You will find initial figures released by KCC below, mainly taken from the official press release, together with further information and ways I can support you. I find that the information articles on this website (right hand side of this article and every page of the website), with links below, answer the majority of questions I receive. 

Although KCC cannot guarantee every Kent child who has passed, a place in a Kent grammar school (and not necessarily of their choice), there were no reported cases in recent years of grammar qualified Kent children not getting in who were looking for a place, although some have had to go to appeal. Further thoughts below. 

Some 350 additional children are eligible for a single grammar school through success in the Dover, Shepway, Mayfield (Gravesend Girls) or Highsted (Sittingbourne Girls) Tests.

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. 

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!

If you wish to contact me please read the information at the foot of the page and use the Contact Me Form together with all the information I request. If it is a simple question I will attempt to respond to it directly. 

For information you will find Oversubscription and vacancies in Kent Grammar schools on allocation for Admission September 2019 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, including take up of places. 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 may provide other news, comment and information articles about that school over recent years.

I will shortly publish an article on school appeals statistics for schools for entry in September 2018. You will find last year's article here, with a link to further outcomes. 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, or the Individual Schools section.  

For those obsessed with individual Kent Test scores for other children, there is a breakdown of the 2017 figures here. This is unlikely to be repeated for 2018, as KCC have now correctly applied the Freedom of Information Act and such individual scores are no longer available. This information will also rightly be no longer be available for individual FOI requests for detailed information relating to scores, as these can enable individual children’s performances  to be identified.  You will find a previous article which fully explains the issue, here. 

I suspect the overwhelming majority of the others will have had other preferences met, including the M25 tourists, whose poor children take grammar school tests all around the ring.

'Pressure Points

I anticipate as with last year, the proportion of Kent girls being found suitable for grammar school will be slightly higher than that for boys, last year 26.6% girls to 24.3% boys, but in both cases all Kent children should be allocated a grammar school place eventually, not necessarily of their choice.

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 has eased considerably with additional places being put into all three schools and the two super-selectives, Judd and Skinners, now both giving priority for most of their places to local boys. There is always a shakedown in West Kent and some boys may need to go to appeal as in previous years, but in past years, all have been successful at one of the schools, to the best of my knowledge.

North West Kent continues to have the greatest pressure, caused by enormous numbers applying from London Boroughs, Dartford Grammar turning away 313 grammar qualified 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 mainly to Kent children and although they have increased greatly in popularity should pick up all local children who have qualified and choose them, as the number of out of county siblings continues to fall. Last year there was a specific problem for boys in the Longfield, New Ash Green area, but in the end all who wished secured places at Gravesend Grammar

Whitstable/Herne Bay remains difficult for boys, with no local grammar school and extensive building development in the area, some having to settle for a grammar school in Thanet. Whilst some boys will find places in Canterbury, there is not a problem in capacity for girls in the city.

 In other areas the situation can be fluid, and the 5215 places will certainly expand further,  with temporary increases as schools measure demand and capacity.

There will always be horror stories about pressure on grammar school places -they make good media copy, especially with proposals to expand grammar school places (but expansion has been happening for years without legislation and will no doubt continue). The reality is that eight of the 32 Kent grammar schools had vacancies last March on allocation for the second year running, spread across the county apart from the West and NW.