Kent Test 2026

This is so sad.

Kids who live in eg Orpington, Bexley, Sutton etc are also being displaced from their more local grammars by competition so they apply to eg Kent as well. It would be far better if there were one test and similar criteria and so kids could all choose their more local schools. There are equally kids who will travel from Tonbridge/TW/Sevenoaks to eg Orpington for “higher league table” schools.

Anyone else having trouble with the SCAF on the Kent website? It wont load past the first details page :(

Money talks just like anywhere else, and grammar schools can't cancel that out. But it isn't just about money, it is more about resources and having parents involved. If a low income family is really determined to go the grammar route, they can start years early and use all the free stuff online to practice, which helps make up for not having tutors and prep schools. The sad part is that low income families are usually the ones where parents just don't have the extra energy to help with learning.

Good luck…hope your son gets into Skinner’s. My sons went there and absolutely thrived,both very different characters but I cannot speak highly enough about the school! I was at Freeway today getting my car fixed and just sitting there looking at Skinners opposite just made me smile.

@Carjuke thank you! We’re going to look round it on Monday. I don’t really know anything about the school. That said, I’ve still got a best friend that was a skinners boy from when I was at TWGGS in 1999 and he still recommends the school now! I wasn’t totally on board with my son wanting grammar because my other 3 have thrived at non grammar and I honestly thought he might have been borderline, being that he only did an hour of group tutoring a week from January to August. He very much proved me wrong though so I do hope he gets the school he wants

Kent put out all the borough info out and all boroughs jumped in the higher distribution. So likely this is not tutoring effect which would usually disproportionately affect out of area scores. I think this is due to an exam with fewer hard distinguishing questions which means there is clumping at the top end and the standardization process is unable to produce the normal taper at the top end.

We are gutted as our Greenwich youngest of three (no private tutor) got 412 and I think the out of area cut off for DGS likely to be 414. We have two sons already at Dartford and there’s no sibling policy. It’s going to be our local comp for DS3. Maybe the silver lining for non-grammar boroughs is that there will be more academic children in comprehensives….

Thank you @11plus2026 . We will hold on for the waiting list...

Does anyone have any thoughts about whether Dartford Grammar School changing to A levels from 2027 will have an effect on applications? would they go up or down?

How have you arrived at 414? I think most people realise the OOC will go up, but you speak with such confidence that 412 isn’t enough. (Genuine question, I’m not sure I’ve worded it very well !)

I’m just counting down from the top score and there are 299 boys in ooa only who scored 412 or above (plus there are Kent independents who were not added on this metric year). Especially including them the cut has never gone down that far before. But we are still hoping for a waiting list place if people turn them down. Just with vat on independent schools it seems likely that fewer will this year. The cut would likely fall in 414. I do hope I’m wrong.

Hi, we live in Orpington. My DD scored 374 in Kent test. Do we have any chance of getting into Kent schools as OOC?

@lj9 how far away do you live from Weald of Kent? Historically girls from Orpington have always managed to get a place there if they stay on the waiting list -catchment went out more than 20 miles this year and it usually does. This year might be different though because of the Weald of Kent assessment.

Your DD has been deemed selective. Weald just asks for a pass and over subscription is based on siblings and distance after looked after and ECHP not on score
So you should have a good chance but depending on where you live you may have to wait until after the Kent second round (which is later than bromley).
Offers were still being made to Orpington based kids after the summer half term for the last 2 years
You are highly unlikely to get TOGS or TWGGS.

Thanks @Ladybird04 @LostMySocks. When we check the distance ,should we check it for seven oaks campus or Tonbridge campus? We live near Orpington Hospital.

My DC passed, which was exciting to us all. Hoping she'll get the place she wants local to where we are moving to, which does not seem to be one of the popular ones, as I never see it mentioned anywhere in any of these type of discussions.

Also, not necessarily relevant to any particular comment on this thread I don't think, it might be that I've seen it on Facebook comments, but I've seen people commenting that the high % of passes in out of county scores must be the tutoring effect / rich people. I'm sure there's a lot of that, but also, there must be some statistical blip: Presumably most OOC people only bother with the test if they think there's a good chance of passing, which then obviously skews the stats for that category. Isn't it the case that taking the Kent test is standard for all Kent pupils unless they specifically opt out? If so, then presumably the pass rate percentage would be more in line with the expected distribution (e.g. 30% pass)

No, many people OOC decide to sit the Kent test as a free 'practice exam' before other 11plus exams. If you want your child to sit the St Olave's test or Bexley text the Kent test is seen as a 'warm-up' option - it's likely that children also do this for independent school entrance exams.
Kent county council knows this, and writes to every family whose child is registered to sit the Kent test but is not resident in Kent asking whether they actually plan to apply to Kent schools if their child is successful. I spoke to the admissions officer at a Kent grammar today and she said that every year they host increasing numbers of children from OOC sitting the test on the Saturday who would not qualify for a place. Although there will be a few families prepared to move to Kent, there will be hundreds who have zero intention of applying for Kent schools, so it's a massive waste of resources for KCC.
Also the Kent test is not something that kids opt out of - parents need to apply for their child to take it. But in some areas the majority of kids sit the test.

Check the school website. For over subscription criteria. That will tell you which one to use.
I suspect it will be the main campus.
I have sons at TWGSB. They do distance from main campus for all applicants. Then once selected and places accepted the 90 closest to sevenoaks get allocated there.

@Osakagirl totally agree that lots of people use Kent as a practice test. But also presumably those using it as a practice test have an expectation their DC will be grammar suitable (hence preparing for St Olaves or Bexley or Independent) so still a positive skew maybe.

Agree huge waste of resources. I wonder what could be done? Obviously some people genuinely are moving to Kent and genuinely need to take the test.

@MochiMochiMochi I think you’re right. I took a look at the OOC grade distributions and they are clearly out performing in county students year on year especially at the top end. Most students whether in or out of county are tutored ( whether that be a paid for tutor, an online platform or parents doing it themselves).

Out of county students are performing better because they have to get significantly higher scores than in county to get the smallest chance of a grammar school place. Competition is fierce and there’s more at stake, so it would be fair to say that the brightest percentage of an already more able selected group of students would be put forward to take an out of county test. A lot of out of county students are also taking a range of 11+ tests, so their preparation is vast and they would have covered more exam content and technique in order to adapt to the different exam formats.

It’s a really unfair system all around. Unfair for OOC kids who don’t have any grammar schools in their local area. Also unfair for local kids where the goal posts keep moving year on year.

@Osakagirl In my experience, there’s slso also a fair amount who are taking multiple tests not for practice, but because they are literally hedging their bets on as many grammar schools possible across multiple counties, because the end goal is a grammar school place.There was a super bright girl in my daughter’s tutoring group who took about 8 exams across multiple counties because she wasn’t in catchment for a grammar and her parents wanted to maximise her chances.

There were also children e.g who lived in Bexley borough who also did Kent, Newstead, Medway as back up in case they didn’t get their local Bexley grammars. The fact of the matter is the Grammar schools all want to be top of the school league tables, hence why they have no problem dangling the carrot of grammar school places for outer county students with super high scores.