Kent Test

The Kent Test assesses whether grammar school is a suitable option for your child. KentTest RegistrationfortheKentTestforchildrenduetostartsecondaryschoolinSeptember2022isnowclosed.Assessmentisnormallydonethroughtestingduringtheautumnterm.Thisyear,theteststookplaceinSeptember2021. Openall Register September 2022admissionsRegistrationfortheKentTestforchildrenduetostartsecondaryschoolinSeptember2022isnowclosed.Registrationwasopenbetween1Juneandmidnighton1July2021.Weareunabletoacceptanylateregistrations.Ifyouhavemissedthedeadlinebutstillwantyourchildtoattendagrammarschoolyoucanfollowthesesteps:nameaKentgrammarschool(s)onyoursecondaryapplicationform,whichyouwillmaketoyourlocalauthority(whoyoupayyourcounciltaxto)inautumn.ThisgivesyoutherightofappealinMarch2022andthegrammarschoolwillarrangeforyourchildtobetestedbeforethehearing.applydirectlytogrammarschoolsafter26April2022andtheycanarrangetestingatthisstage.ReadKentCountyCouncil'sadmissionsprivacynotice.MovingtoKentIfyoumovetoKentaftertheKentTesthasbeentakenplace,orifyourchildhasnotbeentestedandyouwanttomovethemfromtheircurrentsecondaryschooltoagrammarschool,pleasereadourinformationaboutmovingtoadifferentschool.WhocantaketheKentTestYourchildmusthavebeenbornbetween1September2010and31August2011totakethe2021KentTest.Ifyourchildisoutsidethisagerangebutstillneedstoapplypleaseemailkentonlineadmissions@kent.gov.uk.IfyouliveoutsideKentMostyears,manychildrenwholiveoutsideKentregistertotakethetestbutdonotturnupontheday.Otherstakethetest,butdonotapplyforKentschools.Withrestrictionsinplacetolimitvirustransmissionitwillbeparticularlydifficulttoarrangetestingforthousandsofvisitors.PleaseonlyregisterifyourchildneedstotakepartintheKentTestbecauseyouintendtoapply.ThetestisonlyvalidforKentgrammarschools.MedwayCouncilhasitsownMedwayTestandLondonBoroughofBexleyhasitsownBexleyselectiontest.Manychildrenwillfindthetestdifficult.GrammarschoolsinKentprovideforchildreninaboutthetop25%oftheabilityrange.Inaddition,someofKent’sgrammarschools  -particularlythosewhicharemostlikelytoofferplacestochildrenfromoutsideKent-giveprioritytothosewiththehighestscores.Youmaywanttodiscussyourchild’sacademicachievementwiththeirprimaryschoolbeforeyoudecidewhethertoregisterthemfortheKentTest.PassingtheKentTestdoesnotguaranteeyourchildaplaceinaKentgrammarschool.MakesureyouknowwheretheKentgrammarschoolsare,andwhattheadmissionscriteriaarefortheschool(s)youareinterestedin.YoucansearchforKentgrammarschoolswithourKentSchoolssearch.Schooladmissionsareco-ordinatedbetweenlocalauthorities.Evenifyourchildqualifiesforadmissiontoagrammarschoolinmorethanonearea,allyourpreferredschoolsmustbelistedonyourhomelocalauthority’sapplicationform,andyouwillnotbeofferedmorethanoneschoolplace.Independentschoolshavetheirownadmissionsprocesses.IfyourchildhasSENDIfyourchildhasspecialeducationalneedsoradisabilitythatmayaffectthewaytheyaccessthetest,youneedtodiscussthiswithyourcurrentschool'sspecialeducationalneedscoordinator(SENCO)assoonaspossible.Anyproposalforalternativeaccessrequirementsmustmadebytheschoolby12July2021.WhenyouregisteryourchildfortheKentTestonline,youwillneedtoconfirmifyouhavediscussedarequestforaccessarrangementswithyourchild’sschool. Testdates TheKentTesttookplaceon:9September2021forchildrenwhogotoschoolinKenttheweekendof11September2021forchildrenwhogotoschooloutsideKent. Testpaper Thetestsaremultiple-choicewithaseparateanswersheet.Theyaremarkedbyanautomatedmarkingmachine.ThefirsttestwillbeanEnglishandmathspaperandwilltake1hour.Eachsectionwillinvolvea5minutepracticeexercisefollowedbya25minutetest.TheEnglishsectionwillinvolveacomprehensionexerciseaswellassomeadditionalquestionsdrawnfromasetdesignedtotestliteracyskills.Thesecondtestwillbeareasoningpaper.Itwilltakeabout1hour,includingthepracticesectionsandquestions.Itwillcontainaverbalreasoningsectionandanon-verbalreasoningsectionofroughlythesamelength.Thenon-verbalreasoningwillbesplitintoshortsections,administeredandtimedindividually.Therewillalsobeawritingexercisewhichwillnotbemarkedbutmaybeusedbyalocalheadteacherpanelaspartoftheheadteacherassessmentstageoftheprocess.40minuteswillbeallowedforthewritingtask,including10minutesplanningtime.FamiliarisationpaperThisdocumentexplainstheKentTestpapersforchildrenwhowilltakethem,andpartsofitwillnotbefullyaccessibletousersofsomeassistivetechnologies.Anychildwithaseverevisualimpairmentwhocannotaccesstestpaperscaninsteadbeassessedbyahead-teacherpanel,whichwilllookattheirclassworkandacademicachievement.Ifyouneedtoknowmoreaboutthecontentofourfamiliarisationpaperorhowweassessstudentswithvisualimpairments,pleaseemailkent.admissions@kent.gov.uk.KentTestfamiliarisationpaper(PDF,2.6MB)Youcanrequestanalternativeformatofthisdocument.Viewarangeoffreefamiliarisationmaterial. Resultsday RegisteredonlineIfyouregisteredonline,wewillemailyourchild’sKentTestresulttoyouafter4pmon21October2021(thedeliverytimewilldependonyouremailserviceprovider).DidnotregisteronlineIfyoudidnotregisteronlineandwedonothaveavalidemailaddressforyou,theKentTestresultcanonlybesentbyletter.Ifpossible,wewillpostyourchild’sresulttoyouonresultsdaybyfirstclasspost.Youcanaskyourchild’sprimaryschoolfortheirtestscoresthedayafterresultsgoout. Whatyourscoremeans Yourchild'sscoreYourchildwillget3standardisedscores,oneforEnglish,oneformathsandoneforreasoning,andatotal(aggregate)score.Standardisationisastatisticalprocesswhichcomparesyourchild'sperformancewiththeaverageperformanceofotherchildrenineachtest.Aslightadjustmentismadetotakeaccountofeachchild'sagesothattheyoungestarenotatadisadvantage.Thegrammarschoolthresholdforthe2021testswillnotbepublisheduntiltheresultshavebeensentout.Grammarschoolthreshold2021Tobegivenagrammarschoolassessment,childrenneededatotalscoreof332ormore,withnosinglescorelowerthan109.Testscoresrangefrom69to141.Thehighestpossibletotalscoreis423.IfyourchilddidnotreachthethresholdscoreandtheirprimaryschoolreferredtheircasetothelocalHeadTeacherAssessmentPanel,thepanelwillhavelookedattheirachievementinschoolandexamplesoftheirwork,includingthewritingtaskcompletedontheday,beforeafinaldecisionwasmade.KentTestscoresreport2021Inresponsetofreedomofinformation(FOI)requests,wehaveproducedareportwhichshowsthenumberofchildrenwhoscoredeachtotalscore.Thetabsinthereportshowgrammarschoolandhighschoolassessedpupils.WherechildrenhavebeenassessedsuitableforgrammarschoolviatheirlocalHeadTeacherAssessmentPanel,theirscoremaybebelowthe332totalscorethreshold.Childrenmayalsoscorehigherthan332,butstillbeassessedassuitableforhighschoolincaseswhereoneormoreoftheirindividualscoreswerebelow109.2021KentTestscoresreport(XLSX,47.3KB)PreviousreportsPreviousreportshaveprovideddetailssuchas:showingscoresbyKentdistrictwhetherthechildwastaughtinanindependentornon-KentmainstreamschoolFollowingguidancefromtheInformationCommissioner’sOffice(ICO),from2019wewillnolongerpublishKentTestresultsforanysub-categorycontaining5orfewerchildren.Thisisduetothelargenumberofredactionsitwouldneed,thiseffectivelypreventsthepublicationofmeaningfuldistrictbreakdowns,andwillrestrictdifferentiationbetweenschools.From2019onwards,resultreportswillshowthedifferencesbetweenchildreninaKentCountyCouncilmainstreamschoolandallotherchildren.AnydirectFOIrequestsformoredetailedbreakdownsofthetestresultswillbedeclinedinlinewiththeICO’sadvice.Aspreviousreportsarealreadyinthepublicdomain,theywillremainavailable.2020KentTestscoresreport(XLSX,50.3KB)2019KentTestscoresreport(XLSX,24.9KB)2018KentTestscoresreport(XLSX,80.8KB)2017KentTestscoresreport(XLSX,89.5KB)2016KentTestscoresreport(XLSX,82.2KB)2015KentTestscoresreport(XLS,144.5KB) Applyforgrammarschool Applicationsforthesecondaryschoolintakeof2022openinSeptember2021.ThisyearKentparentswillbeabletonameupto4secondaryschoolpreferences.Ifyourchildisassessedassuitableforgrammarschool,anyKentgrammarschoolyouapplyforwillconsideryourapplication,butthisdoesnotguaranteeyourchildwillbeofferedaplace. Ifmorechildrenqualifyforplacesthanithasspacefor,theschoolmustuseitsadmissionscriteriatodecidewhichchildrentoofferplacesto. Ifyourchildisnotofferedaplaceatagrammarschoolbecauseitisfullyoucanputtheirnameontheschool'sschool'swaitinglist.Youcanalsoappealtoexplainwhyyouthinktheschoolshouldadmityourchildeventhoughitisfull.IfyourchildwasnottestedorwasnotassessedassuitableforaKentgrammarschool,youcanstillapplyforaKentgrammarschoolbutyourapplicationwillbeturneddown.Youwillthenhavetherighttoappealtoexplainwhyyouthinkgrammarschoolisasuitableoptionforyourchild.Formoreinformationreadourguidetosecondaryschoolapplications(PDF,897.3KB).