The Kent Test is the 11+ selection test that Kent County Council runs for entry to the county's 32 grammar schools. Its purpose is to show whether grammar school is a suitable option for a child. Every Kent grammar school relies on the same test, sat by children in Year 6 the September before they apply for a secondary place, though the result only carries weight within Kent: Medway Council and the London Borough of Bexley each run their own separate selection tests. Passing does not by itself secure a place, since a family still has to apply for the school through the ordinary secondary admissions round.
Who can sit the Kent Test, and when do you register?
Children register for the Kent Test in Year 5 and sit it at the start of Year 6, for entry to Year 7 the following September; eligibility depends on the child's date of birth falling within the relevant school year, running from 1 September to 31 August. Registration is open to parents of children resident in England, though not those living in the Crown Dependencies such as Jersey, Guernsey or the Isle of Man, and to children of UK service personnel with a confirmed UK posting and to Crown Servants returning to the UK. Parents of a child outside the usual age range who is still expected to transfer that September should email Kent County Council's admissions team directly.
Registration opens at the start of June and closes at the start of July. A parent who misses that window can still make a late request by emailing KCC admissions directly, giving the child's full name, date of birth, home address and current school.
Children attending a Kent primary school sit the test on a school day in early to mid-September. Children who do not attend a Kent primary school sit the same papers on the following weekend.
Results are issued on a Thursday in mid-October, sent by email to the address given at registration or, where no email address was provided, by first-class post. A parent who has not received a posted result can ask the child's primary school for the scores the day after results are issued.
How is the test structured?
Both papers are multiple choice, answered on a separate answer sheet and marked by computer. Test one covers English and maths and lasts 1 hour in total, split into two sections, each opening with a 5-minute practice exercise followed by a 25-minute test. The English section includes a comprehension exercise plus further questions drawn from a set designed to test literacy skills.
Test two is a reasoning paper lasting about 1 hour including its practice sections, made up of a verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section of roughly equal length. The non-verbal reasoning section is split into several short sections, each administered and timed individually.
A separate writing exercise lasts 40 minutes, including 10 minutes of planning time, and is not itself marked. It may be used by a local headteacher panel, alongside the test scores, if a child's case goes to headteacher assessment.
How do the scores and the grammar threshold work?
Each child receives four figures: three standardised scores, for English, maths and reasoning, and a total, or aggregate, score made up of all three. Standardisation compares a child's performance with the average performance of other children taking each paper, with a slight adjustment for age so that the youngest children in the year group are not at a disadvantage.
Individual standardised scores range from 69 to 141, and the highest possible total score is 423. In the most recent published round, a grammar school assessment required a total score of 332 or more, with no individual score below 108. KCC calls this the grammar school threshold, known more widely as the pass mark; it is published each October with the results and can change from one round to the next.
What happens if a child scores below the threshold?
A primary school headteacher who disagrees with a below-threshold outcome can refer the case to a local Headteacher Assessment panel made up of primary and secondary headteachers. The panel weighs additional evidence, including the test scores themselves, the child's recent schoolwork, the writing task completed during the test, and the primary school's own comments, and a child can be assessed suitable through this route even with a total below the threshold.
Parents of a child who was not tested, or who was not assessed suitable through either route, can still name a Kent grammar school on the secondary application. That part of the application will be refused on national offer day, and the parent then has the right to appeal to an independent panel, setting out why grammar school is a suitable option for the child.
How does an assessment turn into a grammar school place?
Being assessed suitable for grammar school does not guarantee a place, since a Kent grammar school can only consider a child who is both named on the secondary application and has been tested and assessed suitable. Kent parents can name up to four secondary school preferences on that application, submitted during Year 6, with the deadline falling at the end of October or the start of November.
Grammar schools are often oversubscribed, and each ranks applicants against its own admissions criteria, so parents should read the published criteria for every school they are considering, since they are not identical across schools. Some grammar schools, particularly those most likely to offer places to children living outside Kent, give priority to the highest scores.
National offer day falls on 1 March, or the next working day if that date is a weekend, when all secondary offers are sent out together. A child who is not offered a grammar place can appeal to an independent appeal panel and may also be able to join the school's waiting list.
Which are the 32 Kent grammar schools?
Kent has 32 grammar schools spread across the county, each either boys', girls' or mixed, and every one uses the same test for entry.
- Ashford: Highworth Grammar School (girls), Norton Knatchbull School (boys)
- Broadstairs: Dane Court Grammar School (mixed)
- Canterbury: Barton Court Grammar School (mixed), Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School (girls), Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys (boys)
- Cranbrook: Cranbrook School (mixed)
- Dartford and Wilmington: Dartford Grammar School (boys), Dartford Grammar School for Girls (girls), Wilmington Grammar School for Boys (boys), Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (girls)
- Dover: Dover Grammar School for Boys (boys), Dover Grammar School for Girls (girls)
- Faversham: Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (mixed)
- Folkestone: Folkestone School for Girls (girls), The Harvey Grammar School (boys)
- Gravesend: Gravesend Grammar School (boys), Mayfield Grammar School (girls)
- Maidstone: Invicta Grammar School (girls), Maidstone Grammar School (boys), Maidstone Grammar School for Girls (girls), Oakwood Park Grammar School (boys)
- Ramsgate: Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School (mixed)
- Sandwich: Sir Roger Manwood's School (mixed)
- Sittingbourne: Borden Grammar School (boys), Highsted Grammar School (girls)
- Tonbridge: The Judd School (boys), Tonbridge Grammar School (girls), Weald of Kent Grammar School (girls)
- Tunbridge Wells: The Skinners' School (boys), Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School (girls), Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (boys)
Can children from outside Kent, or with SEN, sit the test?
Children living outside Kent, including in Medway and Bexley, can register for the test, though KCC asks that they only do so if the family intends to apply for a Kent grammar school. All secondary preferences, including any Kent grammar school, are listed on the application form issued by the family's home local authority, and a child is offered no more than one school place in total.
A child with a disability or special educational needs that will affect access to the test needs arrangements made in advance: parents should speak to the primary school's SENCO before registering, since the school applies for any access arrangements on the child's behalf, and requests are not accepted after the registration closing date.
How can a child prepare for the Kent Test?
KCC publishes a free familiarisation paper for the test, together with links to further free familiarisation materials, so a child can see the exact paper format, question types and answer sheet before sitting the real papers.
Practising under the real timings matters given how the papers are built: a 5-minute practice exercise followed by a 25-minute test in each section of test one, about an hour for test two including its own practice sections, and a 40-minute writing exercise with 10 minutes for planning. Working through the familiarisation paper against a clock helps a child get used to moving on when time is called, instead of spending too long on one question.
Related guides
- The Judd School 11+ admissions
- Tonbridge Grammar School 11+ admissions
- Weald of Kent Grammar School 11+ admissions
- Invicta Grammar School 11+ admissions
- Dane Court Grammar School 11+ admissions
- Tutors for families in Kent
Preparing for the Kent Test 11+ with Taylor Tuition
Families preparing for the Kent Test 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.
Read more about our 11+ entrance exam tutors, or send an enquiry and we will come back with tutor recommendations.
Frequently asked questions
- How many children get into Kent grammar schools?
- KCC states that Kent grammar schools provide for children in about the top 25% of the ability range, and that many children will find the test difficult. Because of this, KCC suggests parents discuss a child's academic achievement with the primary school before registering, since teachers can give a view on whether grammar-level work is likely to suit that child.
- How many children get each score in the Kent Test?
- KCC publishes a report every year showing how many children achieved each total score, alongside that year's results. This lets a parent see roughly how a given total, including their own child's, sits against the wider year group and how far it falls above or below that year's grammar threshold.
- We're moving to Kent after the test has taken place - can my child still get a grammar place?
- A child who moves into Kent after the test has already taken place still needs to be assessed before any Kent grammar school can consider them for a Year 7 place. Assessment is a separate requirement from where the family lives, so relocating to Kent does not, on its own, secure eligibility for a grammar place.
- What if my child has a severe visual impairment and can't access the standard test papers?
- A child with a severe visual impairment who cannot access the standard papers is assessed differently: a headteacher panel looks at their classwork and academic achievement instead of the written test, to decide whether grammar school is a suitable option.
- Which Kent grammar school has the best GCSE results?
- In the latest Department for Education performance tables, Dartford Grammar School has the highest average Attainment 8 score of the 32 Kent grammar schools, at 79.9, followed by The Judd School at 78.4 and Tonbridge Grammar School at 77.2.
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