Know exactly where your child stands for Bolton School, Girls
Thousands of practice questions and up to 6 mock papers, all in the exact Bolton School, Girls 11+ format, on one simple plan. It starts with a free diagnostic.
Thousands of practice questions and up to 6 mock papers, all in the exact Bolton School, Girls 11+ format, on one simple plan. It starts with a free diagnostic.
Bolton School, Girls
Bolton School Girls' Division is an independent day school for girls in Greater Manchester offering Year 7 entry via a single-stage GL assessment and an interview. The school, located on Chorley New Road, charges annual fees of £15,792 for the 2026/27 academic year. Admissions require a non-returnable registration fee of £40 alongside the application form.
If your daughter would do better somewhere that treats girls' education as its own subject, the Girls' Division is worth a look. It is an independent day school for girls from eleven to eighteen, on a thirty-two acre campus on Chorley New Road it shares with the Boys' Division. The two are run by one foundation but taught separately, each with its own hall and its own pastoral team, and they meet for orchestra, debating, drama and joint projects in science and business. Girls join at eleven, and there is no boarding.
The girls' school opened on 1 October 1877 as the Young Ladies Day School, with twenty-two pupils. In 1913 William Hesketh Lever, later Lord Leverhulme, endowed it jointly with the boys' school on the condition that the two be equal partners under one name, and asked for a building with a wing for each. The result, put up from 1924 and finished in the 1960s, is a long listed sandstone frontage in matching halves, which is the clearest thing a parent can see of the school's original argument. Around one in five pupils holds a bursary-assisted place.
Pastoral care has its own address here. The Hive is a room and a team, offering reading buddies, mentoring, support groups, bereavement sessions and counselling, and parents told the Good Schools Guide that the staff there gave 'world class support'. Personal development runs fortnightly under the name Thrive. Games go wider than most, with lacrosse, netball and rounders alongside cricket, football and water polo. The Guide, which heard the school described by one parent as 'caring and loving', says the ethos 'embraces all comers and celebrates their efforts and successes in equal measure'. It suits a girl who wants to be pushed and looked after at the same time.
Key facts
Annual fees
Senior School £5,264 per term (£15,792 per year across three terms) for 2026/27, the same figure for the Girls' and Boys' Divisions. The school states all quoted fees include VAT where VAT is applicable. Non-returnable registration fee £40, payable with the Year 7 application form. No deposit is published.
Admissions
Admissions contact
GDadmissions@boltonschool.org
Admissions phone
01204 840201
Registration form
https://www.boltonschool.org/admissions/join-us/girls-division-senior-school-application-form
Sibling policy
What this school tests
The Girls' Division Entrance Exam
English
- Punctuation
- Reading Comprehension - Comparison
- Reading Comprehension - Evaluation
- Reading Comprehension - Grammar and punctuation
- Reading Comprehension - Inference and Deduction
- Reading Comprehension - Information Retrieval
- Reading Comprehension - Language Techniques and Imagery
- Reading Comprehension - Sentence-level Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension - Sequencing
- Reading Comprehension - Structure, Form, Voice and Tone
- Reading Comprehension - Summarising
- Reading Comprehension - Text Classification and Purpose
- Reading Comprehension - Types of Words and Phrases
- Reading Comprehension - Word Meaning / Choice
- Sentence Completion
- Spelling
Maths
- Algebra
- Angles and Degrees
- BIDMAS
- Coordinate Grids
- Estimation and Rounding
- Factors and Multiples
- Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
- Magic squares
- Measurement
- Money
- Number and Place Value
- Number Walls
- Operations
- Perimeter, Area and Volume
- Position and Direction
- Properties of Shapes
- Ratio and Proportion
- Reflection, Rotation and Symmetry
- Sequences
- Special Numbers
- Speed, Distance and Time
- Statistics
- Time
Non-verbal Reasoning
- Extended Figure Series
- Figure Analogies
- Figure Matrices
- Figure Operations
- Figure Series
- Grid Matrices
- Horizontal Codes
- Most Like Three Figures
- Most Like Two Figures
- Odd Figure Out
- Star Matrices
- Triangle Matrices
- Triangle Series
- Vertical Codes
Catchment area
Selection review and safety net
Previous exam results
GCSE results
2025: across both divisions, 53.1% of grades at 9-7 and 15.1% at grade 9. Within the Girls' Division, 12 students achieved ten or more grades at 8-9 and four achieved ten or more grade 9s. The school does not publish a Girls'-Division-only headline percentage (school's own published figures).
A-level results
2025: across both divisions, more than two thirds of the cohort at A*-B, over 40% of grades at A*-A and 12.6% at A*. The school does not publish a Girls'-Division-only headline percentage (school's own published figures).
Frequently asked questions
What exam board does Bolton School Girls' Division use for the 11+?
The school uses the GL assessment board for its single-stage 11+ entrance exam.
Is there an interview stage for Year 7 entry at Bolton School Girls' Division?
Yes, the admissions process includes an interview stage alongside the entrance exam.
Is Bolton School Girls' Division co-educational or single-sex?
It is an independent day school for girls, though it shares a campus and some joint activities with the Boys' Division.
What are the school fees for Bolton School Girls' Division?
Senior School fees are £5,264 per term, totalling £15,792 per year for 2026/27, with a £40 registration fee.
What is the website for Bolton School Girls' Division?
The official school website is https://www.boltonschool.org/.
Location
https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2368.7708431561!2d-2.458995221998081!3d53.57970627235785!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x487ba7a0495f54a9%3A0xcb74a1d5a0195c87!2sBolton%20School%20Girls'%20Division!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sph!4v1787817645459!5m2!1sen!2sph
