the number of places available, offers will be made in order of priority as set out in our Admissions Policy. Candidates will be notified within three weeks of the assessment of academic ability whether or not they have been allocated a place, and provided information about the right of appeal if appropriate. If a place has been offered transfer should be completed within six weeks.
Candidates are offered two applications to join Marling School (the Entrance Test taken in Year 6 is counted as the first attempt).
There is an Appeal Process which enables parents/carers to appeal against non-admission to the school. If you are not happy with the allocated school place on 2nd March 2026:
1. Any boys who have met the qualifying standard for Marling School can ask to go on our waiting list. Gloucestershire County Council’s (GCC’s) waiting list deadline is in 16th March 2026. GCC will notify parents of the outcome of waiting list requests by the 6th April 2026.
2. All parents have a legal right to appeal and must set out the grounds for appeal in writing. Typically, if your son qualified and was not offered a place because admitting your child would cause prejudice to the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources at the school (i.e. overcrowding), you would need to put a case forward for your son that outweighs the degree of prejudice caused to the school. If your son did not demonstrate the requisite ability for grammar school in the entrance test, you would be looking to provide evidence to the appeal panel that he is. Additionally, if you believe extenuating circumstances may have affected your son’s performance on the day of the test, or you are dissatisfied with the way the admission procedures were carried out - these would be included in your grounds for appeal. You may find it helpful to read the Admission Appeal Guidance notes for parents, which can be downloaded below.
'Appeal Packs' can be requested from the Admissions Officer by emailing admissions@marling.school after 2nd March 2026. Marling School is on Easter Break from 3pm Friday 27th March to 9am Monday 13th April 2026 and no communication with Marling School staff is available during this time.
Key Dates
Deadline for lodging Y7 Appeals for Marling School's 2026 Entry: 3pm Wednesday 22nd April 2026.
In-person Appeal Hearings will take place at Marling School in the week beginning 15th June 2026.
