Schools in Medway

Primary schools: 'Closeness of home' is the criterion for the ~20 schools Medway itself administers — but 88 of ~108 Medway schools are academies/voluntary-aided setting their own arrangements, so this covers a minority of schools. (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.

The Medway Test has three papers: 1. English — comprehension, punctuation and grammar (30 minutes). 2. Mathematics (50 minutes). 3. Reasoning — a combined paper with verbal, non-verbal and spatial reasoning components (about 45 minutes). Papers are multiple-choice and scores are age-standardised. There is no resit and no remarking of any Medway Test paper. Pass mark: there is no fixed pass mark. The aggregate score (maximum 700 — English and maths standardised scores double-weighted, plus reasoning) is compared to a threshold set fresh each year: the level that includes roughly the top 25% of Medway Year 6 children. The threshold is published with results in October; passing makes a child eligible, and each school's oversubscription criteria then apply. The Medway Test is completely separate from the Kent Test — a different test, different registration, different format (the Kent Test combines English & maths into one paper and includes an unmarked writing task). Chatham Grammar is the one Medway school that accepts either test.

Children living anywhere in the UK can register for the Medway Test — but a child living outside the UK cannot be tested. All children must sit the test at a Medway Council test venue in Medway: children at Medway primary schools test in school, while out-of-area children test at a council venue on a weekend date shortly after. Registration is short and strict — historically opening mid-May and closing mid-June of Year 5. There is no late registration, no resit, and no remarking. IMPORTANT — Medway is NOT Kent: Medway is a separate unitary authority with its own grammar schools and its own selection test. The Kent Test does not qualify a child for most Medway grammar schools (one exception: Chatham Grammar accepts either the Medway Test or the Kent Test). Families considering schools in both areas usually need to register for both tests separately. Apply for places via your home LA's Common Application Form by 31 October.