Kent Test Results 2026: What Your Child's Score Means

Results day can feel like the finish line, but for most Kent families it's really the start of a busy fortnight. There's a school application to finish, and the choices on it depend on far more than the score. This guide walks through reading the result, how each grammar school picks between children who passed, choosing four sensible preferences, and what's still possible if the decision isn't the one your family hoped for.

When are Kent Test results released in 2026?

Thursday 15 October. The Council emails the result to whatever address you used when you registered, and it won't send it anywhere else. No email on the registration? Then it goes by first class post that day. There's no published time for 2026, though last year's emails arrived after 4pm, so lunchtime refreshing probably won't help much.

If nothing has turned up, check junk and make sure you're looking at the right inbox. After that, your child's primary school can give you the scores from Friday 16 October. (Also waiting on Bucks, Essex or Redbridge? Those dates are in our wider 11+ results day guide.)

Kent Test pass mark: how to read your child's three scores

The Kent Test is two multiple-choice papers, one covering English and maths and one covering verbal and non-verbal reasoning, plus a separate writing exercise. The writing isn't marked and doesn't count towards the scores; it's only looked at if your child's case goes to the Headteacher Assessment panel.

That gives three scores: English, maths and reasoning. Each one is "standardised", which just means your child's raw marks have been compared with everyone else who sat that paper and nudged slightly for age, so a child born in August isn't penalised for being nearly a year younger than some classmates. Every paper ends up somewhere between 69 and 141. Add the three together and you get the "aggregate" score (the total), with 423 as the maximum.

The part that trips people up is that a child needs to clear two bars at the same time: a minimum total, and a minimum on every single paper. Last year that meant a total of at least 332 with nothing under 108. A strong total with one weak paper still comes out as a high school assessment on scores alone:

If the scores look short but the email says grammar school, it isn't an error. It means the Headteacher Assessment panel reviewed your child and agreed, which counts in full (how that works).

Which situation are you in?

Does passing the Kent Test guarantee a grammar school place?

No, and this is probably the most important thing on the page. A grammar assessment means your child can be considered by any Kent grammar school you name. Each school then runs through its own "oversubscription criteria", which is simply the published order it uses to decide who gets in when more children apply than it has places.

For a sense of scale, the Council's results-day release for the 2025 test said 5,035 Kent-resident children were assessed suitable, against 5,819 grammar places in the county for that intake. That sounds roomy, but children from outside Kent sit the test too, and the popular schools fill long before the rest.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children nearly always come first. After that, schools mix the same few ingredients in very different orders.

Distance and catchment

For most Kent grammars, once your child has passed, the deciding factor is where you live. Maidstone Grammar School for Girls is about as simple as it gets: after Pupil Premium and siblings, the rest of the places go by distance. Others add a priority area first. Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar puts girls from a list of named parishes, or within four miles, ahead of everyone, then uses distance. And that distance moves around a lot. Its final offer went out to 3.3 miles for 2026, 4.4 miles for 2025 and 8.9 miles for 2024.

Siblings

Brothers and sisters usually rank high, but rarely right at the top, and schools define them differently. Maidstone Grammar School for Girls counts a brother at Maidstone Grammar School. Both Wilmington grammars count a sibling at either Wilmington school, while Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar only counts a sister if the family lives in its priority area. It's worth reading the exact wording.

Schools where a higher score helps

At a minority of schools, the score itself decides some or all of the places. Their 2027-28 policies say:

• ✓The Judd School: 157 inner-area and 23 outer-area places, all ranked by total score, with up to five inner-area places kept for children on free school meals or Pupil Premium.
• ✓Tonbridge Grammar School: up to 135 places for girls in Tonbridge & Malling, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks, and 30 for girls from anywhere else, ranked by score in each group.
• ✓Dartford Grammar School: its 130 priority-area places need a score at least 40 above the threshold (20 above for up to 13 Pupil Premium places); the other 50 are open to any address. All ranked by score.
• ✓Dartford Grammar School for Girls: 100 places for Dartford and named parishes, then any address, ranked by score in each.
• ✓Cranbrook School: 90 day places, ranked by aggregate score within its priority order.

A few more blend score into local rules. Skinners' wants local boys to score 40 or more points over the line, then sorts them by siblings and distance, and gives 16 governors' places to its highest local scorers. Maidstone Grammar School puts boys in its listed parishes who score 360 or more first. Simon Langton Boys prioritises boys 20 or more above the pass mark. Mayfield ranks by score within each postcode area. Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar has 17 governors' places by score, and the Wilmington schools have 18 each (the boys' school on the total without maths, the girls' school on the maths paper alone).

What none of this gives you is a magic number. Even at score-ranked schools, the last score offered depends on who applied that year and where they put the school on their list. Past cut-offs tell you how competitive a school has been. They don't promise anything about March 2027.

Pupil Premium and extra forms

Lots of schools give priority to children on Pupil Premium or free school meals, but only if you tell the school yourself, usually on a Supplementary Information Form sent straight to them rather than to the Council. Most want it by 31 October 2026, but not all. Dartford Girls and Simon Langton Boys allow until 1 November, and Mayfield until 2 November. Queen Elizabeth's and Sir Roger Manwood's tie theirs to the 2 November application deadline, and Chatham & Clarendon allows ten school days after the national deadline. Maidstone Grammar's policy gives no date at all, and Highsted's says 31 January, which is unusual enough to confirm with the school. Every school's date is in the table below. Miss it and your child is ranked as though the priority didn't apply.

How to choose four schools after the Kent Test

Kent gives you four slots, and the Council recommends filling all of them. It helps to keep two lists in your head: the schools your child would most like, and the ones where an offer looks realistic. They're often not the same list.

How the equal preference system works

Each school looks at your child against its own rules without being told where you ranked it. If more than one could offer a place, the Council gives you the one highest on your list. So putting a school second doesn't count against you there. List schools in the order you genuinely want them, not the order you think is easiest. Naming just one school doesn't help either; it gives your child no extra priority and no guarantee. Kent residents can also include schools in other areas on the same Kent form.

A worked example

Say a girl in Tonbridge has been assessed suitable. Her family might go for:

1. Tonbridge Grammar School, her first choice. It ranks by score, so they read its policy and treat past allocation figures as background only.
2. Weald of Kent Grammar School, which puts listed Tonbridge postcodes and parishes ahead of other areas, then uses distance.
3. Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar, where Tonbridge is one of the named parishes with priority.
4. A local high school they'd be genuinely happy with, in case the grammars fill above her.

If she could get into both her first and third choices, she's offered the first. If Tonbridge Grammar fills with higher scores, the Council moves down her list. It's only an illustration; real outcomes depend on who applies and how many places each school has.

A highly competitive favourite is still worth naming. Just don't fill all four slots with long shots, because that's how families end up offered a school they never chose.

Is it the right school for your child?

The hardest school to get into isn't automatically the best fit. Before you settle the order, think honestly about the journey (on a dark January morning, not an open-evening Tuesday), how the school supports children who are anxious or struggling, what happens after 3.30, and what your child actually wants. Open days and a frank chat with them are worth more than any league table.

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Kent grammar schools: all 32 at a glance

The Kent Test is the main assessment for all 32 Kent grammar schools. It isn't a passport elsewhere, though: Medway and Bexley run their own selection tests, so a Kent pass doesn't automatically qualify your child for grammar schools there. Eight schools also accept an alternative test of their own, marked in the table. Each row below was checked against that school's 2027-28 admissions policy; open the policy before relying on anything, because the full detail matters. The "Form deadline" column shows when each school wants any Supplementary Information Form or evidence sent to it directly; this is separate from the 2 November application deadline.

Can you apply from outside Kent?

Yes. You apply through your own council, by its deadline, and list every school you want (Kent or otherwise) on that one form. You'll still receive only one offer. There's no single county-wide rule that guarantees Kent residents priority at every grammar school; each school applies its own published criteria, so check the rules for every school you list. In practice, distance-based schools often fill locally, and Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar warns that out-of-county families might not be offered a place in the first round. Places ranked purely by score, such as Dartford Grammar's 50 open places, are a different story.

Not assessed suitable? Headteacher Assessment and appeals explained

First things first. It reflects how your child did on the two papers and the writing exercise, on the day they sat them in September. It says nothing about how bright they are, and plenty of children thrive at Kent's high schools. Give it the weekend. Then it helps to untangle three things that often get muddled.

How the Headteacher Assessment works

When a child misses the threshold, their primary school can refer them to a local panel of headteachers. Not every child who misses out gets referred; that's the school's call. The panel looks at their schoolwork, how they're doing in class and the writing task from test day (which isn't marked otherwise). It all happens before results are sent, so the email you get already reflects it. Parents can't ask for a new referral afterwards.

Can you still get a grammar place?

Possibly, but not by changing the result. What you can do is name the grammar school on your application. Your child won't be offered it on 1 March, but naming it gives you the right to appeal to an independent panel. Highworth Grammar School's guidance describes exactly this, and is honest that the circumstances which win are rare. Panels want solid evidence from school that your child can cope with grammar work, so ask the head early whether they'd back you.

Can your child qualify through another test?

At certain schools, yes, if your child already sat that school's own test. The 2027-28 policies confirm alternative routes at Weald of Kent (the Weald Grammar Assessment), Borden (the Borden Assessment Procedure, with results posted on 15 October), Highsted and Mayfield (their own procedures), The Harvey Grammar School and The Folkestone School for Girls (their own tests, known locally as the Shepway Test), and both Dover grammars (the Dover Test). Each counts only for that school, and registration for all of them closed in the summer.

After you apply: offers, waiting lists and appeals

The Council works through applications between 3 November 2026 and 28 February 2027. Keep the confirmation email, and if anything changes, or you spot a mistake, email kentonlineadmissions@kent.gov.uk straight away. Schools won't tip you off early.

Offers are emailed on Monday 1 March 2027 to the address on your application (the Council can't promise exactly when it'll land), and you can also check online. You get one offer: the highest school on your list that had room for your child.

If it isn't the school you wanted, accept it anyway. The Council says accepting doesn't affect an appeal, and it means your child definitely has somewhere to go. Then look at waiting lists, which are ranked by each school's criteria rather than by who joined first. They really do move, particularly around the April reallocation. Dartford Grammar and The Judd School both add grammar-assessed children automatically to their list if they ranked the school above the one offered, while Weald of Kent doesn't let children assessed for high school join its list.

You can also appeal for any school you named. Deadlines vary: Weald of Kent wants appeals within twenty days of National Offer Day, and The Judd School's deadline is 13 April 2027. Judd's published timetable also gives 15 March 2027 for accepting or refusing places and requesting waiting lists, and 27 April for the reallocation round. If an appeal fails, you can't go back to the same school that year unless your circumstances change.

Kent school application checklist

Tick these off as you go. Nothing is saved; it resets when you leave.

After the Kent Test: Year 6 and KS2 SATs 2027

The 11+ is over. Year 6 isn't. SATs run from 10 to 13 May 2027: grammar, punctuation and spelling on the Monday, reading on the Tuesday, maths across Wednesday and Thursday. Writing and science aren't tested, but teachers still give a formal judgement on both. The Kent Test result doesn't decide how any of that goes, and October is a good time to spot gaps while there's still plenty of runway. If you'd like a hand, we run KS2 SATs support, and our 11+ grammar exam course is there for younger brothers and sisters starting their own preparation.

Kent Test results 2026: FAQs