Cranbrook, Kent · Kent
Cranbrook School
Year 9 day places were cut from 38 to just 8 after a Schools Adjudicator ruling — a dramatic, recent change in how hard this route is to get into.
One of Kent's oldest foundations, dating to 1518, Cranbrook runs two entirely separate entrance routes: the standard Kent Test for Year 7 day entry, and its own school-set 'Year 9 Entrance Exam' for Year 9 day and boarding entry, with a pass mark decided fresh each year. The most important recent fact for families: following genuine parental objections and a December 2024 Schools Adjudicator ruling, Year 9 day places collapsed from 38 to just 8 for 2025 entry onward — dramatically raising the bar for that specific route, while Year 7 day places (90) and Year 9 boarding places (52) were unaffected.
Key facts
- Gender
- co-ed
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Kent
- Established
- 1518
- DfE URN
- 137739
- Website
- https://www.cranbrookschool.co.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- For Year 7 day entry: the Kent Test (PESE), commissioned county-wide by Kent County Council. GL Assessment is confirmed as the paper-setter via GL Assessment's own published case study, though not stated directly by KCC. For Year 9 day and boarding entry (the school's main historical entry point): Cranbrook's own 'Year 9 Entrance Exam', set and marked by the school itself.partly verified
GL Assessment is confirmed via its own published case study rather than a direct Kent County Council statement.
- Test format
- Year 7 (Kent Test): an English & Maths paper and a Reasoning paper (verbal and non-verbal), multiple-choice/computer-marked, plus an unmarked writing task for borderline cases. Year 9 (Cranbrook's own exam): English, Maths, and Non-Verbal Reasoning papers, with a pass mark set fresh each year by the school.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- For Year 7 (Kent Test, 2025 cycle, governing September 2026 entry): an aggregate of 332, reported consistently across tutoring sites, though the minimum component score is disputed between sources (106 vs 108) and wasn't confirmed directly against Kent County Council's own page during this research. For Year 9, no fixed score is published — the pass mark is set annually by the school itself. Cranbrook's own admissions policy sets no higher bar of its own above the Kent Test standard for Year 7 entry.sources conflict
The minimum Kent Test component score is reported inconsistently as 106 or 108 across sources; wasn't resolved against Kent County Council's own page during this research.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from the school's own 2026 Day Admissions Policy: eligible ('Grammar Assessed') candidates are ranked in strict categorical order — care status, Pupil Premium within the priority area, social need, sibling link, staff children, then residence — with score used only as a tiebreaker within a category, never as a whole-cohort ranking metric. The school describes itself as catering for 'the top 20-25% of the academic ability range' — standard grammar framing, not an elevated bar. Not superselective by policy is a different claim from easy to get into, though: the geographic priority area plus the newly tiny 8-place Year 9 day PAN makes it very hard in practice for out-of-catchment families applying at that stage.
Catchment & priority criteria
A defined 'Priority Area': the civil parishes of Cranbrook, Sissinghurst, Goudhurst, Staplehurst, Frittenden, Benenden, Sandhurst and Hawkhurst, plus any property within 8.5km (5.28 miles) straight-line of the school outside those parishes.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school who have passed the relevant entry test
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Pupil Premium-eligible children within the Priority Area
- Candidates within the Priority Area with a demonstrable social or medical need for day attendance
- Candidates within the Priority Area with a sibling already at the school
- Children of staff (0.5+ FTE, 2+ years' service, or filling a skill-shortage vacancy)
- Candidates resident within the Priority Area on no other criterion
- Candidates living outside the Priority Area
- Ties within any category broken by aggregate score, then distance, then random draw
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | ~66.4 (partly-verified — couldn't be cleanly re-confirmed against DfE's live service during this research) | verify with school | Not published, consistent with the school's own stated general pattern (see note below) | 36.4% | 67% |
| GCSE grade profile: 53.1% of grades at 9-7, 98.3% at 9-4 (school's own site). A-level: 36.4% grades A*-A, 67% grades A*-B (school-reported). | |||||
| 2025 | 66.9 (Kent LA average 46.7, England state-funded average 46.1) | 86.3% (Kent LA average 47.0%, England 45.4%) | Not calculated. This is double-caused: the nationwide COVID-era gap applies to this cohort, but Cranbrook's own site separately states it typically doesn't receive a Progress 8 score in any year, because fewer than half its Year 11 pupils sat KS2 SATs — a reflection of its wide catchment and boarding intake, not just the pandemic-era gap. | 38.4% | 66.4% |
| A-level: 38.4% grades A*-A, 66.4% grades A*-B (school-reported). | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Under Ofsted's new report-card framework: 'Strong standard' in Achievement, Attendance and Behaviour, and Post-16 Provision; 'Expected standard' in Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, Leadership and Governance, and Personal Development and Wellbeing. Safeguarding met. The previous inspection (March 2022) rated the school Good overall under the old framework, with Outstanding for Behaviour & Attitudes and Personal Development. A separate boarding welfare inspection (June 2025, under the National Minimum Standards framework rather than the main education framework) rated the boarding provision Outstanding — a marked improvement from 'requires improvement to be good' at the prior boarding inspection in March 2024.
- Date
- 6 May 2026
- Report
- Read the full report
Sources
- 1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, LA — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/137739
- 2. School's own 2026 Day Admissions Policy — https://www.cranbrookschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2026-Day-Admissions-Policy.pdf
- 3. Office of the Schools Adjudicator — Determination Ref4355-REF4379, 18 December 2024 (Year 9 day-place cut) — https://www.cranbrookschool.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Schools-Adjudicators-Determination-18-December-2024-Case-Ref4355-REF4379-1.pdf
- 4. Ofsted full inspection report, 6 May 2026 (new report-card framework) — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50306799
- 5. Ofsted boarding welfare inspection, 17-19 June 2025 (Outstanding) — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50286049
- 6. School's own GCSE Results page — https://www.cranbrookschool.co.uk/academic/gcse-results/
- 7. School's own A-Level Results page — https://www.cranbrookschool.co.uk/academic/alevel-results/
- 8. DfE Compare School Performance — secondary results — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/137739/cranbrook-school/secondary
Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.