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The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
  • The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
    Amersham Road
    High Wycombe
    Buckinghamshire
    HP13 6QT
  • Head: Philip Wayne
  • T 01494 524955
  • F 01494 551410
  • E [email protected]
  • W www.rgshw.com
  • A state school for boys aged from 11 to 18 with a coeducational Sixth Form from September 2025
  • Read about the best schools in Buckinghamshire
  • Boarding: Yes
  • Local authority: Buckinghamshire
  • Pupils: 1,420; sixth formers: 407
  • Religion: None
  • Fees: Day free; Boarding £16,800 - £18,935 pa
  • Open days: September (Lower School Entry) November (Sixth Form Entry)
  • Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
  • Ofsted:
    • Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
      • 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
      • Outcomes for children and learners Good 1
      • Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1
      • Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1
      • Effectiveness of leadership and management Good 1
    • 1 Full inspection 9th October 2019
  • Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report

What says..

Parents at other local grammars tell us that children who only just passed the 11-plus can struggle here. At RGS, we hear the opposite. ‘He scraped in and is now top third of his year’, ‘He got 121 and we worried if he’d cope, now he’s predicted all As’ etc. Parents praise the ‘brilliant, informal’ peer mentoring scheme: ‘The sixth formers are really keen. I heard one say to my son, “Don’t let me down!”’. School also runs popular, paid-for ‘intensive, exam-orientated’ revision courses in holidays. Boarding available at less than most independent day fees. Weekly up to year 10, when full boarding is allowed but only usually taken up by international pupils. ‘The best thing we ever did,’ said one happy parent, with many praising the…

Read review »

What the school says...

The Royal Grammar School (RGS), High Wycombe is a state boarding and day school.

Ofsted quotes from RGS Parents:
'I feel that alongside the amazing educational achievements, my son has become a well-rounded, confident person, who will have very happy memories of his time here.'

'The school fosters excellent values and, while disciplined, the children feel safe and happy in the friendly environment.'

Converted to an academy in February 2011.
...Read more

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School associations

State boarding school

State grammar school

Sports

Rowing

Fencing

Shooting

What The Good Schools Guide says

Headmaster

Since 2015, Philip Wayne. Studied music at Manchester, then organ at the Royal Northern College of Music. After his PGCE and a decade in the Midlands at a co-ed secondary, he moved to Bucks with wife, daughter and son (who started RGS the same day as his father – ‘definitely harder for him!’). Three years as deputy head of John Hampden were followed by eight years as head of Chesham Grammar, where he oversaw significant improvements aided by a senior team that included the current, equally impressive, heads of Challoner’s (girls) and Chesham.

‘The compassion required for boys can sometimes be underestimated,’ he believes. ‘You need people who've got the capacity to be caring, quite firm, but not unpleasant, just straightforward’. We found him to fit this brief himself, and parents...

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Please note: Independent schools frequently offer IGCSEs or other qualifications alongside or as an alternative to GCSE. The DfE does not record performance data for these exams so independent school GCSE data is frequently misleading; parents should check the results with the schools.

Who came from where

Who goes where

Special Education Needs

The department provides support for a variety of Special Educational Needs. Some pupils are supported through mentoring; all pupils by liasion with the Head of Year, Form Teachers and Teaching Staff. External support agencies are used when appropriate. 10-09

Condition Provision for in school
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder
Might cover/be referred to as;
ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Aspergers, Autism, High functioning autism, Neurodivergent, Neurodiversity, Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), PDA , Social skills, Sensory processing disorder
Y
HI - Hearing Impairment
Might cover/be referred to as;
Hearing Impairment, HI - Hearing Impairment
MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
Learning needs, MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment
Might cover/be referred to as;
MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment, Sensory processing
Not Applicable
OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability
Might cover/be referred to as;
Downs Syndrome, Epilepsy, Genetic , OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability, Tics, Tourettes
PD - Physical Disability
Might cover/be referred to as;
PD - Physical Disability
PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
Complex needs, Global delay, Global developmental delay, PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty
SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health
Might cover/be referred to as;
Anxiety , Complex needs, Emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), Mental Health, SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health, Trauma
SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
Might cover/be referred to as;
DLD - Developmental Language Disorder, Selective mutism, SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication
SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
Complex needs, SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty, Cerebral Palsy (CP)
SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty
Might cover/be referred to as;
ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Auditory Processing, DCD, Developmental Co-ordination Difficulties (DCD), Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Handwriting, Other specific learning difficulty, SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
Y
VI - Visual Impairment
Might cover/be referred to as;
Special facilities for Visually Impaired, VI - Visual Impairment

Interpreting catchment maps

The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.

Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.

For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained

Further reading

If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.

Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.

Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.

*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.

The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.

Children get into the school from here:

regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year


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