Fort Pitt Grammar School 11+ Guide 2026: Co-Ed From September 2026

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Fort Pitt Grammar School 11+ entry for September 2027 carries a particularly significant angle this year: the school is admitting boys into Year 7 for the first time, following Department for Education approval of its co-educational transition. Fort Pitt Grammar School has served as a selective girls' school for Years 7 to 11 for many decades, with a co-educational Sixth Form, and from September 2026, Year 7 entry is open to both boys and girls. The school is located on Fort Pitt Hill in Chatham, Kent, rated Outstanding by Ofsted in October 2022, with 987 pupils on roll. It remains part of the Medway selective admissions system, using the Medway Test set by GL Assessment to identify grammar-suitable pupils, with 150 Year 7 places available each year. This guide covers what the co-educational change means for families applying now, how the Medway Test works, the oversubscription criteria, key dates for 2027 entry, and how to build the right preparation programme. For a wider view of grammar schools in the region, see our Kent grammar schools guide 2026.

Is Fort Pitt Grammar School Now Co-Educational?

Yes — and for families currently planning Year 7 entry, this is the most important development to understand. On 5 November 2024, Fort Pitt Grammar School confirmed on its official website that the Department for Education had approved the proposal for Fort Pitt Grammar School, Chatham Grammar School, and Holcombe Grammar School to all become co-educational from September 2026. Consultations ran in December 2023 and January 2024, and the DfE's decision followed that process.

The practical implications for applicants are straightforward. Boys sitting the Medway Test for September 2027 entry may now include Fort Pitt Grammar School on their Common Application Form as a preference. The admissions criteria themselves — the oversubscription order, distance measurement, and parish priorities — remain unchanged from previous years. Only eligibility has widened: where previously only girls could apply, both boys and girls may now apply.

Pupils currently in Years 7 to 11 at Fort Pitt are not affected by the transition. Their classes remain single sex, and the curriculum and extra-curricular offer continues as planned. The school confirmed the uniform will change for students joining from September 2026 onwards, phased in so existing pupils may continue with the current uniform or adopt the new one. Building work to provide separate facilities for boys commenced in the 2025/26 academic year, funded by Medway Council.

The rationale given by headteacher Ms Salena Hirons is clear: co-education will balance access to grammar provision for boys and girls across Medway, reduce travel distances for pupils, and enable siblings who might previously have been split across different schools to attend the same school. Fort Pitt's move is therefore not just a change for the school — it is part of a planned structural shift in how Medway grammar school places are distributed across the area.

How Does the Fort Pitt Grammar School 11+ Admissions Process Work?

Fort Pitt Grammar School admissions operate in two distinct stages, both of which must be completed correctly. The first stage is the Medway Test. All children who wish to be considered for any Medway grammar school — including Fort Pitt — must register for and sit the Medway Test. Only children assessed as grammar-suitable following the test are eligible to be considered for Fort Pitt places. The second stage is the Common Application Form (CAF). Once a child has sat the test, parents submit the CAF to their home local authority, naming their preferred secondary schools including Fort Pitt. The two stages run on separate timelines and deadlines, and missing either one means a child cannot be considered for a grammar school place.

Registration for the 2027 entry Medway Test opened on 18 May 2026 and closed on 12 June 2026. The test itself is sat in September 2026. Children attending Medway maintained primary or junior schools sit the test at their own school on 15 or 16 September 2026. Children not attending a Medway state primary school sit the test at an allocated Medway Test centre on 19 or 20 September 2026. Results are issued on 14 October 2026. The CAF must then be submitted to your home local authority by 31 October 2026. See our 11+ exam dates 2026–2027 timetable for the full Medway and national calendar.

What Is the Medway Test Format for Fort Pitt Grammar School?

The Medway Test is set and administered by GL Assessment on behalf of Medway Council. It is a standardised admissions test used by all six Medway grammar schools, and the same paper determines eligibility for all of them — including Fort Pitt. There is no separate school-specific 11+ paper for Fort Pitt. Children sit the test once, receive one result, and may then name any combination of Medway grammar schools on their application.

The test comprises three papers. The English paper (30 minutes) covers reading comprehension, punctuation, and grammar. The Mathematics paper (50 minutes) covers all primary Maths content up to and including Key Stage 2, including number, fractions, ratio, geometry, statistics, and algebra at the top end. The Reasoning paper (45 minutes) covers both verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning in a single combined paper. All questions are multiple choice, recorded on an optical mark reading (OMR) answer sheet — children fill in bubbles on a separate sheet rather than writing answers in the test booklet. Children should practise the OMR process specifically, as transferring answers accurately under time pressure is a skill in itself.

Raw scores are age-standardised to account for the age spread within the year group, then weighted. English and Mathematics each account for 40% of the total weighted score; Reasoning accounts for the remaining 20%. The pass mark is set each year to select approximately the top 25% of the Medway year group, giving roughly 1,500 grammar-suitable designations across all Medway schools for around 6,000 children who take the test. Because the threshold is relative — set annually at the 25th percentile — it does not correspond to a fixed raw score.

What Are the Fort Pitt Grammar School Oversubscription Criteria?

Fort Pitt Grammar School has 150 Year 7 places. In the 2025 entry cycle, 669 applications were received in total, with 198 listing Fort Pitt as their first preference. The last distance offered in 2025 was 3.32 km from the school. This means the school is moderately competitive among Medway grammars — passing the Medway Test is only the first step, and proximity to Fort Pitt Hill in Chatham plays a significant role in who receives an offer.

When more grammar-assessed children apply than there are places, Fort Pitt ranks applicants under its published oversubscription criteria in the following order. First priority goes to looked after children and previously looked after children who are grammar-assessed. Second priority goes to siblings — children who have a brother or sister who will still be attending Fort Pitt when they start. Third priority goes to children of staff who have worked at Fort Pitt for three or more years, or who were recruited to fill a demonstrable skills-shortage post. Fourth priority goes to children living within 2 miles of the school, measured by Medway Council's Geographic Information System. Fifth priority goes to children living in specified Medway and peninsular parishes: Allhallows; Cliffe and Cliffe Woods; Cooling; Cuxton; Frindsbury Extra (including Wainscott and Upnor); Halling; High Halstow; Hoo St Werburgh (including Chattenden); St James, Isle of Grain; St Mary Hoo; and Stoke. All remaining grammar-assessed applicants are ranked sixth by shortest safe walking distance.

For families outside the first four priority groups, the practical implication is significant: if you live beyond approximately 3.32 km from Fort Pitt and do not have a sibling link, your child's chance of being offered a place is limited. With the school becoming co-educational from September 2026, the pool of eligible applicants has widened to include boys as well as girls. It will take at least one full admissions cycle before families can observe how the gender balance and the distance threshold shift in practice. Families considering nearby Medway grammars should read our Rochester Grammar School 11+ guide 2026 for the adjacent selective school serving a comparable area.

What Academic Results Does Fort Pitt Grammar School Achieve?

Fort Pitt Grammar School's academic outcomes are strong across both Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. In the 2024–25 academic year, 95.9% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and Mathematics at GCSE — a benchmark that places the school well above national grammar school averages. The school's Attainment 8 score of 65.9 reflects consistently high performance across a broad suite of GCSE subjects, with 98% of pupils entered for the EBacc and an EBacc average point score of 6.39. The Progress 8 score of +0.64 is particularly telling: it means Fort Pitt pupils make significantly more academic progress than would be predicted from their prior attainment at primary school, demonstrating that the school adds genuine value beyond its selective intake.

Subject-level GCSE data confirms broad strength: 88.4% of pupils achieve grade 5+ in EBacc Maths, 94.6% in EBacc English, 89.8% in EBacc Sciences, and 74.3% in EBacc Languages. At A-level, the school achieves an average of 38.06 points per entry, with 11.1% of students achieving AAB or better. Sixth Form destinations show 62% progressing to higher education, 4% to apprenticeships, and 26% to sustained employment. These figures place Fort Pitt firmly within the upper tier of state grammar school performance in the South East.

Ofsted inspected the school in October 2022 and awarded Outstanding in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and Sixth Form provision. Inspectors noted an inclusive, ambitious school where pupils attend very well, behave with maturity, and benefit from strong teaching, extensive enrichment, and effective safeguarding. Inspectors highlighted the enrichment offer as a particular strength, noting chemistry and physics Olympiad successes and Sixth Form students leading clubs and cultural activities. Fort Pitt Grammar School holds national ranking position 132 among all secondary schools for GCSE results.

How Should Families Prepare for the Fort Pitt Grammar School 11+?

Preparation for the Medway Test — and therefore for Fort Pitt Grammar School 11+ entry — needs to start well before the September test date. Most families preparing for Medway Test grammar entry begin structured practice in Year 4 or early Year 5 at the latest. The Medway Test is competitive: it is designed to identify the top 25% of the Medway year group, and all six grammar schools draw from the same qualified pool, so the real competition is not just for Fort Pitt but for any Medway grammar school place.

The most important areas to address, in order of test weighting, are English and Mathematics. Each carries 40% of the total weighted score, so neglecting either one in favour of reasoning-heavy preparation is a common mistake. For English, children should practise reading comprehension at greater speed and precision than primary school typically demands — GL Assessment comprehension questions often require careful word-level inference and punctuation-in-context identification. Practise with passages at or slightly above the child's current reading level, with timed conditions. Grammar and punctuation questions are often where points are lost by children who have been reading well but have not studied grammatical terminology explicitly.

For Mathematics, ensure the full KS2 curriculum is secure and then extend preparation into problem-solving and multi-step questions. The Medway Test Maths paper tests all primary Maths content but frames questions in context — bare number calculations alone are not sufficient preparation. Fractions, ratio and proportion, percentages, and algebra at the KS2 level appear regularly. Timed Maths practice is essential: the 50-minute paper has enough questions that pace is a real factor.

Verbal reasoning covers question types including letter series, word connections, number codes, analogies, and hidden words. Non-verbal reasoning covers shape series, matrices, and spatial reasoning. Because reasoning carries only 20% of the total score, it should receive proportionately less preparation time than English and Maths — but children who have never encountered these question formats should spend time on each type before the test. Official GL Assessment practice papers for the Medway Test are available and should be used alongside general 11+ preparation materials.

OMR technique deserves specific attention. Children who have only practised by writing answers in test booklets sometimes transfer answers incorrectly or lose time on the answer sheet under pressure. Practice with OMR-style bubbling sheets — filling a bubble, checking the number against the question, and moving quickly — removes one source of avoidable error on test day.

For specialist Medway Test tuition covering all three papers, our 11+ tuition service provides structured preparation from Year 4 upwards, with timed mock papers and personalised feedback on each child's weaker question types.

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