Cranbrook School 11+ Admissions: How the Kent Test and Catchment Work

Getting into Cranbrook School at 11+ means sitting the Kent Test in Year 6, being assessed suitable for grammar school by Kent County Council, and naming Cranbrook on the Common Application Form submitted through the family's home local authority. Cranbrook does not set its own Year 7 entrance exam; it draws on the countywide Kent Test, marked by GL Assessment, then allocates its day places according to its own published admission criteria, which give first priority to families living within its defined catchment area.

Cranbrook is consistently oversubscribed, so reaching the county's qualifying standard on the Kent Test does not guarantee a place; children outside the catchment area typically need a higher score than those living within it. The school takes day pupils only at 11+, with boarding places opening from Year 9 onwards, and it is unusual among Kent grammar schools in offering both routes.

How entry to Year 7 works

Cranbrook admits Year 7 day pupils through the Kent Test, with around 90 places available each September for successful candidates. Entry follows Kent County Council's Co-ordinated Admission Scheme, so there is no separate application direct to the school, and every child applying must have been assessed suitable for grammar school through the Kent Test before Cranbrook can be considered.

Boarding is not available at 11+; boarders join from Year 9, when Cranbrook also runs its own entrance exam for that year group, and further places may open at Sixth Form subject to availability and minimum entry requirements.

• Around 90 Year 7 day places offered each September
• Entry is by the Kent Test only; Cranbrook sets no separate Year 7 exam
• Boarding begins at Year 9, not at 11+

How the 11+ assessment works

The Kent Test, also known as the Kent PESE Test, is set and marked by GL Assessment on behalf of Kent County Council, and it assesses verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and mathematics. Scores from the papers are combined into a single aggregate score, which is age-standardised so that a child's month of birth within the school year does not disadvantage them.

Cranbrook holds no separate interview, written task or school report requirement for Year 7 entry; the Kent Test result, combined with the school's own oversubscription criteria, is what determines whether a place is offered. Families apply for testing once and the same result is shared with every Kent grammar school named on the application.

Catchment and oversubscription criteria

Cranbrook's Priority Area gives first claim on places to children living in the civil parishes of Cranbrook, Sissinghurst, Goudhurst, Staplehurst, Frittenden, Benenden, Sandhurst and Hawkhurst, plus any property within 8.5 kilometres of the school measured in a straight line. Families near this boundary are advised to contact Kent Admissions to check the precise distance calculation for their address.

Because the school is oversubscribed, applicants living outside the Priority Area generally need a higher Kent Test score than those within it to be offered a place. All day applicants, whether inside or outside Kent, must hold a UK or Irish passport or have the Right of Abode in the UK; overseas addresses are not eligible for day places, though boarders may apply from anywhere in the UK or abroad.

Registration and the admissions process, step by step

Parents register their child for the Kent Test directly with Kent County Council; the school does not do this on a family's behalf and registration is not automatic even for children at Kent primary schools. After the test is sat and marked, Kent County Council sends parents the assessment outcome, and Cranbrook must then be named as a preference on the Common Application Form submitted through the family's home local authority.

Local authorities coordinate offers on National Offer Day, allocating places according to each named school's admission criteria. Families who are refused a place can appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel using the online appeal portal; the appeal form must state the grounds for appeal at the point of submission, and any supporting evidence, such as letters from teachers or tutors or CAT and NFER test reports, must be submitted at least five working days before the hearing, which itself takes place at least two months after the refusal letter.

• Register for the Kent Test with Kent County Council
• Sit the test and receive the assessment outcome
• Name Cranbrook on the Common Application Form via the home local authority
• Receive the offer through the coordinated National Offer Day process
• Appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel if refused, stating grounds at the outset

Fees, scholarships and financial support

Cranbrook charges no tuition fees for day places at any age, since it is funded as a state grammar school. Boarding fees apply only from Year 9 onwards and are exempt from VAT, with a deposit and part of the first term's fees due on acceptance of a boarding place; day entrants at 11+ are not affected by any of this.

Cranbrook does not offer scholarships for Year 7 entry. Entrance, academic and music scholarships are awarded only to pupils joining at Year 9 (13+), based on performance in that year group's own entrance exam and, for music, a minimum playing or singing standard; a separate bursary scheme exists for Sixth Form boarders.

How to prepare for the Kent Test

Cranbrook does not set its own preparation programme; it signposts prospective families to the same materials used across the county: the KCC Kent Test Familiarisation Booklet and GL Assessment's own 11+ practice papers. Working through these gives a child a realistic sense of the verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning and mathematics questions they will meet, without needing anything beyond what Kent County Council and GL Assessment publish.

Attending the school's open events and virtual tours helps a family judge fit alongside the numbers, since a strong Kent Test score only becomes a Cranbrook offer once catchment and oversubscription criteria are applied. Steady, paced practice in the run-up to the test tends to serve children better than last-minute cramming, particularly for the reasoning papers, which reward familiarity with question types more than raw content knowledge.

Related guides

• Kent grammar schools guide
• Tutors for families in Kent
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory

Preparing for the Cranbrook School 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Families preparing for the Cranbrook School 11+ usually come to us a year or so before the assessment, though shorter runs work where the foundations are already sound. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors build each programme around the format the school actually uses, whether a written paper, an online pre-test, an interview or a combination of them.

More than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status and around three in five hold a master's degree or doctorate, and the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, so the preparation is led by people who know how selective schools assess. Every tutor who works with children holds an enhanced DBS check.

Families in Kent and further afield work with us online, and in person in central London. Fees start from £50 per 50-minute session and depend on tutor level and subject, with no registration fee and a free initial consultation to talk through your child's current level and the timeline to the 11+. Families receive progress reports after sessions and have a dedicated point of contact, and we reply to enquiries within one working day with tutor recommendations.

Read more about our 11+ entrance exam tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.