Dover, Kent · Kent

Dover Grammar School for Boys

Runs its own school-set test as an alternative to the Kent Test — and deliberately publishes no numeric pass score for either route.

Dover Boys is unusual among Kent grammars in offering applicants a genuine choice: sit the county-wide Kent Test, or the school's own 'Dover Boys Test', a dual-route arrangement specifically upheld by the Schools Adjudicator in 2019. Neither route publishes a numeric qualifying score — the school's own policy states only that its own test is set to approximate the top 25% of the national age cohort, and even goes so far as to note that in recent years every eligible boy naming Dover Boys as first choice has been offered a place, suggesting oversubscription pressure has recently been fairly low.

Key facts

Gender: boys
Age range: 11-18
Region: South East
Local authority: Kent
Established: 1905
DfE URN: 118931
Website: https://www.dgsb.co.uk

Admissions

Admissions authority: The school sets its own test and criteria
Entrance test board: Dual route: the school's own self-set 'Dover Boys Test', or the county-wide Kent Test (PESE), commissioned by Kent County Council — an arrangement specifically upheld by a 2019 Schools Adjudicator determination (ADA 3581). GL Assessment is referenced on the school's own admissions page as the Kent Test's administrator, though not confirmed directly on a Kent County Council document read during this research.
Test format: Dover Boys Test: verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests plus tests addressing Key Stage 2 English and Maths targets, set and administered by the school itself. Kent Test (alternative route): the standard county format — an English & Maths paper and a Reasoning paper, both multiple-choice/computer-marked, plus an unmarked writing task for borderline cases.
Qualifying / pass mark: No numeric score is published for either route. For the Dover Boys Test, the school's own policy states only that the standard is set to 'reasonably predict' sixth-form readiness and is anticipated to correspond to the top 25% of the national age cohort. For the alternative Kent Test route, the county-wide baseline from other Kent grammar research (a recent cycle: aggregate 332, no component below 108) wasn't independently re-confirmed for this specific school during this research.verify with school
Neither testing route publishes a numeric score; the Kent-wide baseline figure for the alternative route wasn't freshly re-confirmed against Kent County Council's own site during this research.
Superselective?: No

Catchment & priority criteria

No defined catchment. Distance is used only as the lowest-priority tie-break, measured as straight-line distance via National Land and Property Gazetteer address points.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children, including internationally adopted children
Children in receipt of Pupil Premium (Free School Meals at any point in the last 6 years)
Current family association — a sibling attending at time of entry
Health and special access reasons, evidenced under the Equality Act 2010
Children of staff (2+ years' service, or filling a skill-shortage post)
Nearness of home to school, by straight-line distance; random ballot as final tie-break

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2024	59.1	79.5%	+0.54 ('Well above average', confidence interval +0.30 to +0.79) — this is the last GCSE cohort for which DfE could calculate Progress 8 nationally	—	—
EBacc entry 67.7%.
2025	65.4 (a sharp rise from 59.1 the year before)	93.0% (a sharp rise from 79.5%)	Not calculated by DfE — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally	verify with school	verify with school
EBacc entry 71.9%. A-level: DfE's current tables no longer publish an A-A/A-B breakdown; instead the school's A-level progress score is -0.42 ('below average', England average -0.03), average result 28.23 points (Kent average 34.87, England 36.1), AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 5.6% (Kent 17.3%, England 17.5%). Ofsted's own report links this specifically to inconsistent curriculum sequencing affecting sixth-form achievement — a genuine gap between strong, improving GCSE results and comparatively weak A-level value-added.

Ofsted

Rating: No overall grade (Ofsted paused headline grades for state-funded schools from September 2024). Category judgements: quality of education Good, behaviour and attitudes Outstanding, personal development Outstanding, leadership and management Good, sixth-form provision Good.
Date: 21-22 January 2025
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/118931
2. School's own determined admissions policy, September 2026 entry — https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/184332/Dover-Grammar-School-for-Boys-admissions-criteria-2026-2027.pdf
3. Ofsted report, inspected 21-22 January 2025 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50270710
4. School's own history page — founded 1905 — https://www.dgsb.co.uk/600/our-history
5. DfE Compare School Performance — results over time — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/118931/dover-grammar-school-for-boys/secondary/results-over-time
6. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/118931/dover-grammar-school-for-boys/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
7. DfE Compare School Performance — Advanced level qualifications — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/118931/dover-grammar-school-for-boys/16-to-18/advanced-level-qualifications

Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.