Borden Grammar School vs The Judd School

Both are grammar schools in Kent, 22.8 miles apart. Side-by-side on official DfE, Ofsted and council admissions data.

Side by side

	Borden Grammar School	The Judd School
Phase	Secondary	Secondary
Gender	Boys	Boys
Pupils on roll	938	1,541
Free school meals	10.7%	2.8%
Ofsted rating	Not published	Not judged
Attainment 8 — 2025/26	62.7	78.3
11+ test board	GL Assessment	GL Assessment
Admission system	pass/fail then criteria order (score doesn't give priority after passing)	qualifying score is the minimum; places then go in score order (distance only breaks ties)
Places offered — 202627	123	179
First preferences per place — higher means more competition for a first-preference place	1.12	2.23

Qualifying scores

Borden 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 ↗

The Judd School

389 (2026 entry)

Published. The Judd School uses inner/outer postcode areas. 2026 entry cut-off: Inner Area 389 / Outer Area 403. Mean score of those offered: 396.5. 180 places: 157 inner, 23 outer. Waiting list threshold (2 Mar 2026): Inner ~385 / Outer 403.

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.

Borden Grammar School

Looked after and previously looked after children
Up to 15% of places for boys in ME9, ME10, ME11 or ME12 eligible for free school meals during Years 3–6
A brother attending the school when the child starts
Health and special access reasons
Traditional school areas: ME9, ME10, ME11 and ME12 first, then ME8 and ME13, then everywhere else — nearest first within each

Source: school admissions policy.

The Judd School

Looked after and previously looked after children
Up to 5 Inner Area places for boys on free school meals, then the Pupil Premium
157 Inner Area places (TN1–4, TN8–15, ME18–19, parts of TN16 and DA4, and Halstead) — in order of Kent Test aggregate score
23 Outer Area places — in order of Kent Test aggregate score

Source: school admissions policy.

Choosing between them

Both schools admit boys, so the decision usually comes down to the admission criteria above and how far each one reaches. 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.

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