Please Note that this article has been produced to meet the Thursday 4 p.m. deadline and is likely to be revised at my leisure, if I have any over the next three weeks!
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There were 16,766 children registered for the Kent Test for admission to grammar school in September 2017 (15,253 in 2017), with 15,937 actually taking the Test (14,349 in 2016). Of these, 7,407 (6,537 in 2016) children passed the test, of whom 4,650 (4,369) were from Kent schools, and 2,145 (1,966) were from out of County.
Some 350 children are eligible for a single grammar school through success in the Dover, Shepway, Mayfield (Gravesend Girls) or Highsted (Sittingbourne Girls) Tests.
| Kent Test Results 2017 For Admission in 2018 | |||||||
| Kent Schools | Out of County & Other | ||||||
| Boys | Girls | Total | Boys | Girls | Total | Total | |
|
Assessed Suitable
For Grammar
Admission 2018
|
4650 | 2757 | 7407 | ||||
|
Assessed Suitable
for Grammar
Admission 2017
|
2187
|
2185
|
4369 | 1128 |
1037
|
2168
|
6537 |
|
Assessed Suitable
for Grammar
Admission 2016
|
2105 | 2177 | 4282 | 1025 | 940 | 1977 | 6259 |
Notes: (1) I don't yet have data for boys and girls differentiated for this year, but will include this as soon as it is available
(2) 'Other' includes children who are home educated.
(3) Some totals do not add up, as late adjustments were made.
For information you will find Oversubscription and vacancies in Kent Grammar schools on allocation for Admission September 2018 provides considerable information on pressure of places, as does the series of pages on Individual Kent Secondary Schools, which also contain additional information on each school. I am afraid I am behind in updating some of these pages (look at update date in top left hand corner), so if you would like more up recent information, please let me know. You will also find additional data on OFSTED Ratings, Examination Performance, and Appeal Statistics together with other important news, comment and information here. Also try entering the name of the school you are interested in in the Website Search engine: this usually provides a series of news, comment and information articles about that school over recent years.
I have recently published an article on school appeals statistics for schools using the Kent Independent Appeals Service for entry in September 2017, and will shortly produce one for other Panels. You will find last year's article here. In the meantime you may wish to consult the relevant information pages for Kent Grammar School Appeals or Oversubscription Appeals the latter for both non-selective and grammar schools.
For those obsessed with individual Kent Test scores, there is a breakdown of the 2017 figures here.
The main pressure areas are West and North West Kent and Whitstable/Herne Bay. In West Kent all Kent girls should get a grammar school place in the District, not always the one of their choice. The boys’ situation may be more difficult, with no annex, the number of boys’ places being fewer and two of the three schools being super-selective. Some years all boys get a local place on allocation in March, but I suspect that this year, as several times recently not all will be successful first time round, usually from North Sevenoaks heading northwards, or else out towards Maidstone. There is always a shakedown in West Kent and some boys may need to go to appeal, but in past years, all have been successful at one of the schools, to the best of my knowledge.
North West Kent appears to have the greatest pressure, caused by enormous numbers applying from London Boroughs, Dartford Grammar turning away 257 first choices last year (and rising year on year), and along with the girls rejecting local applicants whose pass scores were not high enough (disgracefully and contrary to promises made to the Schools Adjudicator when he approved their new arrangements). However, the two Wilmington Grammars now give priority to mainly Kent children and although they have increased greatly in popularity should pick up all local children who have qualified and choose them.
There may be an additional problem in Gravesham, where an additional 40 boys have qualified for grammar school. This could put pressure on applicants from outside the Borough, in the Longfield area.
Whitstable/Herne Bay is also often difficult, with no local grammar school, and extensive building development in the area, some boys having to settle for a grammar school in Thanet. However, the mixed Barton Court in Canterbury only just fills, now it has expanded to an intake of 150, although recent controversies surrounding Simon Langton Girls may heap additional pressure on BC.
In other areas the situation can be fluid, and the 5231 places can expand further, with temporary increases as schools measured demand and capacity.
There will always be horror stories about pressure on grammar school places -they make good media copy, especially with last year's abortive proposal to expand grammar school places (but has been happening for years without legislation and will no doubt continue), but the reality is that eight of the 32 Kent grammar schools had vacancies last March on allocation, spread across the county apart from the West and NW.
