Rochester, Kent · Medway
Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School
Despite its Kent postal address, this school's 11+ has nothing to do with the Kent Test — Medway has run its own separate selection system since becoming a unitary authority in 1998.
Though postally addressed in Kent and popularly called a Kent grammar school, Sir Joseph Williamson's sits in the unitary authority of Medway, which has run its own county-wide '11+' — the Medway Test — since Medway split from Kent County Council administration in 1998. The mechanics differ from the Kent Test in every particular: three separately-weighted papers rather than two, a different annually-recalibrated threshold, and administration by Medway Council rather than KCC. The school's own admissions guidance states directly that the size of a boy's Medway Test score doesn't matter once he's passed — a clean, primary-sourced confirmation that this is not a superselective school.
Key facts
- Gender
- boys
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Medway
- Established
- 1701
- DfE URN
- 136662
- Website
- https://sjwms.org.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- The Medway Test, commissioned by Medway Council — a separate test system from the Kent Test used elsewhere in the county, run since Medway became a unitary authority in 1998. GL Assessment is reported by tutoring sites as the paper-setter, but not named on Medway Council's own pages.partly verified
GL Assessment is reported by tutoring sites as the Medway Test's provider, but not named on Medway Council's own official pages.
- Test format
- Three separately-weighted papers, unlike the Kent Test's two: English (comprehension, punctuation, grammar; 30 minutes), Mathematics (50 minutes), and Reasoning (verbal, non-verbal and spatial combined; 45 minutes). English and Maths are each weighted double the Reasoning paper. No separate unmarked writing/appeal task is documented, unlike the Kent Test.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- The Medway-wide minimum weighted score to be assessed as grammar-suitable, recalibrated annually to target roughly the top 23-26% of the Medway maintained-school cohort: 481 for Sept 2026 entry, 482 for Sept 2025 entry, 492 for Sept 2024 entry. The school applies no higher bar of its own above this county-wide pass mark.sources conflict
Medway Council's own page gives 481/482/492 for 2026/2025/2024 entry. A separate tutoring aggregator states the school's own 'pass mark' as approximately 488 for a similar period — this doesn't match Medway Council's figures and isn't independently sourced; given the school's own statement that the exact score doesn't matter once a pupil has passed, treat 488 as unreliable.
- Superselective?
- No
Directly stated by the school's own admissions guidance: 'the size of the Medway Test score is not a determining factor. It is just necessary to have passed.' Oversubscription is resolved purely by non-academic criteria — care status, siblings, staff children, then distance — never by ranking on test score. A clean, primary-sourced confirmation rather than a reputational inference.
Catchment & priority criteria
No defined catchment or priority area. After care/sibling/staff-child priority, all remaining places go by distance from home to school (measured via Medway Council's GIS system), with random allocation as the final tie-break.
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Siblings living in the same household who will be on roll at the time of admission
- Children of school staff (specific tenure requirement stated inconsistently across the school's own pages — verify with school)
- Distance from home to school, shortest route; ties broken by distance again then random allocation
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 70.16 (school-reported; DfE's own performance-table service blocked automated access throughout this research) | 97.5% | Self-reported by the school as an estimate only, and inconsistently across its own pages: 'above +0.85' in one place, 'in excess of +0.95' in another. This cohort predates the COVID-era gap, so a real DfE figure should exist, but couldn't be independently retrieved. | 43% | 73% |
| A-level: 43% grades A*-A (up from 40% in 2023), 73% grades A*-B. | |||||
| 2025 | 69.49 | 93.5% | Not calculated — the school's own official performance-data page explicitly states 'N/A for this cohort,' consistent with the nationwide DfE inability to calculate Progress 8 for the 2024/25 GCSE cohort (COVID-cancelled KS2 baseline). | 44.5% | 73.7% |
| The school states official November 2025 DfE performance tables placed it top in Medway on Attainment 8, grade 5+ English & Maths, and EBacc average point score. A-level: 44.5% grades A*-A, 73.7% grades A*-B. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Outstanding, in every category: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and sixth-form provision.
- Date
- 21-22 March 2023
- 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/136662
- 2. School's own Admissions Arrangements 2026-27 — https://sjwms.org.uk/admissions/admissions-arrangements-2026-27/
- 3. Medway Council — About the Medway Test — https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200137/schools_and_learning/1049/medway_test_11
- 4. Medway Council — qualifying scores by year — https://www.medway.gov.uk/info/200137/schools_and_learning/1049/medway_test_11/7
- 5. Ofsted report, inspected 21-22 March 2023 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50217371
- 6. School's own history page — founded 1701 — https://sjwms.org.uk/about/history-of-the-school/
- 7. School's own Performance & Destinations Data page — https://sjwms.org.uk/about/performance-destinations-data/
- 8. School's own A-level Results 2025 page — https://sjwms.org.uk/a-level-results-2025/
Last updated 2026-08-31. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.