Burnham Grammar School is a co-educational 11-18 selective grammar school in Burnham, serving a Buckinghamshire community with a Slough postcode and a wide local reach. It sits within the Beeches Learning and Development Trust and has about 1,271 pupils on roll. The school builds its identity around the phrase Embrace Challenge, but the detail behind it is practical: responsible learning, preparation for the future, health and happiness, care for others and active citizenship.
The headteacher's welcome gives BGS a distinctive tone. It presents the school as academically ambitious but deliberately pastoral, with a diverse pupil body, strong relationships and a focus on positive mental health. The school also points to a newer building, upgraded facilities, industrial and corporate partners, and a curriculum enriched by careers work, volunteering, mentoring, sport, arts, academic events and charity activity.
The classroom offer is supported by the BGS Diploma, study-skills work, literacy, a library and learning resource centre, and the sixth form. Sixth-form study is part of the same 11-18 community rather than a separate brand, with routes into A levels, enrichment and leadership. The house system, Duke of Edinburgh and student leadership give the school a broader feel than the admissions label alone suggests.
Year 7 entry is through the Buckinghamshire Secondary Transfer Test, with 180 places. The standardised score is weighted 50% verbal skills, 25% mathematical skills and 25% non-verbal skills, and Buckinghamshire Council coordinates the testing timetable and secondary application process. The school's 2027 policy then applies priorities including looked-after status, catchment Pupil Premium, siblings, staff children, exceptional need, catchment residence and distance. Published measures include Ofsted Good, +0.70 Progress 8, 99.4% grade 5+ in English and maths and 27.8% AAB or better at A level.
