Broadstairs, Kent · Kent
Dane Court Grammar School
Runs an International Baccalaureate sixth form, not A-levels — the third school in this index with no A-level results to compare at all.
Dane Court sets no score requirement above Kent's standard threshold, and its own admissions policy confirms a plain priority order with no banding. Its most distinctive feature is its sixth form: unlike almost every other Kent grammar, Dane Court teaches the International Baccalaureate (IBDP, IBCP, and an 'IB Bespoke' route) rather than A-levels — confirmed consistently across its own curriculum pages, its admissions policy's Year 12 entry criteria, and Ofsted's own report, none of which mention A-levels at all. This means the standard A-level attainment comparisons simply don't apply to its sixth form.
Key facts
- Gender
- co-ed
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Kent
- Established
- 1957
- DfE URN
- 136585
- Website
- https://www.danecourt.kent.sch.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- The Kent Test (PESE), commissioned county-wide by Kent County Council. GL Assessment is widely reported as the paper-setter but wasn't independently confirmed for this specific school during this research.
- Test format
- The standard county-wide format: an English & Maths paper and a Reasoning paper (verbal and non-verbal), both multiple-choice/computer-marked, standardised into component scores plus an aggregate, with an unmarked writing task for borderline cases.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- An aggregate of 332, with no individual component below 108, for the 2025 test cycle (governing September 2026 entry) — sourced from Kent County Council's own page, though accessed via a text-extraction proxy rather than direct navigation during this research. The school sets no additional requirement of its own.partly verified
Retrieved via a text-extraction proxy after direct access to Kent County Council's page was blocked during this research — internally consistent with expectations but not visually confirmed on the live page.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from the school's own determined admissions policy (sections 6.2-6.4): a Kent Test pass is the only requirement, with no score-banding, elevated threshold, or ranking-by-score mechanism anywhere in the document. Oversubscription runs through care status, medical/special access, Pupil Premium, siblings, then distance — the standard non-superselective sequence.
Catchment & priority criteria
No catchment area is defined. Distance is used only as the final oversubscription criterion — a tie-break among otherwise-equal applicants, not a qualifying boundary.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Medical or health-based special access reasons, evidenced by a qualified practitioner
- Children in receipt of Pupil Premium
- A sibling currently on roll who will still be attending at time of entry
- Nearness of home to school, by straight-line distance; independently-verified random allocation as final tie-break
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 68.6 | 93.6% | +0.69 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.48 to +0.91; England average -0.03, Kent average -0.14) — this cohort predates the COVID-era gap | — | — |
| Sixth form is IB (IBDP/IBCP/IB Bespoke), not A-levels — no A*-A/A*-B figures apply. Official DfE 16-18/IB performance-table figures for this cohort couldn't be retrieved during this research. | |||||
| 2025 | 65.3 | 92.8% (DfE-verified; the school's own press materials round this to 94%) | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | — | — |
| EBacc entry 79.0% (Kent 46.9%, England 40.5%); EBacc average point score 6.16 (Kent 4.18, England 4.09). Sixth form: no A-level figures apply (IB curriculum) — school-reported 2025 IBDP average points score 35, IBCP pass rate 98% (not independently DfE-verified). Very recent, not-yet-DfE-validated 2026 results (school/press-reported): Attainment 8 'above 67', roughly half of GCSE entries at grade 7+, 13% at grade 9. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Good overall, under the pre-September-2024 single-headline-grade framework. Sub-judgements: quality of education Good, behaviour and attitudes Good, personal development Good, leadership and management Good, sixth-form provision Outstanding.
- Date
- 10-11 May 2022
- 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/136585
- 2. School's own Admissions policy (determined, reviewed Jan 2025) — https://drive.google.com/file/d/14QlOESPJ2hhrO3r53etRy-3JiHfP5BDV/view
- 3. School's own Sixth Form page — confirms IB-only curriculum — https://www.danecourt.kent.sch.uk/sixth
- 4. Kent County Council — Kent Test qualifying threshold — https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/school-places/kent-test/kent-test-results
- 5. Ofsted report, inspected 10-11 May 2022 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50187820
- 6. School's own GCSE Results 2025 announcement — https://www.danecourt.kent.sch.uk/lastestnews/gcse-results-2025
- 7. DfE Compare School Performance — results over time — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136585/dane-court-grammar-school/secondary/results-over-time
- 8. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136585/dane-court-grammar-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.