Chatham, Kent · Medway
Chatham Grammar School
Admits its first boys this September — the third of three Medway grammar schools converting to co-education on the same timetable, alongside Fort Pitt and Holcombe.
A Medway school rather than a Kent County Council one, Chatham Grammar accepts either the Medway Test or the Kent Test as a qualifying route — a dual-acceptance arrangement not seen at every Medway school. Like Fort Pitt Grammar School and Holcombe Grammar School, it's converting to co-education on exactly the same timetable: the first mixed Year 7 cohort enters this September (2026), phasing up one year group at a time until the whole school is co-ed by 2030. Its sixth form has already been mixed for years, shared with a non-selective partner academy in the same trust — a structure Ofsted itself links to comparatively weaker sixth-form achievement than the school's strong GCSE results would suggest.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Medway
- Established
- 1907
- DfE URN
- 137389
- Website
- https://www.chathamgrammar.org.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- Either the Medway Test or the Kent Test qualify — the school's own admissions policy accepts assessment through either the Kent and/or Medway Test processes. GL Assessment is reported by secondary sources as involved in supplementary in-year testing but isn't confirmed as the main Year 7 Medway Test's setter in the school's own policy.partly verified
GL Assessment is named in the school's own policy only for supplementary in-year cognitive-ability testing, not explicitly as the main Year 7 Medway Test's setter.
- Test format
- Medway Test: three papers (English, Maths, Reasoning), computer-marked, weighted English×2 + Maths×2 + Reasoning×1 for a maximum of 700 — this structure is reported consistently by tutoring sites but not confirmed on a Medway Council primary page found during this research.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- Approximately 481 out of 700 for September 2026 entry, 482 for September 2025 entry — reported consistently across tutoring sites but not confirmed on a Medway Council primary page. The school's own policy sets no higher requirement of its own: it states only that applicants 'must be assessed as grammar' through either county test to be eligible.partly verified
The 481/482 figures are reported consistently across independent tutoring sites but not confirmed on a Medway Council primary page found during this research.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from the school's own determined Admissions Policy (both the 2026 and 2027 cycles were read in full): no score-banding or higher threshold appears anywhere in either document. Oversubscription is resolved by category — sibling, then staff children, then distance — never by ranking on test score.
Catchment & priority criteria
No catchment area or geographical priority zone is defined. Distance is used only as the lowest-priority tie-break criterion, measured as shortest safe walking route via Medway Council's GIS system.
- Children in care, or previously in care through adoption, residence order or special guardianship
- Children with an EHCP naming the school (where the academy agrees)
- A sibling currently attending Chatham Grammar
- Children of staff (employed 1+ year, or filling a skill-shortage vacancy)
- Nearness of home to school, by shortest safe walking route; random draw as final tie-break
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 60.1 | 78.2% | Should exist for this cohort (predates the COVID-era gap) but a specific figure couldn't be independently retrieved during this research | — | — |
| 2023 figures for reference: Attainment 8 59.5, grade 5+ English & Maths 78.7%. | |||||
| 2025 | 61.8 | 75.5% | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | verify with school | verify with school |
| EBacc entry 96.0% (England average 40.5%). A-level: average point score 28.61, notably below Medway (~33.30) and England (~35.08) averages; AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 5.1% (England ~17.5%). Ofsted's own report links this to the shared non-selective sixth-form arrangement with Brompton Academy, noting 'the most able pupils, and some students in the sixth form, do not achieve the school's bold ambitions for their academic achievement.' | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Good — an ungraded Section 8 visit in October 2023 confirmed the school 'continues to be good,' carrying forward the Good judgement from the last full graded inspection in May 2018, without issuing fresh category grades.
- Date
- 17-18 October 2023
- Report
- Read the full report
Sources
- 1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, Medway local authority — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/137389
- 2. School's own determined Admissions Policy for September 2027 entry — https://www.chathamgrammar.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CG-Determined-Admissions-Policy-2027.pdf
- 3. School's own co-education announcement — https://www.chathamgrammar.org.uk/new-page-71
- 4. Ofsted report, inspected 17-18 October 2023 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50234538
- 5. DfE Compare School Performance — secondary results — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/137389/chatham-grammar/secondary
Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.