Invicta Grammar School 11+ Admissions: The Kent Test and Entry Guide

Entry to Invicta Grammar School at 11+ runs through the Kent Test, formally the Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education, which every applicant must pass before the school can be named on a Secondary Common Application Form. The Published Admission Number for Year 7 is 240, and Invicta has no defined catchment area, so distance from home to school only matters once the other oversubscription criteria have been applied.

The school is a selective girls' grammar academy taking girls at 11 and admitting boys only into the Sixth Form, and it sits within Kent County Council's coordinated admissions scheme alongside the county's other grammar schools. Because the school is usually oversubscribed, passing the Kent Test only confirms a child is suitable for a grammar education; a place still depends on where the family's application ranks against Invicta's published oversubscription criteria.

How Year 7 admission works

Admission to Year 7 at Invicta depends on gaining a selective assessment through the Kent Test and then naming the school on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) submitted to Kent County Council. The Published Admission Number is 240 places, and before oversubscription criteria are applied the school first admits children with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming Invicta, plus children who are or have been in local authority care; the admission number is reduced accordingly for each such place taken up. Passing the Kent Test does not itself guarantee a place, since the school routinely receives more applications than it has spaces and must then rank eligible applicants using its published oversubscription criteria.

How the Kent Test assessment works

Kent County Council administers and marks the Kent Test centrally, and it applies equally to every Kent grammar school a family applies to. It consists of two multiple-choice papers, each answered on a separate sheet and marked by computer: an English and maths paper lasting an hour, split into a 25-minute English section (a comprehension exercise plus further literacy questions) and a 25-minute maths section, each preceded by a five-minute practice exercise.

The second paper is a reasoning test of about an hour, combining a verbal reasoning section with a non-verbal reasoning section of similar length; the non-verbal reasoning is broken into several short, individually timed parts. Children also complete an unmarked 40-minute writing task, with 10 minutes for planning, which a local headteacher panel may draw on as part of the headteacher assessment stage for borderline or special-circumstance cases. Results give three standardised scores, for English, maths and reasoning, plus an aggregate total, adjusted slightly for age so the youngest in the year group aren't disadvantaged.

Registering and applying for a Year 7 place

The Year 7 process follows a fixed sequence set by Kent County Council, and it runs the same way whichever Kent grammar school a family prefers. Registration happens during Year 5, testing and results follow in Year 6, and the sequence ends with a single national offer day when every Kent family learns which school has offered their child a place, followed by the chance to accept, join a waiting list, or appeal.

• Register for the Kent Test online with Kent County Council during Year 5; support is available for children living outside Kent, and for children with special educational needs who may need access arrangements agreed through their primary school's SENCO beforehand
• Sit the Kent Test in September of Year 6, with children at a Kent primary school and children at a primary school outside Kent tested on separate dates
• Receive results, including the standardised scores and whether the child has been assessed suitable for grammar school, by email or post in the autumn
• Submit the Secondary Common Application Form naming Invicta as a preference, together with a Supplementary Information Form for Pupil Premium if relevant, by the autumn deadline published each year
• Wait for Kent's national offer day, after which the family can accept the place, join a waiting list, or lodge an appeal

Catchment area and oversubscription criteria

Invicta does not operate a defined catchment area; the school states that offer distances vary significantly from year to year depending on the number, location and profile of applicants. Once children with an Education, Health and Care Plan and looked-after or previously looked-after children have been admitted, remaining places are ranked using the school's oversubscription criteria in order.

• Current Family Association: a sibling attending Invicta at the time of admission and living at the same address
• Medical, health or social needs, supported by written evidence from a qualified professional showing that Invicta specifically can meet the need
• Pupil Premium: children registered for free school meals at any point in the past six years, via a Supplementary Information Form returned by the autumn deadline
• Children of staff employed full-time for at least two years, or recruited to fill a demonstrable skill shortage
• Nearness of home to school, measured in a straight line from the National Land and Property Gazetteer address point, with equal distances settled by an independently supervised random draw

What happens if the Kent Test threshold isn't met

If a child is not tested, or is not assessed as suitable for a grammar school place, the family can still name Invicta on the application form, but Kent County Council will refuse that preference when places are offered; parents then have the right to appeal to an independent panel to argue the school remains suitable for their child. A waiting list also operates for each year group, ranked and reordered using the same oversubscription criteria whenever a place becomes free or a child joins or leaves the list, and it runs until the end of the academic year.

Families who move into the area, or whose child did not sit the Kent Test at the normal time, can apply for an in-year place directly to Invicta. In-year applicants sit the school's own two-stage assessment instead of the Kent Test: an initial Stage 1 assessment (CATS or MIDYIS testing, or equivalent), followed by written papers in core subjects at Stage 2 for those who score in the top quarter of the ability range across every section of Stage 1.

How to prepare for the Kent Test

Because both main papers are multiple-choice and computer-marked, children benefit from practising within the exact time pressure they will face: a five-minute practice exercise followed by a 25-minute section for English and for maths, and roughly an hour of verbal and non-verbal reasoning split into short, separately timed parts. Kent County Council publishes free familiarisation materials, including a Kent Test familiarisation booklet, so a child can see the paper layout and answer-sheet format before test day.

The unmarked writing task rewards a calm, planned approach, since 10 of the 40 minutes are meant for planning; treating it as a genuine part of the test matters if a headteacher panel later reviews borderline cases. Kent's grammar schools are intended for roughly the top quarter of the ability range by test performance, so parents considering registration may find it useful to discuss their child's progress with the primary school beforehand, alongside steady, low-pressure practice well ahead of the test.

Related guides

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

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