Chatham Grammar School for Girls 11+ Preparation

Chatham Grammar School for Girls is a state selective grammar school on Rainham Road, Chatham, one of six Medway grammar schools selecting through the Medway Test. Entry to Year 7 is decided by the Medway Test, sat in September of Year 6, with a Published Admission Number of 150 places. The school is now in the middle of a significant change: following Department for Education approval, it admitted its first boys into Year 7 in September 2026, ending its history as a girls-only school. The cohort applying for September 2027 entry has now registered for and sat the Medway Test, with results due on 14 October 2026 — this will be the school's second co-educational Year 7 cohort. Families targeting a place, whether for a daughter or a son, need to prepare thoroughly for the Medway Test's three papers, ideally starting in Year 4 or Year 5, and to understand exactly how the school's admissions criteria and qualifying score work during this transition.

What Are the Key Facts and Dates for Chatham Grammar 11+ Entry 2027?

The table below sets out the essential facts about Chatham Grammar School for Girls and the confirmed key dates for September 2027 admissions, based on information published by the school and Medway Council.

Registration for the Medway Test is completed online via the Medway Council admissions portal, and is entirely separate from the Common Application Form for a secondary school place, which is submitted to your home local authority. Registration for September 2027 entry closed on 12 June 2026; Medway Council states that a child cannot register or sit the Medway Test after the closing date, so families who missed the window needed to apply for a secondary school place without a Medway Test result. Because Chatham Grammar sits within the Medway testing area but also accepts the Kent Test from Kent-resident families, households living near the Kent/Medway boundary should check with the school's admissions team (admissionscg@ukat.org) which test applies to their address before registering.

What Does the Medway Test Involve?

The Medway Test is written for Medway Council by GL Assessment, its test provider, and is used by all six Medway grammar schools, including Chatham Grammar. The test comprises three separate papers, each targeting a distinct skill area.

Each paper produces a raw score, which is standardised for the child's exact age at the time of testing so that summer-born children are not disadvantaged relative to autumn-born classmates. The standardised scores are then combined using the weighting above — English doubled, mathematics doubled, reasoning counted once — to produce a total weighted score. This total weighted score is what determines whether a child is assessed as "eligible for grammar school," and it is the figure that ultimately decides whether a child clears the Chatham Grammar admissions bar.

There is no official past-paper bank published by Medway Council, though the council does publish a familiarisation booklet showing the test's format, so structured, format-matched practice matters more than relying on generic 11+ workbooks alone. Preparation should therefore lean on high-quality practice materials that mirror the English, mathematics and reasoning balance of the real test, rather than generic 11+ workbooks that assume a different paper structure.

How Competitive Is Entry to Chatham Grammar School for Girls?

Because there is no fixed pass mark published in advance, the qualifying threshold for Chatham Grammar and the other Medway grammar schools is set retrospectively each year, calibrated to identify approximately the top 25-26% of the Medway Year 6 cohort as "grammar-suitable." Medway Council's own published figures show how this threshold has moved in recent years: the minimum qualifying score was 492 for September 2024 entry, fell to 482 for September 2025 entry, and fell again to 481 for September 2026 entry. The council has explained the movement partly as a deliberate widening of the eligible band — from roughly 23% of the cohort a few years ago to around 25-26% today — rather than the test itself becoming easier. The exact threshold for September 2027 entry will not be published until results are released in October 2026, but the recent downward drift suggests families should plan around a similar range in the high 470s to low 490s rather than assuming a fixed historical figure still applies.

It is important to understand that clearing the qualifying score makes a child "eligible" for a grammar place — it does not by itself guarantee a place at Chatham Grammar specifically. Where eligible applications for Chatham Grammar exceed the 150 available places, the school's determined admissions arrangements for September 2027 entry rank applicants in a fixed order: looked-after and previously looked-after children first, then children with a sibling already attending Chatham Grammar, then children of staff employed at the school for one year or more, and finally all other eligible children ranked by distance from home to school using Medway Council's shortest safe walking route measurement, with a random draw as the final tiebreaker for the last available place. Families should read the school's published determined admissions policy in full, since sibling and distance criteria — not the raw test score — decide who actually receives an offer once the eligibility bar has been cleared.

How Should I Prepare My Daughter or Son for the Chatham Grammar 11+?

Effective preparation for the Medway Test requires structured, progressive work across all three papers, built up over at least a year rather than a short burst immediately before the September test window. Because English carries double weighting alongside mathematics, families sometimes under-prepare it relative to reasoning — a mistake that can cost more marks overall than a weaker reasoning paper, given the weighting formula.

Year 4 (Optional Early Start): Build genuine reading stamina and vocabulary through wide fiction and non-fiction reading — this underpins both the English paper and the verbal reasoning component. Strengthen core arithmetic fluency through games and mental maths rather than formal practice. Light, low-pressure exposure to non-verbal reasoning puzzle books is useful, but timed practice is not appropriate yet.

Year 5, September (Structured Preparation): Begin systematic work across all three Medway Test papers. Prioritise comprehension technique and creative writing structure for the English paper, since it is double-weighted. Build maths fluency in ratio, fractions, decimals and geometry beyond the standard KS2 pace. Introduce verbal and non-verbal reasoning with worked explanations so your child understands why an answer is correct, rather than pattern-matching without comprehension.

Year 5, January onward: Increase session frequency and begin timed section practice across all three papers. Track performance by paper, not just overall score, given the weighting formula — a strong reasoning score cannot fully compensate for a weak English score once doubling is applied. Start using exam-standard practice materials rather than only familiarisation-level questions.

Year 6, September–June: Run full timed mock tests under exam conditions at least monthly, replicating the English, maths and reasoning paper sequence. Medway Test registration for September 2027 entry closed on 12 June 2026, with no late registration accepted — families preparing for a later entry year should watch for Medway Council's next registration window a year ahead of their child's Year 6 September test. Continue targeted work on remaining weak areas identified through mock results, rather than broad, unfocused revision.

Summer before the test: Maintain two to three light sessions per week over the summer holidays to keep skills sharp without burning your child out. The test window falls in mid-September, only days into Year 6, so children need to be exam-ready before the school year even begins.

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What Does the Move to Co-Education Mean for Applicants?

Chatham Grammar's shift to co-education is one of the most significant changes to hit the Medway grammar system in decades, and it is directly relevant to any family applying for September 2027 entry. In November 2024, the Department for Education approved proposals from three Medway grammar schools to change their admissions gender: Chatham Grammar (previously girls-only) and Fort Pitt Grammar School (previously girls-only) began admitting boys into Year 7 from September 2026, while Holcombe Grammar School (previously boys-only) began admitting girls at the same time.

For the September 2027 Year 7 intake — the cohort that has now sat the Medway Test in autumn 2026, with results due on 14 October 2026 — this means Chatham Grammar is running its second co-educational admissions round. Pupils already in Years 8 to 11 remain girls, while the sixth form has long been mixed; co-education reached Year 7 with the September 2026 intake. Families should not assume Chatham Grammar remains a girls-only option; it is worth confirming directly with the school's admissions team if there is any uncertainty about eligibility for a son as well as a daughter.

What Is Chatham Grammar School for Girls Like as a School?

Chatham Grammar has a long history in Medway as a state-funded, selective grammar school under the eleven-plus system. The school converted to academy status on 1 September 2011 and is now part of the University of Kent Academies Trust, sponsored by the University of Kent. It had around 950 pupils in the 2024/25 school census, against a site capacity of 976.

Ofsted's most recent full inspection took place in October 2023, with the report published in December 2023, and rated Chatham Grammar 'Good' overall. Across three full inspections since its 2011 academy conversion — in 2012, 2018 and 2023 — Ofsted has consistently rated the school 'Good.'

Academically, Chatham Grammar's 2025 GCSE results showed an Attainment 8 score of 61.8, against an England state-school average of 46.1, with 75.5% of pupils achieving grade 5 or above in both English and maths.

Beyond the classroom, Chatham Grammar runs an active programme of music, drama and sport. See also our guides to Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School for families also considering Kent grammar options, our Kent 11+ borough guide for the wider regional picture, and our general 11+ Tuition page for an overview of how we support families across all selective schools.

Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 59 reviews, read on 3 October 2026, and 91% of our students achieve their desired grades.

Reviewed September 2026: dates, figures and rules checked against Medway Council's Medway Test pages, Chatham Grammar's own admissions page, and DfE's Get Information about Schools, Ofsted and Compare School and College Performance records.

Frequently Asked Questions

For the school's own published admissions arrangements, timetable and contact details, see Chatham Grammar's official Year 7 admissions page for September 2027 entry. Families comparing Medway options against neighbouring Kent grammar schools may also find our wider 11+ School Guides hub useful for cross-referencing test formats and dates.