Dover Grammar School for Boys

Dover, CT17 0DQ · Kent · Grammar school

Ofsted: Not judged · 2025 ★ Selective Boys Secondary
OfstedNot judged
Pupils960
FSM21.0%
Progress 8+0.54
A-level avgC-
Qualifying score332.0 2026
Test boardConsortium: Kent Grammar School Consortium. No fixed score — rank-ordered; grammar schools take ~top 25% of ability range
AI summary of the Ofsted report Inspected 2025-03-05 · Tap to collapse

Generated by AI from the official inspection report — not written by Ofsted or SchoolsGPT staff. Always read the full Ofsted PDF before relying on this summary.

Overview: Pupils thrive at this ambitious, inclusive school, where they are motivated to learn and achieve highly. Behaviour in the school is exemplary, with strong relationships across the school and a welcoming environment for diversity. Pupils flourish, benefiting from a wide range of enrichment activities and opportunities for leadership.

Strengths:

  • Pupils are motivated to learn and achieve highly.
  • Behaviour in the school is exemplary, with strong relationships across the school.
  • Pupils flourish, benefiting from a wide range of enrichment activities and opportunities for leadership.
  • The school has designed an ambitious curriculum, with pupils studying a broad range of subjects in key stage 3 and the English Baccalaureate suite of subjects in key stage 4.
  • Teachers are experts in their subjects, planning thought-provoking and demanding activities that help pupils deepen their understanding and remember facts and ideas.

Areas to improve:

  • The curriculum sequencing in a few curriculum areas is not as advanced as it is in others, meaning that pupils do not always secure the knowledge and skills they need for later study, especially in the sixth form.
  • Published examination outcomes in the sixth form are not as strong as in key stage 4.

Safeguarding: The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Catchment / designated area

Children living in the school's designated area or linked primary school catchment

Source: LA admission policy PDF

Ofsted judgement breakdown (2025-01-21)

Overall effectiveness
No overall grade — Ofsted paused single-headline judgements from September 2024
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Outstanding
Personal development
Outstanding
Effectiveness of leadership and management
Good
Safeguarding is effective?
Yes
Sixth form provision (where applicable)
Good

Oversubscription criteria

  1. Looked after — Looked after children and previously looked after children
  2. Medical social — Children with exceptional medical/social needs, supported by professional evidence
  3. Catchment or linked — Children living in the school's designated area or linked primary school catchment
  4. Sibling — Siblings of children on roll at the school
  5. Other qualified — All other qualifying children — tiebreaker: distance (straight line, closest first)

What the entrance test covers

The Kent Test has two multiple-choice papers, each roughly an hour long: 1. English & Maths — split into two 30-minute sections: English (reading comprehension, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary) and Maths (Key Stage 2 curriculum up to the start of Year 6). 2. Reasoning — Verbal Reasoning (vocabulary, sequences, logic, analogies) and Non-Verbal/Spatial Reasoning (shapes, rotations, matrices, pattern recognition), combined into a single reasoning score. There is also an unmarked writing task (around 40 minutes including planning time). It isn't scored directly, but may be used by a local headteacher assessment panel for borderline cases. Note: the Kent Test is NOT the same as the Medway Test — Medway is a separate authority with its own different test (separate registration, different papers). Passing one does not qualify a child for the other area's schools (except Chatham Grammar, which accepts either).

University destinations

Oxbridge
1%
Russell Group
16%
Top-third university
20%
Any degree
80%

Of the 79-student 2019/20 leaver cohort, sustaining a higher-education destination the following year. This is the last cohort the Department for Education published with an Oxbridge/Russell Group breakdown — these categories were discontinued as official accountability measures after this release, so a more recent figure does not exist.

House prices nearby

Median price, Tower Hamlets ward (Year ending Mar 2023)
£200,500

Median price for the school's electoral ward, year ending March 2023 — a neighbourhood-level indicator, not the school's actual admissions catchment (catchments are often smaller than a ward or span parts of several).

Similar schools nearby

Same area, prioritising the same phase — useful for shortlisting alternatives.

Data sourced from GIAS, Ofsted and official Kent admissions publications. Figures can change year to year — always confirm with the school before applying.

Have a specific question about admissions, scores or dates?

Ask SchoolsGPT