Schools in Bexley
88 open schools · Ofsted ratings, catchment areas and admission criteria · best primary schools · best secondary schools
Bexley has 84 state schools: 60 primary, 15 secondary, 1 all-through. Between them they teach around 42,918 pupils. 71 have enough published data for a score, averaging 5.9 out of 10, and 11 score 8 or above.
19 have a sixth form. 42 take children from age three or under. 19 have a religious character, which usually means the school sets its own admissions criteria rather than the council's. 4 are selective and set an entrance test. How the score works.
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Bexley covers several towns — jump straight to the schools in yours.
Undersubscribed schools rated Good or Outstanding
These schools didn't fill on first preference in the latest admissions year, despite an Ofsted rating of Good or Outstanding — worth a look if you're chasing the same handful of famous names everyone else applies to.
How places are allocated in Bexley
Primary schools: Explicit: 'There is no such thing as a catchment area in Bexley' — pure nearest-school distance, no set qualifying distance. (source)
Most schools use the local authority's default scheme rather than a school-specific catchment map — see each school's page for its own designated/catchment area where one is published.
Bexley entrance test format
One shared test for all four Bexley grammar schools, assessing three areas: 1. Verbal ability and English comprehension. 2. Numerical reasoning (maths-based). 3. Non-verbal reasoning. Multiple-choice, age-standardised. One sitting covers all four schools. Registration is unusually early — historically 1-31 March of Year 5 (most areas close in June), with the test in the first half of September of Year 6 (primary-school test centres first, grammar-school test centres a few days later). Missing the March window means missing the main round entirely, so families considering Bexley should diarise it well ahead.
Key dates
| Entry year | Event | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Sept 2028 | Application deadline | 2027-10-31 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary application deadline | 2028-01-15 |
| Sept 2028 | Offer day | 2028-03-01 |
| Sept 2028 | Primary offer day | 2028-04-17 |
| Sept 2027 | Registration opens | 2026-03-01 (passed) |
| Sept 2027 | Registration closes | 2026-03-31 (passed) |
| Sept 2027 | Test date | 2026-09-07 (passed) |
| Sept 2027 | Application deadline | 2026-10-31 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary application deadline | 2027-01-15 |
| Sept 2027 | Offer day | 2027-03-01 |
| Sept 2027 | Primary offer day | 2027-04-16 |
| Sept 2026 | Application deadline | 2025-10-31 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary application deadline | 2026-01-15 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Offer day | 2026-03-02 (passed) |
| Sept 2026 | Primary offer day | 2026-04-16 (passed) |
Out-of-area applications
Bexley's four grammar schools (Beths Grammar School, Bexley Grammar School, Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, Townley Grammar School) share the single Bexley Selection Test — one registration and one sitting covers all four, regardless of where you live. Registration is EARLY compared to most areas: historically the window is 1-31 March of Year 5 (closing at midnight on 31 March), with the test in early September of Year 6. Out-of-borough note: test results are not automatically shared with out-of-borough schools or LAs — parents are responsible for following the process communicated with their result. Apply via your home LA's Common Application Form by 31 October. Bexley grammar schools' oversubscription criteria include distance-based elements, so check each school's policy for how an out-of-borough address affects priority.
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