Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School is a co-educational selective grammar school on Glen Road in Rossendale, with roots reaching back to 1701. The school now forms part of Star Academies and serves ages 11 to 18, so the sixth form sits within the same academic community as the lower school. BRGS is not a county-wide grammar in feel: its admissions material describes it as a designated grammar school primarily for children from Bacup, Rawtenstall and surrounding primary-school areas, which gives the school a strongly local Rossendale identity.

Academically, BRGS combines a traditional grammar-school core with the breadth expected of a modern 11 to 18 academy. The school publishes curriculum pages across the subject range, and its public values language puts emphasis on excellence, leadership, community and respect. Sixth-form applicants are directed into a subject-led research and open-evening process, while the main school curriculum is presented through departmental pages rather than a generic prospectus, giving families useful detail on how subjects build from Key Stage 3 onwards.

Daily school life has a practical rather than glossy character. The facilities record points to library and performing-arts spaces, with drama and sport among the visible co-curricular routes. The school also uses its website actively for admissions events, sixth-form transition and performance-table information, so the profile is best read as a local grammar with a substantial sixth form and a broad enough school-life offer to support pupils across seven years.

Year 7 admission is selective, with a published admission number of 180. For 2027 entry the entrance examination covers verbal reasoning, mathematics and English through GL Assessment papers; children first need to meet the required standard, then the oversubscription rules apply. Those rules give priority to looked-after and previously looked-after children who qualify, then work through Area 1 and Area 2 feeder-primary groups, staff and sibling priority, and remaining candidates ranked by entrance mark. Published measures show +0.36 Progress 8, 99.4% grade 5+ in English and maths, and 31.2% AAB or better at A level.