Kent 11 Plus

Kent is the largest remaining grammar school area in the country, with 35 wholly selective grammar schools and four partially selective schools.

Kent is also unusual, in that the 11 plus results are provided to parents before the Common Application Form (CAF) has to be submitted(From 2012 all counties now have to follow the same procedure). In most cases this allows parents to make their school choices based on certainty, rather than guesswork, about the outcome of the 11 plus test. Only where an appeal is required will parents still need to hedge their bets on the choice between grammar and comprehensive schools.

Despite that, parents in Kent face a considerable challenge when completing their CAF (Common Application Form). The Admissions Criteria for schools differ for almost every school in the County and must be studied extremely carefully by prospective parents.

Some schools known as the “super-selectives” allocate places by score, but there may be geographic limits imposed as well. Other schools use distance or parish boundaries as the main criterion for admission. Schools that do not use score to allocate places may have rules about siblings taking priority. (It is illegal under the school Admissions Code to use score to allocate places and give priority to siblings.)

Full details of the admissions criteria for all Kent schools can be found on the Kent County Council website.

We strongly recommend that, once you have a shortlist of your preferred schools, you research very carefully whether your child would have gained admission in previous years. Either Kent Admissions or the individual schools may be able to provide you with further information if you are unsure. Even that is no guarantee of future success, but it should at least ensure that your school choices are as realistic as possible.

Admissions Information for September 2013 Entry

Pass mark: The minimum qualifying score in 2010 was an aggregate score of 360 across the VR, NVR and maths papers, with no paper scoring less than 117. (The writing exercise is only taken into account at a Head Teacher’s Review – see below.) Schools in East Kent allocate places by distance and therefore any mark over 360 is irrelevant beyond the fact that the child has qualified. Schools in West Kent (many of them the so-called “super-selectives”) allocate school places by score, in descending order and therefore the child’s final score is of critical importance.

Appropriate Practice Materials

For a detailed list of suitable practice materials relevant for Kent please visit the Kent section of the 11+ Regions section in the online shop where all the materials can be readily purchased.

Please also visit the Kent section of the 11+ Forum

Kent Raw Scores in 2010

Our thanks go to our 11+ Forum member “committed” for making a Freedom of Information request to Kent County Council to obtain the following information.

The table below shows the raw score (i.e. number of questions) a child needed to answer on the 2010 papers in order to achieve a final standardised score of either 120 or 140, depending on their age at the time of testing. The numbers will vary by a few percentage points each year, and they are therefore only a rough guideline.

The Kent Appeals System

Kent is unusual in operating a system of “Head teacher reviews”. A review can be submitted if a child has not qualified on score but was close to the pass mark or the Head teacher believes that the result was not representative of the child’s ability. The reviews take place before parents receive their child’s results.

The Head will submit a short report and samples of work which are then reviewed by a panel consisting of Primary and Secondary Head teachers or Deputy Heads. The review may result in the 11+ score being overturned and the child being deemed qualified.

If your child does not qualify, the Head does not seek a review or if the review is unsuccessful you still have the right to have your child’s case heard by an Independent Appeals Panel. These take place in March 2010 once school allocations have been published.

It is important that Kent parents who are also applying for grammar school places for their child at schools in Medway realise that the Review systems in Kent and Medway are entirely different. A failed review in Kent does not preclude you from asking for a full hearing in front of an Independent Appeal Panel, and submitting any evidence you wish to. In Medway the evidence you can present to a panel after a failed review is very much more limited.

For advice on how to prepare for an appeal please look at our Appeals Q&As

Kent Grammar School Information

Open Day information for Kent schools can be viewed on the Kent County Council website.

Partially Selective Schools in Kent

For further information about Kent Grammar Schools and to have your questions answered please visit the Kent section of our 11+ Forum .

If you are able to contribute further information to this page (and we are always grateful for contributions from those with local knowledge), please contact us.

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