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State secondary schools in Kent

104 schools · South East · 2024/25 Department for Education figures

Kent has 104 state secondaries, 98 of them with sixth forms, 32 grammar schools among them. 78.9% of families got their first choice last year, worse than most of England. Results run from 7.5% to 98.9% passing English and maths, a spread of 91 points, with a middle school at 35.2%, below England's 45.4%.

Of those Ofsted has graded, 10 rated Outstanding, 56 Good, 8 Requires improvement, 2 Inadequate. 28 schools carry no overall grade at all — either inspected since Ofsted stopped issuing one in September 2024, or never inspected.

Medway
104 schools in Kent. Tap one, or see the full list. Medway is a separate council, marked on the map.
8% 99% passed English & maths no figure

Kent against England

State-funded schools, 2024/25

47%

Passed English & maths grade 5 or above

1.6% above England

England 45%

46.7

Attainment 8 average score

in line with England

England 46.1

23%

Persistently absent missed 10% of sessions

1.4% above England

England 21%

Getting a place

2026/27 secondary admissions round, across Kent

78.9%

Got their first choiceof those who applied

England 84%

94.8%

Got one of their threefirst, second or third

<0.1%

Got no offer at allfrom any preference

30%

Appeals upheld593 of 1948 heard

These are figures for Kent as a whole. A popular school can be much harder to get into than the average suggests, and the criteria that decide it are set by each school's own admission authority rather than centrally. How applying works

How much the choice matters here

Across Kent's 100 schools, the share passing English and maths runs from 8% to 99%. That is a spread of 91 percentage points, wider than most councils.

The typical council spans about 48 points. Where schools are close together the school a child gets matters less; where they are far apart it matters a great deal. The widest spreads are all selective areas, where grammar schools sit at one end and everything else at the other.

Kent schools, subject by subject

The share reaching grade 4 or above, among schools entering at least 20 pupils. Which pupils take a subject differs a lot between schools, so read this as what happened rather than as a ranking of teaching.

mathsenglish literatureenglish languagegeographyhistorycombined scienceartbiologyfrenchspanishphysicschemistrycomputer sciencebusiness studiesreligious studiesphysical educationdesign technologydrama
  1. 1 Maidstone Grammar School Maidstone · 61 entries 100%
  2. 2 Borden Grammar School Sittingbourne · 21 entries 100%
  3. 3 The Judd School Tonbridge · 56 entries 100%
  4. 4 Dartford Grammar School Dartford · 25 entries 100%
  5. 5 Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys Tunbridge Wells · 45 entries 100%
  6. 6 Invicta Grammar School Maidstone · 30 entries 100%
  7. 7 Dover Grammar School for Boys Dover · 42 entries 100%
  8. 8 Oakwood Park Grammar School Maidstone · 29 entries 100%
  9. 9 Tonbridge Grammar School Tonbridge · 31 entries 100%
  10. 10 Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School Tunbridge Wells · 28 entries 100%
  11. 11 Weald of Kent Grammar School Tonbridge · 59 entries 98%
  12. 12 Barton Court Grammar School Canterbury · 41 entries 98%
  13. 13 Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School Faversham · 40 entries 97%
  14. 14 The Skinners' School Tunbridge Wells · 30 entries 97%
  15. 15 Wilmington Grammar School for Boys Dartford · 58 entries 97%
  16. 16 Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School Canterbury · 24 entries 96%
  17. 17 Knole Academy Sevenoaks · 34 entries 94%
  18. 18 Gravesend Grammar School Gravesend · 60 entries 93%
  19. 19 Wilmington Grammar School for Girls Dartford · 23 entries 91%
  20. 20 Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School Ramsgate · 57 entries 91%
  21. 21 Bennett Memorial Diocesan School Tunbridge Wells · 37 entries 89%
  22. 22 Maidstone Grammar School for Girls Maidstone · 56 entries 87%
  23. 23 Sir Roger Manwood's School Sandwich · 39 entries 87%
  24. 24 The Norton Knatchbull School Ashford · 78 entries 87%
  25. 25 St Anselm's Catholic School, Canterbury Canterbury · 42 entries 86%
  26. 26 Dane Court Grammar School Broadstairs · 51 entries 84%
  27. 27 Mayfield Grammar School, Gravesend Gravesend · 53 entries 79%
  28. 28 Duke of York's Royal Military School Dover · 29 entries 76%
  29. 29 St Simon Stock Catholic School Maidstone · 59 entries 76%
  30. 30 Cranbrook School Cranbrook · 53 entries 75%
  31. 31 St Gregory's Catholic School Tunbridge Wells · 70 entries 68%
  32. 32 St John's Catholic Comprehensive Gravesend · 50 entries 67%
  33. 33 Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre Tenterden · 78 entries 66%
  34. 34 Hillview School for Girls Tonbridge · 37 entries 65%
  35. 35 The North School Ashford · 44 entries 62%
  36. 36 Dover Grammar School for Girls Dover · 23 entries 59%
  37. 37 Cornwallis Academy Maidstone · 44 entries 58%
  38. 38 Skinners' Kent Academy Tunbridge Wells · 23 entries 57%
  39. 39 The Maplesden Noakes School Maidstone · 59 entries 48%
  40. 40 Wye School Wye · 27 entries 48%
  41. 41 The John Wallis Church of England Academy Ashford · 50 entries 42%
  42. 42 St Augustine Academy Maidstone · 48 entries 41%
  43. 43 Leigh Academy Mascalls Tonbridge · 28 entries 26%
  44. 44 Astor Secondary School Dover · 24 entries 17%
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Every school in Kent

Medway sits inside Kent but runs its own admissions as a separate local authority, so its schools are not in this list.

11 of 102 have no spare places. Sort the list, or narrow it first.

Pick up to 4 schools to see them side by side in the comparison tool, subject by subject.

Sixth form · Key stage 5·2024/25

A levels in Kent

78 of Kent's 98 sixth forms publish A level results. Ranked on the share reaching AAB or better in at least two of the subjects universities name, which is the measure the steepest entry requirements are written in.

Sixth form Grade AAB+

A level results only. A sixth form running mostly BTECs and other applied courses will show a dash here and can still be the right one — those are graded on their own scale, where a distinction and an A grade carry the same points and mean different things.

Bordering Kent

Near a boundary, schools on both sides are usually in reach. Whether a child can apply is set by each school's admission criteria, not by the border.

Bexley 16 schools · 54% passed English & mathsBromley 19 schools · 54% passed English & mathsEast Sussex 26 schools · 42% passed English & mathsMedway 20 schools · 44% passed English & mathsSurrey 57 schools · 55% passed English & maths

What these mean

Attainment 8
The average pupil's total score across eight GCSE-equivalent subjects, with English and maths counting double. It is scored out of 90. A score of 50 is roughly equivalent to achieving a grade 5 across eight subjects.
Grades 4 and 5
GCSEs are graded from 9 down to 1. Grade 4 is a standard pass and broadly corresponds to the old grade C; grade 5 is what the government calls a strong pass. Grade 7 is broadly equivalent to an old grade A.
Persistent absence
The share of pupils who miss at least 10% of their possible sessions during the school year. This includes both authorised and unauthorised absence, so illness and other authorised reasons are included. Persistent absence has remained substantially higher than its pre-pandemic level.
First preference
The share of families who were offered the school they ranked first on their application, on national offer day in March. This figure is calculated across the relevant schools or admissions authority, so a high overall figure does not necessarily mean that every individual school is easy to get into.
Spare places
The amount of available capacity a school has compared with the number of pupils on roll. This is different from oversubscription: spare places measure whether a school has capacity, whereas oversubscription describes demand for places exceeding the number available. A school with no spare places may be popular, but a small school can also be full without receiving a large number of applications.
Average A-level grade
The average grade achieved across students' A-level entries. This is different from measures such as the proportion achieving AAB or better in two or more facilitating subjects, which are sometimes used to indicate higher attainment and university-entry performance.
Covers state-funded schools in England; independent schools are not included, and neither the list nor the subject figures above take account of them.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Key stage 4 performance and school characteristics: Department for Education, 2024/25. Inspection outcomes: Ofsted.