Kent 11+ Results: This Year’s Pass Mark Is 345.
Your Child’s School Isn’t Decided Yet.

Kent Test results are emailed this afternoon. Kent County Council has already published this year’s grammar school threshold, and it’s higher than in 2024: a total of 345, with no single score below 111. Whatever the email says, it decides one thing: whether your child is assessed suitable for grammar school. It doesn’t decide which school they’ll go to. That’s still in your hands until Monday 2 November.

Before you open the email

• Read it yourself first. Results go to the email address you used when you registered. If you registered without an email address, the result comes by first-class post, and your child’s primary school can give you the scores the day after results go out.
• Then decide what your child needs to hear. A ten-year-old doesn’t need the numbers before you’ve had time to think. What they need to hear is that you’re proud of how hard they worked, whatever the outcome.
• Know that this is the final decision on the test. If your child’s score was borderline, the Headteacher Assessment has already happened, confidentially, before results were released. The result in the email includes it, and the Kent Test result itself can’t be appealed.

What the result tells you

Your child gets three standardised scores, one each for English, maths and reasoning, plus a total. Scores are adjusted for age, so the youngest children in the year aren’t at a disadvantage. You’ll also see a decision: assessed suitable for grammar school, or not.

This year, a child needed a total of 345 or more with no single score below 111. A child can be assessed suitable below that if the headteacher panel found in their favour. And a child with a high total can still miss out if one score fell below 111.

If your child is assessed suitable

Well done to them. Three things to do before 2 November:

• Remember that “suitable” isn’t a place. It means a Kent grammar school will consider your application. Grammar schools are often oversubscribed, and each one ranks applicants using its own admissions criteria, often distance from the school. Read the criteria for every school you’re considering.
• Name up to four schools, in your real order of preference. Kent considers every preference equally, so putting your true first choice first doesn’t count against you anywhere else.
• Include a non-selective school you’d be happy with. An application listing only grammar schools, from a child who passed but lives too far away, is how families end up being offered a school they never chose.

If your child isn’t assessed suitable

This is a judgement about one test, on one morning in September. It isn’t a judgement about your child. And this year the bar was higher: some children whose totals would have met the 2024 threshold won’t have met this year’s.

• You can still name a grammar school. Kent County Council says you can still apply for a grammar school. Your application to that school will be refused on 1 March 2027, and you then have the right to appeal. Naming it on your application keeps that route open, and your other preferences are still considered.
• If you’re thinking of appealing, start gathering evidence now. An appeal is your chance to show an independent panel why grammar school is a suitable option for your child. Useful evidence might include school reports, your child’s teacher’s view, other assessments, and anything that affected them on the day. Appeals for schools named on your application must be lodged by Tuesday 13 April 2027.
• Check for other routes. Some schools run their own tests as an alternative to the Kent Test. Weald of Kent Grammar School has its own assessment, and Dover Grammar School for Girls accepts the Dover Test. If your child sat one of these, that result counts separately for that school.
• Look at your local high schools with an open mind. Your child’s next five years matter more than one test score.

The date that matters now: Monday 2 November

Kent County Council’s closing date for secondary school applications is Monday 2 November 2026. You may see 31 October quoted, but that’s the national date, and this year it falls on a Saturday. If you live outside Kent, you apply through your own council by its deadline, even for a Kent grammar school. See every date from now to appeals →

If your child is in Year 5

This year’s threshold is a reminder that the bar can move. The Kent Test is also getting a new test-setter for September 2027. So aim for secure skills in reading, maths and reasoning, not a target number. Read: The Kent 11+ Is Changing →

Frequently asked questions