Tonbridge Grammar School 11+ Preparation

Tonbridge Grammar School is a selective girls' grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, with academy status, admitting girls aged 11 to 16 and both girls and boys into its Sixth Form. Entry is decided by the Kent Test, organised and administered by Kent County Council - the school sets no test of its own. Its Published Admission Number for September 2027 is 180; in 2026 its cut-off reached 378 on the Area list, above the countywide qualifying score of 332.

What Does the Kent Test Involve?

The Kent Test is made up of two papers, not three separate subject tests. The first combines English and maths in a single one-hour sitting, split into two 30-minute sections, each opening with a five-minute practice exercise followed by a 25-minute test; the English section includes a comprehension exercise plus further questions testing literacy skills. The second is a reasoning paper of about one hour, containing a verbal reasoning section and a non-verbal reasoning section of roughly equal length, with the non-verbal content split into short, individually timed sections. Every paper is multiple-choice with a separate answer sheet, and every paper is marked by computer - Tonbridge Grammar School does not set or mark any part of the Kent Test itself; it is organised and administered by Kent County Council (KCC), and applicants register for and sit it in order to be considered for a place.

Children also complete a writing exercise, 40 minutes including 10 minutes of planning time. It is not marked, but a local headteacher panel may use it as part of a separate headteacher assessment stage for borderline cases. Any child with a severe visual impairment who cannot access the test papers is instead assessed by a headteacher panel on their classwork and academic achievement.

For the cycle governing September 2027 entry, Kent County Council's registration window ran from Monday 1 June 2026 to Wednesday 1 July 2026. The test itself was sat on Thursday 10 September 2026 by children at a Kent primary school, and over the weekend of 12 and 13 September 2026 by children at a primary school outside Kent. Results are due by email or first-class post on Thursday 15 October 2026.

To be given a grammar school assessment for the cycle already completed (September 2026 entry), children needed a total score of 332 or more, with no single score below 108, out of a maximum possible 423; Kent's grammar schools as a whole admit children in about the top 25% of the ability range. The threshold governing September 2027 entry - the cycle Tonbridge Grammar School applicants are now in - is not yet published; KCC has said it will be available in October 2026. For a fuller breakdown of the reasoning and English papers, see our Kent 11+ format guide.

How Selective Is Tonbridge Grammar School?

Tonbridge Grammar School is a selective girls' grammar school with academy status in Tonbridge, Kent, educating girls aged 11 to 16 and admitting both girls and boys into a co-educational Sixth Form. As a state-funded school inside Kent's grammar system, admission runs through the Kent Test and the Secondary Common Application Form rather than a fee-paying entrance process. It should not be confused with the separate, independent Tonbridge School nearby, a boys' day and boarding school charging termly fees of £16,069 (day) to £21,417 (boarding) for 2026-2027 - a school that, confusingly, appears in some of the same search results as Tonbridge Grammar School.

For 2027 entry (September intake), Tonbridge Grammar School's Published Admission Number is 180, offered across three separate lists set out in its own Admission Policy 2027-28: 135 Area places for girls whose family home and council tax fall within Tonbridge & Malling Borough, Tunbridge Wells Borough or Sevenoaks District; 30 Trustee places for girls living outside those three areas; and 15 Pupil Premium places for eligible girls whose score falls below the Area list's cut-off. Area and Trustee places are ranked first by a girl's combined score in the Kent Test, with home-to-school distance - measured in a straight line from the National Land and Property Gazetteer address point - used only as a tie-break, and a supervised random draw as a final tie-break. Pupil Premium places are ranked by distance alone.

Tonbridge Grammar School does not set a pre-determined pass mark of its own. Its cut-off is simply the score achieved by the lowest-ranked girl still offered a place once KCC has matched every applicant's preferences against every school's places - so it moves from year to year, and only becomes clear shortly before National Offer Day. The school's own Guidance for Parents publishes exactly what that cut-off has been, list by list, for every year back to 2022:

Every one of those figures sits above 332, the most recently published Kent Test qualifying score (the threshold for September 2026 entry; Kent County Council publishes a new threshold each October), because passing the Kent Test only makes a girl eligible for an offer - it does not rank her against Tonbridge Grammar School's other applicants. The same pattern holds at other oversubscribed West Kent grammar schools: Weald of Kent Grammar School, a short distance away, runs its own separate assessment alongside the Kent Test and sets its own Published Admission Number and catchment. Families comparing schools across the county may also find our Kent 11+ tuition overview useful for the wider picture.

A waiting list is kept for each of the three lists, re-ranked every time a name is added, and runs until 31 December 2027. Families not offered a place have a statutory right of appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel, which hears cases online and gives weight to academic letters from headteachers, teachers or tutors and to CAT or NFER test reports - examples of a child's schoolwork are not accepted as evidence, and the panel does not assess a child directly. For a secondary transfer appeal, the hearing takes place at least two months after the refusal letter; the specific timetable for the round covering September 2027 entry had not been published at the time of writing and was due on the school's website before 28 February 2027.

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What Are the Most Common Weaknesses Before the Test?

In our experience preparing children for the Kent Test, the same gaps appear repeatedly. Addressing these early gives children the best chance of performing at the level Tonbridge Grammar School requires:

• Vocabulary: Many children have a narrower reading vocabulary than the English paper demands. Daily reading of challenging, varied texts — including non-fiction — builds the word knowledge needed for comprehension and verbal reasoning.
• Non-verbal reasoning: This is often the least-practised area because it is not taught in school. Children need repeated exposure to the question types before they become fluent.
• Speed and accuracy together: Children often trade one for the other. Timed practice that rewards both is essential.
• Mental arithmetic: The maths paper does not allow calculators, and slow calculation eats into time. Regular mental maths practice — including times tables, fractions, and percentages — is non-negotiable.
• Exam stamina: Sitting multiple papers in sequence is tiring. Children need practice sustaining concentration across a full test session.

What Does a Month-by-Month Preparation Plan Look Like?

Year 5, January to July: This is the foundation phase. Focus on building core skills - reading widely, securing times tables, and introducing verbal and non-verbal reasoning question types for the first time. Regular, structured sessions of 30 to 45 minutes two or three times a week establish good habits and identify gaps early; there is no need for full timed papers yet.

Our 11+ specialists work with Tonbridge Grammar applicants on Kent Test-style papers, building the verbal and non-verbal reasoning, maths and English skills the school's own ranking rewards. Leading Tuition's students have achieved a 95%+ offer rate across selective school entry.

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.

Summer holiday before Year 6, July to August: Because the Kent Test is sat in the first two weeks of the September term - not spread across Year 6 - this is the last extended block of preparation time before the exam itself. Move to full practice papers under timed conditions, simulate sitting the English-and-maths paper and the reasoning paper back to back, and review every error to understand why an answer was wrong rather than simply moving on.

Early September of Year 6: The test itself falls on 10 September 2026 for children at a Kent primary school, or the weekend of 12-13 September 2026 for children at a primary school outside Kent. Keep the final week light: a few short, confidence-building sessions rather than new content, so a child arrives well-rested rather than exhausted.

After the test, through to National Offer Day: Results are released on 15 October 2026, but National Offer Day itself does not fall until 1 March 2027, so there is a long wait between the two. This period is a natural point to keep core English and maths skills ticking over for the transition to Year 7, and - if a result later proves borderline for Tonbridge Grammar School - to start gathering the kind of academic evidence, such as teacher letters or CAT/NFER reports, that an Independent Appeal Panel gives weight to.

How Does Leading Tuition Help with Tonbridge Grammar School Preparation?

Leading Tuition provides 1-to-1 specialist tutoring for children preparing for the Kent Test and entry to Tonbridge Grammar School. Our tutors understand the specific demands of this exam and the academic level required by one of West Kent's most competitive grammar schools. Every child we work with receives a tailored programme — not a generic 11+ course — built around their individual strengths, gaps, and timeline.

Working one-to-one means a tutor can identify exactly where a child is losing marks and address those areas directly, rather than spending time on skills the child has already mastered. For a test as specific and demanding as the Kent Test, that precision matters. We work with families across Tonbridge and the surrounding area, and we are experienced in supporting children through every stage of preparation, from initial assessment through to the exam itself.

For official entry requirements and registration details, see the Tonbridge Grammar School admissions.

Reviewed September 2026: Kent Test dates, results and qualifying threshold checked against Kent County Council; Tonbridge Grammar School's Published Admission Number, oversubscription criteria, historical cut-off scores and appeals route checked against the school's own Admission Policy 2027-28, Guidance for Parents and Appeals page.

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