Rainham, Kent · Medway

Rainham Mark Grammar School

Several results aggregators attach a stale 2023/24 Progress 8 figure to the current year — DfE's own page says no Progress 8 exists for that cohort at all.

A Medway school, not a Kent County Council one, despite the Kent postal address — Rainham Mark sits under Medway's own Medway Test system. Co-educational school-wide since 1972, it's confirmed not superselective directly from its own admissions policy: once a child clears the Medway-wide qualifying score, all further ranking is purely categorical (care status, Pupil Premium, siblings, health need, staff, then distance), never by score margin. Worth a specific caution: several results aggregators show a Progress 8 figure sitting next to the current year's headline results, but DfE's own page states plainly that no Progress 8 could be calculated for this cohort — that number belongs to the prior year and has been stale-carried-forward.

Key facts

Gender: co-ed
Age range: 11-18
Region: South East
Local authority: Medway
DfE URN: 136864
Website: https://www.rainhammark.com

Admissions

Admissions authority: The school sets its own test and criteria
Entrance test board: The Medway Test, a separate 11+ system from the Kent Test, commissioned by Medway Council, which states directly: 'these tests are written specifically for Medway Council. Our test provider is GL Assessment.'
Test format: Three components: English (30 minutes: comprehension, punctuation, grammar, including an extended writing task that IS scored — unlike Kent's separate unmarked writing task), Mathematics (50 minutes), and Reasoning (45 minutes: verbal, non-verbal and spatial). Tutoring sources report a weighting of English×2 + Maths×2 + Reasoning×1 for a maximum weighted score of 700, though this isn't confirmed on Medway Council's own pages. Children who miss the main test sitting may instead sit a CAT4 test requiring a standardised score of 111+ in each relevant component.
Qualifying / pass mark: No fixed pass mark — Medway Council sets it annually to target roughly the top 23-26th percentile of that year's cohort. Tutoring sources report approximately 481 out of 700 for September 2026 entry, though this specific figure isn't confirmed on Medway Council's own site.partly verified
Medway Council's own site confirms the percentile-based structure but doesn't publish the actual numeric threshold. The ~481/700 figure comes only from tutoring/aggregator sites.
Superselective?: No

Catchment & priority criteria

No catchment or zone is defined. Distance from home to school is used only as the final tie-break criterion when places cannot otherwise be allocated — the furthest distance actually offered for Sept 2025 entry was reported as roughly 4,161 metres, reflecting that year's demand rather than a policy boundary.

Looked-after and previously looked-after children
Children in receipt of Pupil Premium (registered for Free School Meals at any point in the last 6 years)
Current family association — a sibling already attending the school at time of entry
Health and Special Access Reasons, evidenced by written professional support
Children of staff (employed 3+ years for Year 7 entry; 2+ years for Year 12/sixth-form entry — a genuine difference between the two policies)
Nearness of home to school (shortest route); ties broken by drawing lots

Results

Year	Attainment 8	GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths	Progress 8	A*–A	A*–B
2024	63.4 (secondary-sourced; could not independently confirm against DfE's live service, which exposes only the current published year)	91.9% (secondary-sourced)	0.28 — this is the last year DfE calculated Progress 8 for this school. Several aggregator sites incorrectly attach this figure to the 2025 results row instead; it belongs to 2024.	—	—
This cohort predates the COVID-era Progress 8 gap.
2025	62.7 (Medway LA average 46.1, England state-funded average 46.1)	87.3% (Medway LA 44.1%, England 45.4%)	Not calculated — DfE's own page for this school states explicitly it cannot calculate Progress 8 for the 2024/25 cohort nationwide, due to the COVID-cancelled KS2 baseline. Do not confuse with the 2024 figure of 0.28 above, which some secondary sites mis-attach to this year.	verify with school	verify with school
EBacc entry 94.1% (Medway LA 52.2%, England 40.5%). EBacc average point score 6.0. 98% stayed in education, employment or an apprenticeship.

Ofsted

Rating: Good, in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision. The previous inspection (2014) rated the school Outstanding.
Date: 24 May 2022
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/136864
2. School's own Admission Policy 2026 — https://www.rainhammark.com/attachments/download.asp?file=866&type=pdf
3. School's own Admission Arrangements 2027-2028 — https://www.rainhammark.com/attachments/download.asp?file=932&type=pdf
4. Medway Council — About the Medway Test — https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200137/schools_and_learning/1049/medway_test_11
5. Medway Council — school directory record (PAN, fair banding status, distance offered) — https://www.medway.gov.uk/directory_record/278662/rainham_mark_grammar_school
6. Ofsted report, inspected 24 May 2022 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50188380
7. DfE Compare School Performance — 2025 GCSE results — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136864/rainham-mark-grammar-school/secondary

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