England · Grammar school

Calday Grange Grammar School

West Kirby · Boys only · ages 11 to 18

Official record: Get Information About Schools (URN 139144)

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Overview

Address: Grammar School Lane, West Kirby, Wirral, Merseyside, CH48 8GG
Status: Open
Admits: Boys only
Age range: 11 to 18
Number of pupils: 1,493
Capacity: 1,504
Eligible for free school meals: 8.3%
Sixth form: Yes
School type: Academy converter
Religious character: None
Trust: Not yet available
Local authority: Wirral

Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026 · Source: Desk research (cited public sources) (get-information-schools.service.gov.uk), last checked 31 October 2026

Admissions and the 11+

Admissions policy: Selective (grammar school)
Selection in this area: Fully selective area30% of Year 7 places offered in Wirral for September 2026 were at selective schools (DfE applications and offers). We class an area as fully selective at 25% or more. Confirm with the local authority's admissions guide.
Entrance test: Not yet available
Qualifying score: Not yet available
Catchment area: No catchment area. Among boys who reach the standard, priority goes to children in care, boys with a medical or social need, up to 15 boys on free school meals (nearest first), brothers of current pupils, and then boys who live nearest the school by walking distance.
Children from outside the catchment: Yes: There is no catchment area: any boy who reaches the standard can apply. When the school is full, places go to those living nearest. In 2025 every qualifying boy who applied was offered a place.

Past offers: lowest score and furthest distance

Lowest test score and last distance offered by intake
Intake	Applicant group	Lowest score offered	Last distance offered	Source
Sept 2025	AllWirral Council says every boy who reached the grammar school standard was offered a place in 2025.	–	–	wirral.gov.uk

From published allocation data found in desk research (checked 1 November 2026); not yet confirmed with the school. Scores from different tests or years are not comparable, and a past cut-off does not guarantee a future place.

Applications and offers for Year 7

For September 2026 entry, 370 applicants named this school (222 as their first choice) for 202 places. 22 of 202 offers went to children living outside Wirral.

Applications and offers by September intake
Intake	Places offered	Applicants	First choice	First choices per place	Offers to children outside Wirral
Sept 2026	202	370	222	1.1	22
Sept 2025	213	357	216	1.0	48
Sept 2024	192	322	191	1.0	31
Sept 2023	208	351	220	1.1	13
Sept 2022	206	340	211	1.0	29

Show all 13 years

Earlier intakes
Intake	Places offered	Applicants	First choice	First choices per place	Offers to children outside Wirral
Sept 2021	195	336	196	1.0	31
Sept 2020	204	314	212	1.0	22
Sept 2019	208	339	238	1.1	9
Sept 2018	205	343	241	1.2	4
Sept 2017	225	311	208	0.9	47
Sept 2016	188	300	184	1.0	32
Sept 2015	180	282	171	0.9	32
Sept 2014	166	265	139	0.8	25

"Applicants" counts every family that listed the school as any preference, so it is higher than the number competing for each place. "Outside Wirral" means a home in another local authority; it is not the school's catchment area. For grammar schools, offers also depend on the entrance test result.

Source: Secondary and primary school applications and offers (Department for Education), last checked 31 October 2026

Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026 · Source: Admissions research (cited public sources) (wirral.gov.uk), last checked 1 November 2026

Key dates for September 2027 entry

Test registration (Wirral grammar schools): 1 May 2026 to 1 June 2026
Test date: 15 September 2026Consortium (Calday Grange, West Kirby, Wirral Boys and Girls) sit Wirral Admissions Test run by Quest on 15 Sep; closes noon 1 June (some sources say 31 May). Results mid-October (one source ~21 Oct, unconfirmed). St Anselm's own exam 18 Sep (registration 10 or 31 Jul); Upton Hall FCJ own exam, deadline 10 Jul. No Wirral Council page found.
Results sent to families: Not yet available
Apply to your council (September 2027 entry): By 31 October 2026This date has passed: late applications go to your council and are usually considered after on-time ones.
National offer day: 1 March 2027Offers are sent on 1 March, or the next working day.
Open days: Not yet available
School opened (current registration): 1 January 2013

Unverified: test dates come from desk research (medium confidence). Confirm them with the council or test organiser. Sources: leadingtuition.co.uk/11-plus/wirral-grammar-schools, leadingtuition.co.uk/blog/st-anselms-college-wirral-11-plus-guide-2026.

Statutory dates: School Admissions Code (Department for Education).

Guide to the Wirral grammar schools and its schools · How applying works

Source: Test dates research (cited public sources) (leadingtuition.co.uk), last checked 1 November 2026 · Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026

Ofsted inspection

Inspected on 17 December 2024. Current grade Good, from its last graded inspection (Ofsted stopped giving overall grades in September 2024). Read the report ↗

Inspection history (6)

17 December 2024: School inspection · report
25 September 2019: School inspection · report
19 January 2016: Full inspection, Good · report
28 March 2014: Interim assessment · report
29 January 2013: Curriculum and development visit · report
4 January 2013: Academy conversion letter · report

Source: Ofsted inspection reports, last checked 31 October 2026

Exam results

GCSE results 2025/26 (provisional)

GCSE results compared with national averages
Measure	This school	Selective schools in England	All state schools in England
Attainment 8Average grade across 8 GCSE-level subjects, doubled for English and maths (maximum 90).	63.7	72.1	46.2
Grade 5 or above in English and maths	93%	93.7%	46.3%
Grade 7 or above in English and maths	43.7%	57.7%	14.2%
Grade 4 or above in English and maths	97.7%	98.3%	64.8%
Progress 8Not published for most schools in recent years, because primary school tests were cancelled in 2020 and 2021.	–	–	–

Attainment 8 over time: 64.7 (2023/24) → 68.1 (2024/25) → 63.7 (2025/26).

215 pupils took GCSEs. Results reflect a selective intake: compare grammar schools with each other rather than with all schools.

Source: Key stage 4 performance (GCSE results) (Department for Education), last checked 31 October 2026

How to get there

Postcode: CH48 8GG
Map location: 53.36758, -3.16264
Open in OpenStreetMap: Directions and surroundings ↗
Telephone: 01516252727

Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026

Official links and documents

School website: www.calday.co.uk
Official register record: Get Information About Schools (URN 139144) ↗
Admissions policy document: Not yet available
Further reading: Wikipedia ↗

Source: Get Information About Schools, last checked 31 October 2026

Spotted a mistake? Report an error and tell us where you found the correct information.

Report an error about Calday Grange Grammar School

Data sources: Get Information About Schools (Department for Education), Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.; Desk research (cited public sources) (UK School Map), Facts compiled from the public sources linked on each field; Admissions research (cited public sources) (UK School Map), Facts compiled from the public sources linked on each item; Test dates research (cited public sources) (UK School Map), Facts compiled from the public sources linked on each item

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