Barton Court Grammar School vs Highsted Grammar School

Side by side

	Barton Court Grammar School	Highsted Grammar School
Phase	Secondary	Secondary
Gender	Mixed	Girls
Pupils on roll	995	793
Free school meals	12.5%	12.5%
Ofsted rating	Good	Good
Attainment 8 — 2025/26	66.1	61.9
11+ test board	GL Assessment	GL Assessment
Admission system	pass/fail then criteria order (score doesn't give priority after passing)	pass/fail then criteria order (score doesn't give priority after passing)
Places offered — 202627	125	109
First preferences per place — higher means more competition for a first-preference place	1.16	1.28

Qualifying scores

Barton Court Grammar School

332 out of 423 (2026 entry)

Aggregate ≥332 with no single paper below 108. County-wide Kent Test threshold: reaching it earns a 'suitable for grammar school' assessment, NOT a place — each school then applies its own oversubscription criteria, and super-selective schools (The Judd School, Skinners', Tonbridge, Dartford) fill in score order well above the threshold.

Council source ↗

Highsted Grammar School

332 out of 423 (2026 entry)

Aggregate ≥332 with no single paper below 108. County-wide Kent Test threshold: reaching it earns a 'suitable for grammar school' assessment, NOT a place — each school then applies its own oversubscription criteria, and super-selective schools (The Judd School, Skinners', Tonbridge, Dartford) fill in score order well above the threshold.

Council source ↗

Who gets priority

Where a school is oversubscribed, these are the first criteria applied, in order. This is usually what decides an application.

Barton Court Grammar School

Looked after and previously looked after children
Children receiving the Pupil Premium (targeted free school meals)
A brother or sister at the school when the child starts
Health and special access reasons
Nearness of home to the school (straight line)

Source: school admissions policy.

Highsted Grammar School

Looked after and previously looked after children
Pupil Premium girls living in ME9, ME10, ME11 or ME12
A sister at the school at the time of entry
Nearness of home to the school (straight line)

Source: school admissions policy.

Choosing between them

Barton Court Grammar School is a mixed school and Highsted Grammar School is a girls school, so for many families the starting point is which one can admit their child. The figures on this page are the published ones — they describe intakes and results, not what either school would be like for your child. The right choice depends on your family's own priorities and circumstances.

Other Kent comparisons

All grammar school comparisons →