Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Faversham 11+ and 16+ Admissions: Kent Test and Entry Guide

Entry to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham is by the Kent Test, Kent County Council's Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education (PESE), at age eleven, with a smaller intake into the sixth form at sixteen. The Kent Test, sat in September of Year 6, covers English, mathematics and reasoning; a child assessed as suitable for a grammar school place is then named on the Secondary Common Application Form. There is no interview and no separate paper set by the school itself.

Where places are oversubscribed, priority runs through looked-after children, pupil premium pupils, siblings, staff children and medical or social need before distance from home decides the rest; the school publishes no fixed catchment area. Entry to the sixth form at sixteen is decided instead by GCSE results, set against a points tariff from the best six grades.

Entry points and places

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham takes pupils at two points: Year 7 at eleven-plus, its main entry, and the sixth form at sixteen. The Published Admission Number for Year 7 is 180, reduced where places are taken by children with a statement of special educational need or an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school. There is no entry at seven-plus, eight-plus, nine-plus, ten-plus, twelve-plus, thirteen-plus or fourteen-plus; every pupil below the sixth form joins at the start of Year 7.

For the sixth form, the school admits its own Year 11 students first, then opens around 40 places to external applicants, against an overall Year 12 target of 160. Entry at this stage turns on GCSE results, with no further Kent Test involved; the full sixth-form criteria are set out in their own section below.

How the 11+ assessment works

The eleven-plus assessment for Year 7 is the Kent Test, also known as the Kent Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education (PESE), covering papers in English, mathematics and reasoning; the school sets no paper of its own. Children register for the test using a Kent Test Application Form and sit the papers in September of Year 6, with pupils at Kent primary schools tested on one date and children from outside Kent, or who are home-educated, tested on a different date shortly after.

Kent County Council then sends an assessment decision confirming whether the child has been assessed as suitable for a grammar school place; this decision alone does not guarantee a place at any particular school if that school is oversubscribed. Year 7 entry at the school involves no interview or group activity.

11+ tutors

Hannah S.

Master Tutor

11+ PreparationCommon Entrance PreparationEnglishMaths

I am a UK-qualified teacher with 15+ years across private and state schools in the UK and abroad, and hold a BSc from LSE and a PGCE with QTS. I teach English, Maths, Verbal Reasoning, 11+ and Common Entrance preparation. My approach is personalised, confidence-building and rigorous.

Enquire about this tutor

Sochima N.

Master Tutor

MathsPhysicsChemistryComputer Science

I'm a qualified teacher in a London classroom every day, with a BSc in Computer Science from Brunel and a PGCE with QTS. I teach Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Computer Science to A-Level, plus 11+ preparation, through project-based work that suits SEND learners well.

Enquire about this tutor

Ariana G.

Master Tutor

EnglishEnglish LiteratureEnglish Language11+ Preparation

I have taught English in London schools for twelve years, including Tiffin Girls' School, and hold a PGCE with QTS. I teach English, English Literature, English Language and 11+ preparation across KS3 to A-Level and IB. I get to know each tutee and plan creative lessons around their goals.

Enquire about this tutor

See all tutors

Registration and the admissions timeline

The admissions timeline runs from registration for the Kent Test in the summer term of Year 5 through to National Offer Day the following spring. Registration opens online using the Kent Test Application Form in the summer term of Year 5 and closes a few weeks later. The Kent Test itself is sat in September at the start of Year 6, with the assessment decision following in October.

Families then name the school as a preference on the Secondary Common Application Form by the national closing date that autumn, after which Kent County Council passes applicant details to the school. Outcomes arrive on National Offer Day the following March, when parents accept, join a waiting list, or appeal. Open events for prospective Year 7 families are likely to take place in October, with a sixth-form open evening in February.

• Register for the Kent Test (summer term of Year 5)
• Sit the Kent Test papers (September, start of Year 6)
• Receive the assessment decision (October)
• Name the school on the Secondary Common Application Form (national closing date, autumn of Year 6)
• Receive the outcome on National Offer Day (the following March)

Interviews and references

Neither Year 7 nor sixth-form entry involves an interview. The published admissions policy for Year 7 lists no interview, group activity or report from the current primary school among its criteria; the Kent Test result, and the order of priority set out below where places are oversubscribed, decide who is offered a place.

Sixth-form offers are likewise made without interview, based on predicted and then confirmed GCSE grades together with whether a pupil's chosen subjects can be timetabled in a workable group size. Parents refused a place at either stage have a statutory right of appeal, made in writing to the Clerk to the Governors at the school's Abbey Place address, where an independent panel hears the appeal and parents may attend.

Catchment and oversubscription criteria

The school publishes no fixed catchment or priority area, so distance from home to school only decides places once every other criterion has been applied. Once children with a statement of special educational need or an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school have been admitted, remaining places follow this order: looked-after and previously looked-after children; children receiving Free School Meals or Pupil Premium, checked through a Supplementary Information Form; Current Family Association, meaning a brother or sister already at the school; children of staff employed on a permanent contract for two years or more, or recruited to fill a demonstrable skill shortage; and medical, health, social or special access need, evidenced in writing.

Nearness of home to school, measured in a straight line from the National Land and Property Gazetteer address point, is the final criterion and also breaks ties, with an independently supervised random draw used if distances are equal. The sixth form applies this same order once the school's own Year 11 students have been placed.

• Looked-after and previously looked-after children
• Free School Meals or Pupil Premium children
• Current Family Association (sibling already at the school)
• Children of staff (two years or more on a permanent contract, or a skill-shortage appointment)
• Medical, health, social or special access need
• Nearness of home to school (straight-line distance; also the tie-break)

Sixth-form entry

Entry to the sixth form at sixteen is decided by GCSE results. Applicants need at least 33 points from their best six GCSE or BTEC grades, with short-course GCSEs counted at half value, a minimum of grade 4 in mathematics and in at least one English GCSE, and grade 6 or above in any GCSE subject to be studied at A Level, except mathematics, which requires grade 7.

Year 11 students who meet these criteria are given priority; external applicants then compete for around 40 places, against an overall Year 12 target of 160. Offers made during Year 11 are conditional on predicted grades and are confirmed once actual GCSE results are known, and the school holds a means-tested bursary fund for sixth-form students who need financial support.

Where pupils join from

The school does not publish a list of feeder primary schools or partner schools for Year 7 entry. Because there is no catchment area, admission depends on the Kent Test result and the oversubscription order above; which primary school a child attends plays no part. Siblings of current pupils and families living close to the school are the only groups given a family-based or distance-based advantage.

Pupils who move into the area, or who need a place outside the normal September intake, apply using Kent County Council's In-Year Admissions Form; where a child has not sat the Kent Test, the school arranges its own assessment using CAT tests, requiring an average score of 114 with no individual score below 108.

How to prepare

Preparing for entry means preparing for the Kent Test itself, since there is no separate school-set paper to practise for. Because the Kent Test covers English, mathematics and reasoning, practice covering all three areas in balance serves this test better than drilling a single subject. The school itself signposts free familiarisation materials through Atom Learning, with free access for families who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in recent years, and paid access at standard rates for everyone else.

Registering by the published closing date matters as much as the practice itself, since late registration is only accepted in limited circumstances, and any request for special arrangements must go through the child's primary school before that deadline. For sixth-form entry, preparation centres on meeting the grade 4 and grade 6, or grade 7 for mathematics, thresholds at GCSE, so checking the Sixth Form Options Guide for subject-specific requirements well before applying is worthwhile.

Related guides

• The Kent Test and Kent grammar schools
• Best grammar schools in the UK by GCSE results
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory
• Barton Court Grammar School admissions guide
• Borden Grammar School admissions guide
• Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School admissions guide
• Cranbrook School admissions guide

Preparing for the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Faversham 11+ with Taylor Tuition

Families preparing for the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Faversham 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 work with us online from anywhere in the UK or abroad, 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.