Kent’s most popular secondary schools are denying places to as many as four out of five children listing them as their first choice, KentOnline can reveal.

But are the admissions policies of those turning hundreds of pupils away each year fair, or are schools in the county being too selective? James Pallant investigates…

Following an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted report, one school in Kent received almost a thousand more applications than it had places, leaving its head teacher listening to the “heartbreaking stories” of children denied a spot.

At another, just one in five youngsters listing the school as their first choice was accepted, with close to half of places offered to pupils from outside the county.

Such disappointment will face thousands of parents who by Thursday this week will have to choose where they want their children to study next September.

One who has experienced the pain of their child missing out says it is an injustice that some youngsters are forced to travel miles to a school they had no desire to attend.

But a Kent education expert and former head teacher explains there will always be families who feel hard done by, explaining: “Whatever system you come up with will be unfair for some children.”

Why are some schools so hard to get into?

In some cases a school’s reputation for strong academics, extracurricular opportunities or having a particularly good culture can draw a disproportionate number of pupils to apply.

But with only a finite number of seats in the classroom, popular schools are left with no choice but to turn away hundreds of children.

The School of Science and Technology Maidstone, despite having been open only a few years, is already seen as a top choice in the county town.

Following an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted inspection last year, the school was this year only able to grant places to 48% of pupils who chose it as their first preference - making it the third most competitive in Kent and Medway.

Geography can also be a major factor, especially in the west and north west of the county where Kent pupils compete with youngsters from Sussex or London.

A prime example of this is Dartford Grammar School, where of the 178 spots granted to pupils last year, 82 went to children living outside the county.

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In other instances, the particulars of a school’s admissions policy can mean it tends to reject a high proportion of children.

Schools like the heavily oversubscribed Brompton Academy in Gillingham use a fair-banding test to ensure each incoming cohort has a range of academic abilities.

But this intake method can result in students who live close by losing out to those who live miles away because of undersubscription in certain academic bands.

Grammar schools, by contrast, pick children for admission based largely on how they score on a standardised test sat at age 11, known as the Kent Test or 11-plus, with only the ‘brightest’ pupils invited to attend.

Many of the hardest schools to get into see a combination of these factors.

What is Kent and Medway’s most popular school and what makes it so competitive?

Of the 10 hardest schools to get into - ranked by those rejecting the highest percentage of first-choice applicants - seven are grammar schools.

Dartford Grammar School for Boys tops the list having admitted just 21% of pupils who made the school their number-one preference for September 2024.

The West Hill site is a popular choice for several reasons. Firstly, in terms of academic achievement, it outperforms every other Kent school on just about every measure.

But the school’s head teacher, Julian Metcalf, explained its oversubscription is also a product of its location.

“Of course we’re a Kent grammar school, but we're on the edge of south east London as well,” he said.

“Historically, we've therefore brought students in from, yes, Dartford and north west Kent, but also from south east London, Essex, and east London as well.

“I think there’s a little bit of a grammar school black hole in the north west part of Kent out towards Ebbsfleet, where students historically have been passing the Kent test but have been too far away from the Wilmington grammar schools, too far away from Gravesend and not getting into us either.

“So there are students passing the Kent test who haven’t been able to secure a Kent grammar school place.

“It’s getting the delicate balance right between recognising that a school should be a part of its local community, but equally it’s not trying to exclude the people that are interested in the international curriculum we offer.”

Of the 178 children invited to attend Dartford Grammar in 2024, 46% were from outside of Kent.

Joshua Shergill, from Hartley, was among the local applicants turned away.

In fact, the youngster was one of 61 across Dartford, Gravesham and Sevenoaks to have passed the Kent Test but been rejected from every grammar on their lists.

KentOnline asked his father, Mandip Shergill, for his thoughts on the high proportion of out-of-county boys being offered spots at Kent grammars.

“I think it’s absolutely diabolical,” said Mr Shergill, 48.

“I think that's headmasters, governors and school boards all fixated on their school’s academics, and performance in league tables doing what they feel to do in order attain a very high level of academic achievement.

“But in doing so, they completely stick two fingers up at the local schoolchildren who are in that surrounding vicinity.”

Are grammar schools being super-selective?

Following consultation with parents, teachers, Kent County Council and local primary schools, Dartford Grammar has now changed its oversubscription criteria.

Of its 180 places, 130 are now earmarked for children who live in Dartford and the surrounding parishes. This is up from 90 last year - but it comes with a caveat.

Boys who live locally will now not only need to have passed the Kent Test (the pass mark last year was 332), but will need to have done so by at least 40 points to be considered for a ‘priority area’ place.

Once these local spots have been filled, the remaining places will be offered to all children regardless of address but prioritised by their 11-plus score.

However, the school’s principal says this does not mean local boys will be held to a higher standard this year, as even the lowest-scoring successful applicants from Dartford typically achieve more than 50 points above the pass mark.

“If anything, it could potentially be a lower standard,” explained Mr Metcalf, who has headed the school since 2021.

“Normally, the lowest scores are in the mid-380s to get in from the Dartford area, this year that could go down to 372 [with 40 more places available].”

The principal says going by how local boys have performed in the 11-plus in recent years, he expects there to be enough eligible applications from local children to fill the 130 priority places.

Asked then why it was deemed necessary for local boys to pass the 11-plus by 40 points rather than just simply pass, he added: “We are a more selective school.

“I think this [new policy] is a little bit more of a halfway house to try and make it slightly less selective but still making sure that the children who get in can handle the work.

“I hope it broadens the local intake, but I want to make sure that we’re not bringing in anyone who ultimately won’t be successful.”

Is it just grammar schools that are hard to get into?

Selective schools dominate the top 10 in Kent, with just three spots for non-grammars.

Dartford Grammar School for Girls ranks second, having offered places to just a third of the 486 children listing it as their first choice.

Wilmington Grammar School for Boys - also in Dartford - completes the podium of picky providers, with 40% of youngsters who put it top of their list last year offered a place.

But the top five is completed by two non-selectives – The School of Science and Technology Maidstone (SST) and Brompton Academy in Gillingham.

SST comes in fourth after last year accepting just 48% of first-preference applications.

But unlike many of Kent’s most popular secondaries, it was not forced to turn away applicants because of 11-plus scores or cross-county-border competition.

Executive head teacher Van Beales explains: “We opened in 2020, but very quickly we have gained a very good reputation within our local community.

“I always receive lovely emails from members of the public telling us that they come across our students and they're all very respectful, very polite.

“We’ve also got a fantastic set of parents who really subscribe to the school ethos and values.

“And it is them who go out there and tell their friends, their family, their neighbours about the positive experience that their child is having with us.

“So I guess there's a lot of word of mouth going around in the local area.”

In January 2023, Ofsted judged the school to be ‘Outstanding’ in every area, solidifying SST’s reputation.

Later that year, 1,142 children chose the school as one of their preferences, with 354 putting it down as first choice.

But with just 183 places up for grabs, Mrs Beal, who also heads Invicta Grammar School in Maidstone, says she can only sympathise with those denied a spot.

“I have heard heartbreaking stories through the appeal hearings from disappointed families,” she continued.

“I really wish that we could take everyone who has put the SST down as their first choice because I know that there's a sense of desperation that people want to send their children to school.

“But due to the capacity of the building, it’s just not possible.”

Should Kent grammars just be for Kent children?

Of the 211 secondary schools across Kent, 32 are grammars.

As grammar school pupils are, by design, among the more academically gifted, the benefits of sending one’s child to a selective school are obvious, if controversial.

But with the Garden of England home to one of the last fully-selective secondary systems in the country, some families who live in Essex, Sussex or London also vie for spots at grammars in Kent.

This, however, is seen as an injustice by some parents who believe Kent grammar places should be exclusively for children from the county.

“When we go to a hospital, we don't go to the hospital that's 30, 40, 50 minutes away,” remarked Mr Shergill, whose son was denied a place at his three nearest grammar schools.

“We don't go to a council authority an hour-and-a-half away from us or rely on fire or emergency services from out of the borough.

“The same should apply to schools. Essex children should be going and looking at their local grammar schools, not trying to join into other areas.”

Some grammar schools close to the edges of Kent can be extremely selective.

However, education expert Peter Read says this is part of their appeal.

“The very fact that they are hard to get into makes them more popular,” said the former head teacher of Gravesend Grammar School.

“Parents want their children to go to such schools because they're seen as being more exclusive.”

Like most Kent grammars, the high-achieving Skinner School in Tunbridge Wells reserves the bulk of its spaces for children who live close by.

Asked why the school could not simply offer places exclusively to Kent pupils, head teacher Edward Wesson explained that it would be against the law.

“We're not allowed to use a county boundary as a defining line - the National Schools Admissions Code won't let us,” said Mr Wesson.

“So we would not be allowed to reserve places only for those from west Kent.”

“And you also have to appreciate we're under three miles from the Sussex border.

“So I would argue that someone who lives in Groombridge or Wadhurst has as much right to apply to this school as a local school as someone in Hildenbrough or Leigh, for example.”

What is the fairest way to admit pupils?

Children across the county are selected for admission at schools of different types based on a variety of criteria.

Some are accepted because of where they live, others because of their standardised test scores, where their siblings go to school, or how much money their family has.

What is the fairest way to decide who gets to study where?

“Whatever system you come up with will be unfair for some children,” added Mr Read.

“One of the most successful non-selective schools is Bennet Memorial in Tunbridge Wells.

“Their admission criteria is that basically families have to regularly go to church for about three years to get in.

“Now, I go to a local church in my area which has a very popular church school - and I see families turning up to go to church for the sole purpose of getting a place at that school, is that right?”

Maidstone head Mrs Beale says while there has been disappointment among families whose children are not able to attend SST, there are several other high-quality, non-selective schools in the area to choose from.

But the same cannot be said for families insistent on sending their children to a grammar.

After rounds of media interviews and letters to various politicians, Mr Shergill eventually secured a place for his son at a grammar school 20 miles from his home in Hartley.

He drives Joshua 45 minutes across the county every morning so that he can attend Oakwood Park Grammar School, on the outskirts of Maidstone.

Mr Shergill believes the way to alleviate the oversubscription of grammar schools is to lift the ban on new ones being created.

“The net number of new grammar schools needs to be increased, absolutely,” continued the IT professional.

“The grammar school system has maintained its very stringent quality of grammar schools up and down the country, but their quantity hasn’t been allowed to grow.

“If the UK is going to compete amongst its peers in producing the best quality business leaders, then underpinning that is providing the best possible quality of education.”