Kent Grammar schools

To be fair to the school, they’ve done everything they can - there’s signs that say “no” stopping at all - not even 30 seconds”. Their website has extensive transport planning, instructions on what not to do (if you’re driving don’t use this route, don’t turn around on this road, etc) and all their open events tell parents to park in town car parks and prepare to walk up the hill for the 20 min walk.

It’s a hell of a lot more proactive than Skinners. Their parents block residential roads, park on single and double yellows, and their headmaster does fuck all when local residents complain. Meanwhile there’s a public car park with 30 min free parking literally across the road that always has empty spaces at end of school.

Wankers are everywhere

Tonbridge Girls Grammar school maybe ranked 11th in the county, but I can assure you that the driving of the parents dropping off is probably the 11th worst in the country.

@Nekoness thank you 😊. We are going to see both TGS and TWGGS today. I didn’t realise that TGS was ranked 11th in UK, that’s good to know.

Their policy is on their website. 4 mile radius including East Sussex. The score doesn’t matter, only distance. But that’s a fantastic score and you have a chance to get into Toggs, I think! That’s the super selective in Tonbridge and 11th ranking school in U.K. You would fall under the out of county criteria but if you go to the KCC website, you’ll see the results for this year. Last year, over 1,000 children scored higher than 400. This year, it was 650 or so. I think she has a good chance!

Hello, I wonder if anyone may be able to help me. We live in East Sussex, about 9 miles as the crow flies from TWGGS. My DD has her kent test results yesterday and scored 410. Is it worth me applying for TWGGS? I have heard it is incredibly hard to get into if you don’t live OOC? Many thanks

I think there is also a issue with how other areas claims " grammar" schools when it is not actually a grammar area and this creates a issue for some to see the difference.

That Kent grammar schools have a policy of local children first is no difference to non grammar areas having a distance criteria. It just gets confused by areas where they say grammar school and have a sit in exam. In Kent due to it being a grammar county you only sit the one test and can then apply for grammar schools if you are above the "pass rate" if it is an individual school you often end up having a child sitting several exams.

I live close to 3 grammar schools and 2 non grammar schools (in Kent) there are children who come in from further afield my son was one of them as we moved when he was in 6th form and are now much closer to the schools he and his sister went to. Older 2 went to a non grammar county school and there was not much difference in distance between the school systems (we lived right on the boarder of Surrey and Sussex in Kent when the oldest two went to school so had a choice their school friends from primary went to 4 different counties for schools)

Putting in local priority effectively means you need to live there on application, rather than people being able to sit multiple exams and then move house accordingly. In my view this gives more of a community feel to the schools.

I'm not sure anyone can enlighten you - it's just an opinion thing. Those schools that go purely on score will have DC coming from further afield - not great for journey times, the environment, local friendships, and the ability of Kent kids to go to a school that's selective but still local. On the flip side, it means that the school can have a more narrow ability range (ie the top of the top) and teach them accordingly (ie the kids can arguably work at a faster pace and achieve more). Schools with a distance element preserve a more local feel and cater better for their immediate community - but might leave very able kids who live further away unable to access a grammar. Some schools now operate a hybrid model (with inner and outer catchments) to try to do both. None of that's rocket science though - I'm not sure I'm enlightening you much!