OPEN EVENTS 2023/24
Open Mornings
You are invited to make a note of our next Open Mornings. These will be held on Wednesday 15th May 2024 and Tuesday 21st May 2024. The mornings are primarily for Year 4 and Year 5 pupils, and parents and carers, to come and see Marling School during a working morning. You will receive a talk in our School Hall and then you will be taken on a tour by our Year 7 and Year 8 pupils. Please put one of these dates in your diary and we look forward to meeting you.
Open Evening
A Summer Open Evening will be held on Tuesday 18th June 2024, starting at 4pm and closing at 7.30pm. This Open Evening is primarily aimed at Year 4 and Year 5 pupils, however, we do welcome other years if you wish to view Marling School. Talks from the Headteacher, will be held between 4pm and 6pm and you will be able to explore the curriculum subject and school campus until 7.30pm, talking to our wonderful teachers and students. An Open Evening is the time to ask your questions and gain the feel for Marling School, our three principles: inspiring excellence, building character and succeeding together. A talk time booking form will be available here nearer the date.
Year 5 Mailing List (for those joining Y5 in September 2024)
If your son started Year 5 in September 2023, and you are interested in receiving relevant Entrance Test communications for 2025 Entry - there will be a link to sign up to our Year 5 Mailing List, here, shortly.
Year 6 Qualifying Students
We will be holding open mornings, exclusively, for pupils who have gained a qualifying rank to Marling in the Entrance Test taken on 16th Sept 2023, on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th October. The morning will consist of a talk a tour and an opportunity to ask questions. Our Year 8 pupils look forward to showing you around their school. A link to book a place will be in your emailed results letter via the email address you supplied on your test registration form. The results will be out in mid-October and before they are released you may wish to read our Results are Out – What Happens Next document, a summary of the Gloucestershire grammar schools allocation procedure, that will be useful to you.
Marling School is a non-fee paying, selective Grammar School for boys aged 11-16 years with a co-educational Sixth Form.
To gain entry to Year 7, all pupils must sit and gain a qualifying rank in the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Entrance Test. Registration for the Entrance Test is in the summer of Year 5 and the Test is taken of Year 6. Marling School operates within the Gloucestershire County Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme for Year 7 entry.
In year admissions for Year 8 to Year 11 can be made and should be directed to our Admissions Officer by submitting an In Year Application Form to admissions@marling.school.
All Sixth Form admission enquiries should be directed to the Senior Sixth Form Administrator, Mrs Jayne Elder JXE@marling.school
In the normal primary to secondary route of entry, all boys in their correct chronological cohort for Year 6 must sit the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Entrance Test organised by the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools and can be sat at Marling School. Parents/carers must register their child for the Entrance Test by completion of the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools' Registration Form (usually in the summer term of Year 5). The Registration link will appear on this website at the appropriate time. Boys interested in a place at Marling School must share their result with Marling on the Registration Form.
Boys who achieve a qualifying score in the Entrance Test will need to declare Marling School as one of their choices on their Common Application Form (CAF) which must be submitted by 31 October, if they wish to gain a place. In Gloucestershire, the form asks parents/carers to state their ranked preferences for up to five secondary schools. Only boys with a qualifying score will be considered for entry to Marling School.
All offers of school places will be made by the Local Authority (usually 1 March). This will be the school with the highest ranked preference for which your son has met the admission criteria.
Out of county applications will be accepted for candidates who live outside Gloucestershire, however, parents/carers will need to contact their own local authority in relation to the Common Application Form. The process should then enable your own local authority to liaise with Gloucestershire County Council regarding allocation of schools.
Out of cohort applicants must apply for approval from Marling School's Admissons Committee prior to registering for the Entrance Test in the summer. Read our Admissions Policy for more information.
2024 Entry (current Year 6s)
The Entrance Test for September 2024 entry into Y7 took place on Saturday 16th September 2023. The registration window was open from noon Monday 22nd May to noon Friday 30th June 2023 via a link on this website, for your child to have taken the Entrance Test in September 2023.
Results will be emailed to you in mid-October before the Common Application Form (CAF) deadline for secondary school choices. The CAF must be submitted to your local authority by 31 October 2023. Please refer to the Gloucestershire Admissions Information Booklet 2024 below to understand the admissions process going forwards for 2024 Entry.
Registration for the Entrance Test has now closed, if you missed the Entrace Test registration please refer to the Gloucsestersire Grammar Schools Missed Test Registration Information sheet, below, for guidance.
It is the local authority that allocate Marling School places on National Allocation Day, 1 March 2024.
2024 Entry (current Year 6s) or 2024 entry the Gloucestershire Grammar Schools admissions test was be provided by GL Assessment. It assessed students’ verbal and non-verbal abilities, English skills and Mathematics. All questions are multiple choice style questions. Familiarisation materials can be found here.
- The test assesses students’ verbal and non-verbal abilities, English skills and mathematics, and is provided by GL Assessment.
- All questions are multiple choice style questions.
- In one paper, students are tested on their verbal skills (including comprehension, vocabulary and verbal reasoning).
- The other test paper assesses non-verbal reasoning and mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding.
- Each test session takes around an hour.
- At the beginning of each session there is time built in for the sharing of instructions and, for the non-verbal reasoning element, some worked examples. Students are allocated a total of 45 minutes to complete the tests themselves.
- GL Assessment is the largest independent provider of educational assessments in the UK, also providing assessment materials to schools in over 100 countries worldwide. They have been developing selection assessments for over 40 years and provide tests to the majority of grammar schools in the country. GL Assessment works hard to develop its material such that all children are able to demonstrate their levels of attainment and academic potential without excessive preparation.
2024 Entry (current Year 6s) - Results
The Entrance Test results will be out in mid-October. The results will be emailed. Before they are released you may wish to read our Results are Out – What Happens Next document, a summary of the Gloucestershire grammar schools allocation procedure. Please read this information before contacting Marling School's Admission Officer as it should answer your query.
Student Induction Day - July 2024
All of our 2024/25 intake will be invited to Marling School in early July 2024, 9.30am to 3pm. We always look forward to meeting our new intake and introducing them to Marling School. Further details are emailed to parents and carers prior to the Induction Day.
New Parent Evening - July 2024
Marling School have a New Parent Evening on the weeek following the student Induction Day at 6pm where new parents will meet their son's Tutor. The Parent Staff Association (PSA) have their nearly new uniform available for any purchases and our branded uniform supplier, Bateman's, always attend for parents to book a fitting or order new uniform.
Marling School is an Academy and as such the Governing Body is the admissions authority. However, Marling School operates its admissions policy and procedures in line with Gloucestershire County Council’s coordinated scheme for school admission, which in turn operates within the School Admissions Code.
Any application for school places made outside the normal primary to secondary year of entry to the school must be made directly to Marling School’s Admissions Officer, through completion of an In-Year Application Form. Please return the completed form to Marling School, C/o Admissions Officer, Cainscross Road, Stroud, Glos GL5 4HE or admssions@marling.school .
The School will notify the applicant’s parent, within 15 school days of receipt of the application, of either the date of the assessment of academic ability or the reason for refusal of an assessment and/or offer of a place with information about the right of appeal (see the Appeal Process page).
If an assessment is not offered, the candidate can request to have their name added to the Indicated Interest Register to be notified if there is a change of circumstances.
In-Year Admission candidates for secondary school transfers will be assessed on academic ability at Marling School. Where, on balance, the candidate matches the standard of the cohort, a place will be considered by the Admissions Committee of the Governing Body.
If the number of qualifying in-year candidates for a particular year group exceeds the number of places available, offers will be made in order of priority as set out in our Admissions Policy. Candidates will be notified within three weeks of the assessment of academic ability whether or not they have been allocated a place, and provided information about the right of appeal if appropriate. If a place has been offered transfer should be completed within six weeks.
Candidates are offered two applications to join Marling School (the Entrance Test taken in Year 6 is counted as the first attempt).
There is an Appeal Process which enables parents/carers to appeal against non-admission to the school. If you are not happy with the allocated school place on 1 March:
1. Any boys who have met the qualifying standard for Marling School can ask to go on our waiting list. Gloucestershire County Council’s (GCC’s) waiting list deadline is in March 2024. GCC will notify parents of the outcome of waiting list requests at the end of March 2024.
2. All parents have a legal right to appeal and must set out the grounds for appeal in writing. Typically, if your son qualified and was not offered a place because admitting your child would cause prejudice to the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources at the school (i.e. overcrowding), you would need to put a case forward for your son that outweighs the degree of prejudice caused to the school. If your son did not demonstrate the requisite ability for grammar school in the entrance test, you would be looking to provide evidence to the appeal panel that he is. Additionally, if you believe extenuating circumstances may have affected your son’s performance on the day of the test, or you are dissatisfied with the way the admission procedures were carried out - these would be included in your grounds for appeal. You may find it helpful to read the Admission Appeal Guidance notes for parents, which can be downloaded below.
'Appeal Packs' can be requested from the Admissions Officer by emailing admissions@marling.school after 1 March 2024.
Key Dates
Deadline for lodging Y7 Appeals for 2023 Entry: To be confirmed
In-person Appeal Hearings will take place in June 2024 at a local venue.
Please find below appeal Guidance Notes.
We are searching for the best education professionals
At Marling, we expect high standards, encourage diverse ideas, and require respect and kindness from all stakeholders. Our school vision, ‘Raising Aspirations, Building Character and Succeeding together’ applies to staff and students alike and is central to what we do.
Subsequently, we seek to appoint colleagues with a shared mindset: we value individuals who work hard and recognise the importance of developing their professional learning because “Every Teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better*”.
Furthermore, the ability to work positively with others, be prompt and proactive and have a sense of humour and can-do attitude are vital to us.
In return, we can offer the following to our teachers and support staff:
• A highly committed and supportive staff team with a focus on innovation and continuous improvement.
• Motivated and engaged students who are proud of their school.
• A focus on Wellbeing and a culture of kindness, collegiality and compassionate leadership.
• Excellent facilities including over £6M of new buildings.
• A culture of personalised continuing professional development suited to career aspirations and stage.
And specifically for teaching colleagues:
• A lesson observation process that is developmental and not judgemental.
• Assessment policies that promote more feedback and less marking.
• A cover policy that means you will rarely be asked to cover colleagues’ lessons..
• The opportunity to work from home from lunchtime onwards where possible.
• Colleagues who actively share their knowledge of innovative technologies and AI to develop outstanding T&L and reduce workload.
If you think you could be the right fit for our school, we look forward to hearing from you!
*Dylan William
Have you considered becoming a teacher?
Marling School is part of the Cotswold Edge Teaching Alliance - a partnership of schools and institutions sharing their skills, experience, talent and capacity to help improve learning and achievement in schools across Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire. CETA members have a shared vision to work together to provide excellent provision and outcomes for all students in their schools and to support other schools to do the same. This is achieved by pursuing excellence in teaching, learning and leadership through training, support, research and development created and delivered by schools for schools. Working in partnership across the primary and secondary sector is central to the CETA ethos. Please visit the CETA website to find out more - www.ceta.school
