Key Facts
| School type | State grammar (academy), girls 11 to 16 with a co-educational sixth form |
|---|---|
| Location | Tonbridge, Kent |
| Entry points | 11+ (Year 7); a smaller number of places also open at 16+ (co-educational sixth form) |
| Assessment | Kent Test (KCC-administered): English and maths paper, verbal and non-verbal reasoning paper, plus an unmarked writing task; no school-set test or interview |
| Test provider | Kent County Council (the Kent Test, via the Kent Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education); the school sets no test of its own |
| Registration deadline | Kent Test registration runs 1 June to 1 July; the Secondary Common Application Form naming preferred schools closes 2 November |
| Assessment date | Kent Test sat 10 September (Kent primary school pupils) or the weekend of 12-13 September (other candidates); assessment decisions sent 15 October |
Figures correct at the time of writing — always confirm current fees and deadlines with the school directly.
Entry to Tonbridge Grammar School at 11+ depends solely on Kent County Council's Kent Test; a girl is considered for a place only once she has registered for and sat the Kent Test and been given a selective assessment through the Kent Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education. There is no school interview at this stage.
The school offers 180 places in Year 7, split between girls living in a defined priority area, girls living further afield, and girls eligible for Pupil Premium. Where more qualified applicants apply than there are places, offers follow a published order of oversubscription criteria based on Kent Test score, home address and, where relevant, looked-after status.
How entry works at 11+
Entry to Year 7 happens once a year, with the school offering 180 places to girls who have taken the Kent Test and been awarded a selective assessment. At this stage, admissions rest entirely on the Kent Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education, administered by Kent County Council; every applicant is assessed through this process.
Places are split three ways: up to 135 Area places for girls living in Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells or Sevenoaks, 30 Trustee places for girls living elsewhere, and 15 places reserved for girls eligible for Pupil Premium. A separate, smaller intake joins the co-educational sixth form at 16+.
How the 11+ assessment works
The 11+ assessment is the Kent Test, administered by Kent County Council, and it has no interview stage. Candidates sit two papers: the first covers English and maths in one hour, with a comprehension exercise and literacy questions alongside maths drawn from the primary curriculum up to the start of Year 6; the second is a reasoning paper of similar length, split into verbal and non-verbal reasoning sections.
All questions are multiple-choice and marked by computer, with results reported as three standardised scores plus a combined total. Candidates also complete an unmarked 40-minute writing task, including 10 minutes of planning, which a headteacher panel may refer to in borderline cases.
Registering and applying: the process step by step
Getting a place follows a fixed sequence set by Kent County Council, the same for every family regardless of which grammar school they prefer.
- Register for the Kent Test online with Kent County Council during the registration window
- Sit the Kent Test in September, at the child's primary school if it is in Kent, or at an assigned centre if not
- Receive the assessment decision, showing whether the grammar school standard was reached, in October
- Submit the Secondary Common Application Form naming preferred schools in order, by the national closing date
- Schools rank applicants against their oversubscription criteria; Kent County Council issues offers on National Offer Day
- Join a waiting list or lodge an appeal if a preferred school does not offer a place
Catchment and oversubscription criteria
Priority follows three council areas: Tonbridge and Malling Borough, Tunbridge Wells Borough and Sevenoaks District. Girls with a selective assessment resident in any of these are considered for the 135 Area places; girls living elsewhere are considered for the 30 Trustee places.
Within each list, priority goes first to looked-after and previously looked-after children, then to rank by combined Kent Test score, then, if a place still cannot be decided, by proximity of home to school, then by random allocation. A further 15 places go to girls eligible for Pupil Premium whose score falls below the automatic qualifying score for Area places, ranked by proximity to the school. If either list is undersubscribed, surplus places pass to the other.
The qualifying standard and how places are ranked
To be considered for a grammar place, a child needs a total standardised score at or above a threshold that Kent County Council recalculates each year from that year's results; recent thresholds have sat around 332 out of a possible 423, with no individual English, maths or reasoning score below around 106. Scores are age-standardised, so a younger child in the year group is not disadvantaged against an older one.
Reaching the standard confirms eligibility for a grammar place in general; it does not guarantee a place at this particular school, where offers still depend on the oversubscription criteria and the number of applicants in each priority group.
How to prepare for the Kent Test format
Because the Kent Test covers English, maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning across two timed, multiple-choice papers, familiarity with pacing and question style tends to matter as much as raw knowledge. Kent County Council does not release past papers, though it publishes a familiarisation booklet showing the style of question a child will meet, alongside general practice materials.
Building comfort with short timed sections, a 5-minute practice exercise followed by a 25-minute test within each part, and a brief planning-then-writing routine for the unmarked writing task, tends to help more than last-minute cramming. Since the school sets no test of its own, preparation only needs to target the Kent Test format itself.
Related guides
Preparing for the Tonbridge Grammar School 11+ with Taylor Tuition
The Tonbridge Grammar School 11+ rewards steady preparation over a year or so, with the last term given to timed practice and interview confidence. Having prepared pupils for entry to leading independent and grammar schools, with placements including Westminster, St Paul's, Wycombe Abbey and Eton, our tutors match the programme to the school's assessment format and to where the child is starting from.
Because the pool includes former heads of department, exam-board examiners and teachers from independent and boarding schools, and more than half of our tutors hold Qualified Teacher Status, families get a tutor who understands what the assessors are looking for. 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.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Tonbridge Grammar School interview candidates at 11+?
- No. The school sets no test or interview of its own for Year 7 entry; every place depends on the Kent Test result recorded through Kent County Council's Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education, followed by the school's own oversubscription criteria once results are known.
- How many 11+ places are there?
- The published admission number is 180, split into up to 135 Area places for girls living in Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells or Sevenoaks, 30 Trustee places for girls living elsewhere, and 15 places reserved for girls eligible for Pupil Premium.
- What if we live outside the priority area?
- Applicants living outside Tonbridge and Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks fall under the 30 Trustee places, ranked the same way: by Kent Test combined score, then proximity to the school, then random allocation if needed.
- What score is needed to pass the Kent Test?
- Kent County Council sets a total standardised score threshold each year; recent thresholds have sat around 332 out of 423, with no individual score below about 106. Reaching it makes a child eligible for a grammar place generally, though this school's offer still depends on its own oversubscription criteria.
- Can pupils join in the sixth form instead of at 11+?
- Yes. The sixth form is co-educational and takes external applicants once current Year 11 students meeting the entry criteria have been placed, up to the sixth form's published admission number; where applications exceed that number, separate sixth form oversubscription criteria apply.
- Is there a waiting list if we don't get a place?
- Yes. Kent County Council maintains a waiting list in oversubscription-criteria order, re-ranked each time a name is added, and families also have a statutory right of appeal, with full details published on the school's website.
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