Gravesend, Kent · Kent
Gravesend Grammar School
Uses a tiered geographic priority system rather than a hard catchment — Gravesham borough first, then two rings of named parishes.
Gravesend Grammar sets no score requirement above Kent's standard threshold, and its own admissions policy confirms a plain priority order — care status, medical need, siblings, staff children, then a tiered geographic system starting with the Borough of Gravesham before extending outward through two rings of named parishes. It recently joined the Aletheia Academies Trust partway through the 2024/25 academic year, a governance change worth a footnote though it doesn't alter its status as its own admissions authority.
Key facts
- Gender
- boys
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Kent
- Established
- 1893
- DfE URN
- 137099
- Website
- https://www.gravesendgrammar.com
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 found named on any Gravesend- or KCC-specific page checked during this research.
- Test format
- The standard county-wide format: an English & Maths paper and a Reasoning paper, both multiple-choice/computer-marked, plus an unmarked writing task that can support headteacher assessment or appeals. The school's own admissions document refers to entry via 'the Kent Procedure for Entrance to Secondary Schools (PESE) Age 11 Assessment Process.'
- Qualifying / pass mark
- An aggregate of 332 with no individual component below 108, reported as the 2025 test cycle threshold (governing September 2026 entry) — corroborated by three independent tutoring sites, though a direct Kent County Council statement of this specific figure wasn't accessible during this research.partly verified
The 332/108 figure is corroborated by three independent tutoring sites, but a direct Kent County Council page stating it explicitly wasn't accessible during this research.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from the school's own determined Admission Arrangements 2026-27: the ordered oversubscription criteria run through EHCP, care status, medical/social need, siblings and staff children, followed purely by geographic priority — there is no score-banding criterion of any kind. A boy simply needs to reach the standard county-wide qualifying score; place allocation above that bar is by geography, not a higher academic bar.
Catchment & priority criteria
A tiered geographic priority system rather than a single fixed catchment: the Borough of Gravesham first, then a ring of named parishes (Ash-cum-Ridley, Bean, Fawkham, Hartley, Longfield and New Barn, Southfleet, Swanscombe and Greenhithe, Stansted, and unparished Ebbsfleet), then a further ring (Stone, Darenth, Horton Kirby and South Darenth, Cliffe and Cliffe Woods), then all other eligible children.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Exceptional medical or social need, evidenced under the Equality Act 2010
- Siblings who will be attending when the child joins
- Children of staff (2+ years' service, or filling a skill-shortage post)
- Children living within the Borough of Gravesham
- Children living in the named priority parishes
- Children living in the second-ring parishes
- All other eligible children
- Tie-break within every criterion: Pupil Premium children first, then straight-line distance, then random selection
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 63.2 | 89.2% | +0.18 ('Average', confidence interval -0.03 to +0.39, spanning zero — not statistically distinguishable from average). Kent LA average -0.14, England average -0.03. | — | — |
| A-level (202 students): average grade B- (35.14 points). A specific A*-A/A*-B breakdown for this year couldn't be located. | |||||
| 2025 | 65.3 (Kent LA average 46.7, England state-funded average 46.1) | 91.9% | Not calculated — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | 33.1% (school-reported) | 63.5% (school-reported) |
| A-level (school-reported, described by the school as its 'best results in over 10 years'): 33.1% A*-A, 63.5% A*-B. DfE's own current measure shows average grade B (38.38 points), AAB+ with 2 facilitating subjects 26.9% (Kent 17.3%, England 17.5%). | |||||
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. The previous inspection (2015) rated the school Outstanding.
- Date
- 18 March 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/137099
- 2. School's own Admission Arrangements 2026-27 — https://gravesend.reactfiles.co.uk/uploads/document/Admission-Arrangements-2026-27.docx-3.pdf
- 3. Ofsted report, inspected 18 March 2025 — https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/23/137099
- 4. School's own Examination Results page — https://www.gravesendgrammar.com/about/examination-results/
- 5. DfE Compare School Performance — results over time — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/137099/gravesend-grammar-school/secondary/results-over-time
- 6. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/137099/gravesend-grammar-school/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.