Best secondary schools in Kent

Highworth Grammar School for girls is the complete package: nurturing high aspirations and academic standards, whilst retaining a caring community – ‘a busy school where music so valued even the school badge incorporates has a treble clef,’ and the only state secondary in east Kent to feature in some national top school roll calls.

Wye School is a hop skip and a jump (or six minute train ride!) from Ashford set in a semi-rural environment in purpose-built new premises. Founded in 2013 by the efforts of local parents to raise the standards of the non-selective offerings, the oversubscription for places illustrates its popularity. Its catchment is getting smaller as a result and it’s wise to check this out.

Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys has an excellent reputation for research and science but also outstanding art and DT provision. A very popular destination from other schools for sixth form. Traditionally academic it retains the top spot in the area. Always oversubscribed by about 30 per cent, it prioritises those gaining 20 marks above the 11+ pass mark and while it has a nine mile radius for admissions, there is every chance that the places can be filled before reaching that. Barton Court Grammar School is a very good co-ed grammar specialising in languages and with high academic expectations. If you’re looking for a girls’ school, Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School has recently had an impressive new build which is helping it gain back the excellent reputation it once enjoyed. If you live in Whitstable or Faversham, Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School offers co-ed grammar education but with mixed academic results.

It’s not unusual for parents to get their children baptised for a better chance of admission to St Anselms Catholic School (although not absolutely necessary as there are many pupils from other faiths and none). Parking the academics (in the ‘could do better zone’ but with good value added), it’s a well-respected community school with excellent pastoral care. The promise of new build to replace tired old blocks yet to materialise but trailblazer for secondary school provision for forest school. Canterbury Academy has great sports facilities. A good BTEC offering and was first in the area to offer GCSE and A level environmental science. Partnered with Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys where academisation is in the pipeline.

Maidstone boasts four grammars, three of which are particularly well respected and populated from the surrounding areas, benefitting perhaps from being selective but not super-selective and scooping up pupils from Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells whilst leaning into the Medway towns. Maidstone Grammar School is a proudly traditional boys' grammar with rather complicated oversubscription criteria to ensure drawing from the villages it originally served. Maidstone Grammar School for Girls is, our reviewer reported, ‘compassionate and caring’ and makes excellent progress. Invicta Grammar School is also a girls’ school – outstanding with ‘swish’ facilities and while not super-selective is regarded as delivering an excellent education to the more academic and creative pupil.

St Simon Stock Catholic School in its Oakwood grounds holds its own as a non-selective with good progress and a nurturing reputation. Catchment small for non-faith applicants but much wider for Catholic and then other denominations. The catchment area for Valley Park School is reportedly small and it’s heavily oversubscribed due to its reputation for the arts and having an on-site farm; 24 scholarships across music, performing arts, art and design are awarded each year which allow pupils to skip the queue in the oversubscription criteria. The School of Science and Technology, part of the Valley Invicta Academic Trust, is making quite an impression since opening in 2020 with outstanding facilities - highly oversubscribed! 

The Rochester Grammar School, described as a ‘jewel’ by parents and ‘elevates local girls' aspirations’, offers a fast-paced education for high achieving girls. Exclusively IB in the sixth form. Also worth a mention, Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School, a boys’ grammar with high academic standards. Closer to the London environs, Dartford Grammar is hitting heights of success like its famous alumnus, Mick Jagger. It's a school for 'able students hungry for challenge' and takes a progressive approach (exclusively offering IB in sixth form), but works hard to retain much of what a grammar education was intended to be and is applauded nationally for doing so. Dartford Grammar School for Girls achieves similar academic results as the boys’ school but offers A levels – many girls jump over to the boys’ school for sixth form and IB. Closer to London still is Wilmington Grammar School for Girls which provides a sound local grammar option attracting high praise for pastoral care and inclusivity (WG6 is the sixth form offering which is completely merged with the boys’ school). Mayfield Grammar School is a girls’ grammar with its own ‘Mayfield Procedure’ admission test where more emphasis is placed on the written test (unlike the 11+). 

In a world of grammar schools, the comprehensives are likely to have to fight hard to pick up decent grades at GCSE and A level. The The Thomas Aveling School's pupils make solid progress and is heavily oversubscribed.

For many years there was a surprising lack of grammar school provision here – but not any more! To join the less popular Weald of Kent Grammar annexe, Tunbridge Wells Grammar for Boys has recently opened an annexe in Sevenoaks with an intake of 90 pupils – the result of a parental petition. Long overdue and a very welcome addition, report parents. Applications for boys having passed the 11+ are made to the main school where places are then assigned – no preference for Sevenoaks campus is available. 

While there is a ‘grammar stream’ in the large and oversubscribed Knole Academy, looking on the edge of Sevenoaks and beyond is recommended due to the school’s mixed reviews. The faith-based Trinity School makes good progress with its pupils and accepts 50 per cent non-faith but has a small catchment and is oversubscribed. The pretty surrounding villages of Ightam, Wrotham, Platt and Borough Green are really where it’s at and feed Wrotham School a smaller nurturing secondary with a record of good progress to GCSE.

Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School has ‘music in its DNA’, noted our reviewer, along with attracting many sporty types and setting high academic standards. Consistently oversubscribed: four-mile catchment (including east Sussex) and 40 named priority villages. The dazzling results of all-boys The Judd School speak for themselves, hardly surprising with the eye-watering higher 11+ scores required (the cut off mark changes each year with two catchments: inner and outer, although the school states that ‘no one is in a good position to declare authoritatively on the matter of the cut off mark,’ so be told!). ‘Top option for a studious boy,’ our reviewer thought. A good bunch of medics each year along with Oxbridge and Russell Group destinations. The Skinners' School calls its catchment ‘West Kent Area’ (don’t be fooled - the catchment area barely stretches to Sevenoaks). Self-proclaimed as ‘less academic’ than The Judd (its sparring partner in rugby) but ‘brings in the results without veering into hot house territory,’ say parents. Physics and maths really popular, with music and drama enjoying a ‘renaissance’. Going co-ed from September 2026. Tunbridge Wells Grammar for Boys (one of two campuses, see Sevenoaks), is very popular and not super selective – some pupils travel from Bromley, Orpington and east Sussex. Originally a Technical High School, it still has subjects like food and nutrition and media studies along with football (a rarity among grammar schools).

Bennett Memorial Diocesan School is a superb alternative to grammar, achieving excellent progress and competitive average A level grades. Consistently over-subscribed with practising Church of England families given priority, followed by other Christian denominations and faiths. Parents say that academic standards here are raised by late developers who missed out on grammar places. Hillview School for Girls has a happy reputation, ‘a savvy option for girls who were maybe unseen in primary school and need a bit of TLC and belief to turn that around’, our reviewer noted, a specialist in performing arts with a more far-reaching catchment.

The Cranbrook Priority Area is a very real thing (ask any estate agent!) – Cranbrook School is a state-funded day and boarding grammar. Entry in year 7 only for 90 day places is by the 11+ plus catchment area. In year 9, admission via the Cranbrook Entrance Exam for the 52 boarding and 38 day places (catchment applies). Described by parents as, 'Not a school for cruisers.'

With the closure of its only truly local non-selective secondary, most pupils travel to Mascalls Academy in Paddock Wood which is regarded as a ‘good enough’ school but perhaps not the first choice for many. As with all areas in west Kent, many pupils travel outside their home town or village for non-selective secondary schools. Hillview School for Girls in Tonbridge is a popular choice (see Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge). 

The Folkestone School for Girls and The Harvey Grammar provide the two single sex options in Folkestone. Both heavily oversubscribed; admission is by the ‘Shepway Test’ and the catchment is Folkestone and Hythe. In the affluent area of Sandwich is the mixed Sir Roger Manwood’s School which, whilst not achieving the academic excellence of other grammars, provides a ‘holistic approach’ and is ‘more relaxed’ according to parents. Crossing the Wantsum to the Isle of Thanet is Dane Court Grammar School where the IB is taught instead of A levels in sixth form – a rarity in the state sector - and physical space looks more like a university. It does well for a school with a mixed demographic and is proactive in adjusting its ethos to better serve the students.

Due to the popularity and number of the grammar schools, the non-selectives on the east Kent coast struggle to reach equally high academic standards. However, Duke of York's Royal Military School is an interesting and enticing option offering boarding (approx. £22,000 per annum) with a unique state education where the students make above average progress and results exceed those of some local grammar schools with the bonus of excellent facilities and extra-curricular on tap.

All mainstream state schools have SEN support for mild learning difficulties. This often varies and can be related to the size of the school (the larger the school, the better resourced and more experienced).

Five Acre Wood School in Maidstone has a primary section and is an all- through school, also providing outreach for primary schools and provision in satellite schools in Snodland. Ifield School in Gravesend caters for children with severe and profound needs. The admission of pupils to special schools is a decision for the local authority.