The Kent Test, in plain English
Kent has 32 state grammar schools, spread from Sevenoaks in the west to Folkestone and Dover in the east. The main route into all of them is the Kent Test, which Kent County Council calls the PESE (Procedure for Entry to Secondary Education). It is commissioned by the council from GL Assessment, who produce the papers.
The test is sat at the very start of Year 6. For children starting secondary school in September 2027, that means Thursday 10 September 2026 for pupils at a Kent primary school, who sit it in their own school, and the weekend of 12 and 13 September 2026 at an allocated test centre for everyone else. Results are emailed on Thursday 15 October 2026, ahead of the secondary application deadline at the end of October. Registration ran from 1 June to 1 July 2026 and has now closed.
The Kent Test is only valid for Kent grammar schools. Medway Council runs its own separate Medway Test, and the London Borough of Bexley runs its own selection test. A Kent result does not carry across to either.
Paper format
The papers are multiple-choice with a separate answer sheet, marked by computer. There are two of them, plus a writing exercise.
English and maths. One hour. Each section has a 5 minute practice exercise followed by a 25 minute test. The English section includes a comprehension exercise plus further questions testing literacy skills.
Reasoning. About an hour including the practice sections. A verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section of roughly equal length. The non-verbal reasoning is split into short sections, each administered and timed separately. The council's familiarisation booklet describes this paper as testing verbal, non-verbal and spatial skills.
Writing exercise. 40 minutes, including 10 minutes of planning time. This is not marked. It may be used later by a local headteacher panel.
Note that English sits with maths on the first paper, not with the reasoning questions. Practice material that pairs English with reasoning is following an older shape.
Headteacher assessment
Referral is not automatic and it is not something parents can request. After the papers are marked, a child's own primary school headteacher can refer an assessment decision they disagree with to a Headteacher Assessment Panel, made up of local primary and secondary heads. The panel looks at a fuller picture: test scores, recent schoolwork, the writing task, and comments from the child's current school. Kent County Council's guidance says a decision will only be changed where the panel is confident the child would be well placed in a grammar school.
Scores
There is no single pass mark carried over year to year. A child receives three standardised scores, for English, for maths and for reasoning, plus a total. Standardisation adjusts for age so that the youngest children in the year are not disadvantaged.
For the 2025 test, the council's published threshold for a grammar school assessment was a total of 332 or more, with no single score below 108. Individual scores run from 69 to 141, so the highest possible total is 423. The threshold moves each year and is set after the papers are marked: the figure for the September 2026 sitting is due to be published in October 2026. Treat any specific score circulating before then as a guess.
Being assessed as suitable for grammar school does not secure a place. Schools that are oversubscribed then apply their own admission criteria.
Not every school runs only the Kent Test
This is the part most guides get wrong. The Kent Test is the main route, but several Kent grammars also accept children who reach the required standard in their own separate test, sat in addition to or instead of the Kent Test. It is a second chance rather than an extra hurdle, and in each case the two routes rank equally once a child qualifies.
Kent County Council's determined co-ordinated scheme for 2027/28 flags these schools as also accepting their own test: Borden, Dover Grammar School for Boys, Dover Grammar School for Girls, Folkestone School for Girls, Harvey, Highsted, and Mayfield Grammar School in Gravesend. Weald of Kent has since added its own Weald Grammar Assessment in its determined arrangements for 2027 entry, as an equal-weighted alternative to the Kent Test.
These own-school tests have their own registration deadlines, run direct with the school rather than through the council, and are usually sat on the Saturday following the Kent Test. If one of these schools is on your list, read its determined admission arrangements yourself rather than relying on a summary.
Cranbrook is a separate case again. Its Year 7 places go through the Kent Test, and it is the only Kent school with a second normal point of entry at Year 9, covering day and boarding places alike. Year 9 application forms come from the school or Kent County Council rather than through the Kent Test route.
The 32 grammar schools
West Kent. The Judd School, Skinners', Tonbridge Grammar, Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar, Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, Weald of Kent, Cranbrook.
Dartford and Gravesham. Dartford Grammar, Dartford Grammar School for Girls, Wilmington Grammar School for Boys, Wilmington Grammar School for Girls, Gravesend Grammar, Mayfield Grammar.
Maidstone and Ashford. Maidstone Grammar, Maidstone Grammar School for Girls, Invicta, Oakwood Park, Highworth, Norton Knatchbull.
Swale and Faversham. Borden, Highsted, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Faversham.
Canterbury and Thanet. Barton Court, Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Simon Langton Girls' Grammar, Chatham and Clarendon, Dane Court, Sir Roger Manwood's.
Folkestone and Dover. Folkestone School for Girls, Harvey Grammar, Dover Grammar School for Boys, Dover Grammar School for Girls.
Admission criteria vary a lot between them. Some rank purely on Kent Test score within a defined geographic area, some set a score margin above the county threshold, and some rank on distance and sibling links once a child has qualified. Dartford Grammar, for instance, requires a score at least 40 points above the Kent Test threshold for its priority-area places. Skinners' applies the same 40-point margin for its West Kent area. Each school publishes determined admission arrangements every year, and those are the document to read.
Applications from outside Kent are welcome, but schools most likely to offer places to children from outside the county tend to give priority to the highest scores.
How tutoring usually works in Kent
Most Kent families start prep around 12 to 18 months out, in early Year 5. A common shape:
Months 1 to 3: foundations. Make sure Key Stage 2 maths and English are solid, then introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types gently.
Months 4 to 9: pattern familiarity. Work through question types one at a time rather than jumping to full papers. Build speed per type. Practise extended writing, which matters if a headteacher referral ever comes into play.
Months 10 to 12: timed papers. Mock tests under exam conditions, to build stamina and work out where the timing pressure bites.
Because the test falls at the very start of Year 6, prep effectively has to be finished by the end of Year 5.
Choosing a Kent 11+ tutor
A tutor who works in Kent regularly will know the current paper structure and the admission criteria at the schools you are considering. In your first message:
Ask which Kent grammars they have prepared students for recently.
Check they know the current format, that English sits with maths and reasoning is its own paper.
If you are looking at Borden, Dover, Folkestone School for Girls, Harvey, Highsted, Mayfield or Weald of Kent, ask whether they have prepared students for that school's own test as well.
Ask how they balance question-type practice against full timed papers across the year.
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