Highsted Grammar School
Girls grammar school in Sittingbourne, with a mixed sixth form.
| Places in Year 7 | 150 |
| How places are allocated | By distance |
| Own entrance test | Yes |
| Feesstate-funded, like every grammar school | None |
What score is needed?
The score does not decide it here. Once your child has qualified through the Kent Test — an aggregate of 332 across three standardised scores, with no single paper below the year’s minimum — a higher score gives no advantage at this school. What matters is the criteria above and how far you live away.
How hard is it to get a place?
In 2026, 139 families put Highsted Grammar School first, and 108 of them were offered a place there (78%).
That includes children who did not reach the qualifying score, so it reflects the test and the allocation together, not the allocation alone.
On National Offer Day 2026 it offered 109 places against an admission number of 150, and it has offered well under that number in each of the last three years. When a school has places left, a child who qualified and named it is offered one unless they get a school they ranked higher.
| Year | Places offered | Put it first | Offered a placeof those |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 130 | 159 | 11774% |
| 2025 | 111 | 143 | 10674% |
| 2026 | 109 | 139 | 10878% |
Source: Department for Education, applications and offers. Figures are for National Offer Day in March; places filled later from waiting lists are not included.
How you get a place
Once your child has qualified, the score stops mattering. Places go to qualified applicants by the school's criteria and then by how far you live away.
Does it run its own test?
Yes — the Highsted procedure. A computer-based reasoning test plus an English paper covering reading and writing.
This is an alternative route, not an extra hurdle. A child who did not qualify through the Kent Test can still qualify here — but you have to register separately, on its own deadline.
Does it charge fees?
Highsted Grammar School is a state grammar school, so there are no fees. Selective does not mean private. Admission is decided by the Kent Test and the school’s published criteria, never by what a family can pay.
Work out where a score lands
The Kent Test calculator turns marks into a standardised score you can compare against the figures above.
Other schools to look at
Same region, so the same test gets you into all of them. Which of these is a realistic alternative depends far more on how each one allocates places than on its reputation.
Source
Built from published admissions documents for 2027/28: admissions arrangements. Check the school’s own site before applying — arrangements change annually and deadlines are unforgiving.