Best Grammar Schools in Kent for 2027 Entry

Kent has more grammar schools than any other county in England, and every one of them admits on the same test. For 2025 entry a child needed a total of 332 or more out of a possible 423, with no single paper below 108. Which school you then get depends on your address and your preferences, not on how far above the threshold you scored.

Why Kent Runs One Test for Every Grammar School

Kent operates a fully selective secondary system, meaning the 11-plus (also called the Kent Test) is the gateway to all grammar school places. Children in Year 6 sit the Kent Test in September, typically at age 10 or 11, and results determine whether they are deemed "suitable for grammar school education." This is different from many other selective areas where grammar schools exist alongside non-selective comprehensives — in Kent, secondary modern schools serve those who do not pass or do not sit the test.

The Kent Test is set by GL Assessment and covers reasoning (verbal, non-verbal, and spatial) as well as English and maths. Scores are standardised by age, so a child born in September is not automatically advantaged over one born in August. Parents can register their child for the test through Kent County Council, and the deadline typically falls in June of Year 6.

It is worth knowing that grammar schools in Kent are still state-funded — there are no fees. However, competition for places at the most sought-after schools is fierce, and many families invest in 11-plus preparation well in advance.

Top Grammar Schools in Kent by Reputation and Results

While every grammar school in Kent is selective, there is a clear tier of schools that attract the most applications and produce the strongest outcomes at GCSE and A-level.

Tonbridge Grammar School is an all-girls school consistently rated Outstanding by Ofsted. It regularly achieves among the highest Progress 8 scores in the county and has an excellent sixth form with strong uptake in sciences and humanities at A-level.

The Judd School in Tonbridge is an all-boys grammar with a national reputation. It frequently appears in league tables for A-level performance and has produced a notable number of Oxbridge entrants. Entry is highly competitive, and the school draws applicants from across the Tonbridge and Malling district.

Dartford Grammar School (boys) and Dartford Grammar School for Girls are both rated Outstanding and serve the north-west of the county. Their proximity to London makes them popular with families in the Dartford and Gravesham areas.

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys in Canterbury is well regarded for its sixth form and extracurricular offer, including a strong music and drama tradition. Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School is equally well regarded and sits nearby.

Maidstone Grammar School and Invicta Grammar School (girls, Maidstone) serve the county town and are both consistently high-performing, with strong GCSE and A-level results across core subjects including English Literature, Mathematics, and the sciences.

Reputation, Results or Distance: Which Should Decide?

League table position is only one measure. When assessing which grammar school suits your child, consider the following:

• Single-sex vs co-educational: Most Kent grammars are single-sex. Some families have a strong preference; others find it less important than proximity or specialism.
• Sixth form offer: Check which A-level and vocational subjects are available. Some schools offer the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) or the Pre-U alongside A-levels.
• Distance and transport: Kent grammar schools allocate places partly by distance after the selective threshold is met. Living closer to your preferred school significantly improves your chances.
• Ofsted rating and Progress 8 score: Progress 8 measures how much progress pupils make between Key Stage 2 and GCSE, relative to similar pupils nationally. A positive score above 0 is good; most top Kent grammars score well above average.
• Specialist status or ethos: Some schools have particular strengths — for example, in STEM, performing arts, or languages — that may align with your child's interests.

Three Things Families Get Wrong About the Kent Test

One widespread misconception is that passing the Kent Test guarantees a place at your preferred grammar school. It does not. Passing means your child is assessed as suitable for grammar education, but individual schools then rank applicants using their own oversubscription criteria — typically distance, siblings already at the school, and in some cases, looked-after children. A child who passes the test but lives far from a popular school may not receive an offer there. A related assumption is that every selective school in the county uses the Kent Test. Independent schools do not: Ashford School assesses Year 7 candidates on an online Atom Learning test in English, non-verbal reasoning and numerical ability, so the verbal reasoning and 40-minute writing task that dominate Kent Test preparation measure nothing that school actually sets.

Our 11+ specialists help students prepare for the Kent Test and individual grammar school supplementary papers, focusing on the specific format and score requirements for each school. Our students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry, and we're rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot. Book a free consultation here.

Another misconception is that tutoring is unnecessary or unfair. In practice, the majority of children who sit the Kent Test have had some preparation. This does not mean intensive coaching from Year 4 is required, but familiarising your child with the test format — particularly the non-verbal and spatial reasoning sections — is sensible and widely done.

Finally, some parents assume that grammar schools in Kent follow a different GCSE exam board from other schools. They do not. Kent grammar schools use the same national GCSE qualifications — predominantly AQA, Edexcel, and OCR — and sit the same exams as all other state schools in England. The difference lies in the pace and depth of teaching, not the qualification itself.

What Score Does a Child Need in the Kent Test?

Kent County Council publishes the threshold after every cycle, which makes Kent unusually transparent among selective areas. For 2025 entry, a child needed a total score of 332 or more, and no single score lower than 108, to be given a grammar school assessment. Both conditions have to hold: a very strong total does not rescue one weak paper.

Two things follow from that table that families rarely work out for themselves. Our arithmetic on Kent's published figures, rather than numbers Kent states: 332 out of a maximum of 423 is about 78% of the available score, and the 108 floor sits well above the middle of the 69 to 141 range. So the shape Kent is looking for is consistent strength across three papers rather than a spike in one. A child who is excellent at maths and shaky on English is at more risk here than the total alone suggests.

Kent also publishes, in response to freedom of information requests, a Kent Test scores report showing how many children achieved each total score. That is the document to look at if you want to know how tightly packed the scores are around the threshold, rather than relying on a tutor's estimate of what a "safe" margin looks like.

Inside the Kent Test: Timed Sections and One Unmarked Essay

The Kent Test is shorter than most families expect, and the writing exercise is not what most families expect either.

The practice-then-test structure is worth rehearsing in its own right. Each section gives a child five minutes of practice questions before the twenty-five minutes that count, which means the paper contains four separate restarts rather than one long run. Children who are used to sitting a full hour-long practice paper at home sometimes lose time re-settling at each transition.

The writing exercise deserves its own note because the standard advice about it is wrong. It is not scored, so no amount of preparation on it moves the total that decides whether a child clears 332. It is still worth doing properly, because it can be read at a later stage, but a preparation plan that spends equal time on writing and on the papers that are marked has the balance wrong.

What Happens If Your Child Is Not Assessed as Suitable?

Kent is explicit about this, and the answer surprises people. You can still name a Kent grammar school on your application. What happens next is that the application to that school will be refused when places are offered on 1 March 2027, at which point you have the right to appeal and explain why you believe the school is a suitable option for your child.

That sequence matters for how you use your preferences. Naming a grammar school your child has not been assessed for is not free: it occupies one of your ranked preferences, and if the refusal comes on offer day you are relying on an appeal rather than on a place. Families who do this deliberately, with a realistic appeal in mind, are making a reasonable choice. Families who do it hopefully, without a second route named below it, often end up with neither.

Four Preferences, One Deadline, and What Order to Put Them In

The process runs on a fixed annual timetable. Registration for the Kent Test opens in the spring term of Year 5 and closes in June of Year 6. The test itself takes place in September of Year 6. Results are sent to parents in October, and the standard secondary school application deadline (via Kent County Council's online system) falls on 31 October each year.

If your child is not initially assessed as suitable for grammar school education, you can request a review. This is a formal process where the school or Kent County Council re-examines the scores. It is not a re-sit, but it can occasionally result in a changed outcome if there were mitigating circumstances — illness on the day, for example.

Out-of-county applicants can also sit the Kent Test, and some grammar schools — particularly those near the borders with London, Surrey, or East Sussex — receive significant numbers of applications from outside Kent. Leading Tuition works with families across the South East preparing for the Kent Test and other selective admissions processes. Families looking the other way, into London, meet a different system altogether: the Barnet and Enfield grammars — Queen Elizabeth's, Henrietta Barnett, St Michael's and Latymer have no county-wide test at all — and no shared paper either. All four set their own entrance tests, on four separate registration timetables.

Choosing a grammar school in Kent is a significant decision, and the county's selective system gives families a genuinely wide range of high-performing options. Taking time to visit schools, review their sixth form and GCSE results on the DfE performance tables, and understand the admissions geography for each school will put you in a much stronger position than relying on reputation alone. Leading Tuition can help your child prepare thoroughly for the Kent Test with structured, age-appropriate support.

Reviewed August 2026: the threshold, score range, paper structure, timings, test dates, preference limit and appeal route on this page were all checked against Kent County Council's own Kent Test and school-places pages on 22 August 2026. Kent sets a new threshold every cycle, so confirm the current figure when it is published in October.

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