St Michael's Catholic Grammar School

St Michael's Catholic Grammar School is a girls' selective school in the London Borough of Barnet. Originally founded as a boarding school in 1909 by the Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, the staff remain committed to enabling students to become the person God intended them to be and seek out their unique purpose in life.

Recognised as Outstanding by Ofsted, St Michaels is a place of intellectual exploration and achievement, notable for its calm atmosphere and considerate and hardworking students.

• Address: Nether Street, North Finchley, London, N12 7NJ
• Local authority: London Borough of Barnet
• School type: girls' grammar
• Headteacher: Michael Stimpson
• Number of pupils: 847
• National rank (Sunday Times Parent Power): 50
• A level results: 81.9% A*–B
• GCSE results: 85.4% 9/8/7

1. Register for the 11 plus

Before you register you should speak to your child’s teacher to see if the 11 plus is right for them.

Register your child to take the 11 plus by completing the application form which is available from April 2023 and closes at 4pm on 4th July 2023.

If you're applying under the Practising Catholic criterion, you will also need to submit your daughter's Certificate of Catholic Practice and evidence of First Holy Communion by the 4th July closing date.

If you're applying for the other girls' grammar school in Barnet (The Henrietta Barnett School), you will need to register for their exam separately. The grammar schools in Barnet use the same 11 plus test provider, but the schools have chosen to use different combinations of papers and have separate processes.

Some parents also register for grammar schools further afield such as Latymer or South West Herts grammar schools.

2. Apply for school places

Once your child has taken the 11 plus, you will get their results in mid-October. You can use the results to decide which schools to include on your local authority application form.

Before listing St Michael's as a preference on your form, check its admissions policy and make sure your child is eligible. As well as performance in the entrance tests, how close you live to a school is another factor in whether you are likely to be offered a place.

The application form must be submitted to your home local council by 31st October 2023.

St Michael's Catholic Grammar School does not name a specific pass mark. Instead, scores are standardised and ranked in order, and the top 200 candidates are considered for a place. Other criteria are applied, below.

Achieving a particular score doesn't guarantee a place at the school, as it is likely to be oversubscribed with qualified candidates. We always recommend researching the admission policies for your target schools.

The planned admission number (PAN) for the school is 128. Children are selected for entry to the school in this order:

1. Baptised Catholic girls from a Practicing Catholic family who have made their First Holy Communion and who are Looked After or previously Looked After children, and have scored among the top 200 places in the entrance test.

2. Up to 32 children who are Baptised Catholic girls from a Practicing Catholic family who have made their First Holy Communion and who get free school meals, and have scored among the top 200 places in the entrance test. These places are allocated in order of entrance test scores if more than 32 children meet these criteria.

3. Baptised Catholic girls from a Practicing Catholic family who have made their First Holy Communion, in order of their entrance test scores, beginning with the highest.

If two or more children are of equal ranking under the criteria, then the verbal reasoning test scores are given the highest weighting, followed by non-verbal reasoning, then English, then maths. If applicants are still equally ranked, priority is given to the child who lives closest to the school.

Within living memory, St Michael's School has always been oversubscribed with candidates who meet the criteria above. In the unlikely event that this is not the case, the remaining places are allocated in this order:

• a. Baptised Catholic girls in rank order of entrance test score, beginning with the highest.
• b. Girls of other Christian denominations in rank order of entrance test score, beginning with the highest.
• c. Other Looked After girls not falling into a. or b. above.
• d. Other girls who get free school meals not falling into a. or b. above.
• e. Any other girls.

St Michael's Catholic Grammar School does not have a defined catchment area. Children are only prioritised based on how close they live to the school when their test scores and all other criteria are equal.