Rainham Mark Grammar School

Gillingham, ME8 7AJ · Medway grammar school

Ofsted: Good Mixed
Furthest distance offered (2025)
2.59 miles
Test board
Consortium: Medway Grammar Schools Consortium. No fixed qualifying score; grammar offer based on rank and available places

Ofsted judgement breakdown (2022-05-24)

Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
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
  3. Sibling — Siblings of children on roll at the school
  4. Catchment — Children living in Medway (LA area)
  5. Other qualified — All other qualifying children (outside Medway) — tiebreaker: distance

What the entrance test covers

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.

University destinations

Oxbridge
3%
Russell Group
21%
Top-third university
26%
Any degree
67%

Of the 156-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, Rainham North ward (Year ending Mar 2023)
£325,000

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).

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

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