More than 16,500 children who sat the Kent Test last month will find out this week whether they have been assessed a grammar school place.
Families who registered online for the test will be sent an email from Kent County Council after 4pm on Thursday, October 11 with their child’s assessment result.
The volume of emails sent out means some internet service providers may delay delivery to personal email accounts..
Families who registered online can also log in after 5pm on Thursday, October 11 and view their child’s results and test scores if they have retained their log-in and password details.
Letters will be sent to all 16,656 families on Thursday afternoon, to arrive from Friday.
Parents need to submit an application for their child’s secondary school by Wednesday, October 31 and can name up to four schools in order of preference.
Roger Gough, KCC’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, said: “We understand that this can be a stressful time for families and we try to make the process of deciding on the most appropriate secondary education for their children as straightforward as possible.
“Kent has a rich and diverse mix of schools, and parents should consider all options when choosing the schools they would like their child to attend, in priority order. It is also important that parents carefully consider how their child will get to school, before applying for a school place.
“We anticipate the 4,641 Kent children who have been assessed as being suitable for grammar school will, in most cases, enjoy priority for the 5,214 places available in the county over pupils from other authorities.
“Although many of the 3,065 pupils from outside Kent will name our schools among their choices, experience has shown that most of these children ultimately secure places in their own local authority area.”
Details of secondary schools in Kent and how to apply can be found here: https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/school-places/secondary-school-places#tab-2
KCC’s policy on home-to-school transport allows parents to see whether there is any help available for their child. Details can be found here: www.kent.gov.uk/schooltransport
If a child passed the Kent test, will they automatically be offered a grammar school?
No. A Kent grammar school assessment does not guarantee a child will be offered a Kent grammar school place. If more children apply for places than a school can accommodate the school will use its oversubscription criteria to decide which children it can take. Some children assessed suitable for grammar school may be offered places at all-ability schools if no local grammar school can offer them a place or if their parents name it as a higher preference.
When will families find out which school they have been allocated?
The national offer day is 1 March 2019. Families who registered online and provided a valid email address will be sent an email after 4pm on 1 March.
Families will also be sent a letter posted 1st Class on 1 March 2019, advising which school their child has been offered.
How is the Kent Test scored?
Children will get three standardised scores, 1 for English, 1 for Maths and 1 for Reasoning.
Standardisation is a statistical process which compares a child’s performance with the average performance of other children in each test. A slight adjustment is made to take into account each child’s age so that the youngest are not at a disadvantage.
This year’s score ranges will be published later this month.