Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School has its own admissions pattern, and the right preparation follows it. Because a place here is decided entirely by the Kent Test, the smartest plan is to shape practice around exactly how this school selects rather than around generic 11+ advice. This guide covers the test, the subjects it assesses, a realistic timeline and a free practice plan you can start today.
About Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School
Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School is a Thanet mixed grammar in Ramsgate, formed from the merger of the historic Chatham House (boys) and Clarendon House (girls) grammar schools. It carries a long local heritage while operating today as a single co-educational academy grammar, and selection is by the Kent Test. Thanet sits within Kent's county-wide selective system, so the school does not run its own separate entrance paper — it uses the same test as the rest of Kent's 32 state grammars.
- Location: Ramsgate, Kent
- Intake: Mixed (co-educational)
- Founded: 1888
- Type: Academy Grammar
- Admissions test: Kent Test (GL Assessment)
You can read the full school profile on Quest Arena, and always confirm this year's admissions policy, open events and deadlines on the school's own site at ccgrammarschool.co.uk. For a wider view of what else is available across the county, our grammar school directory lists every selective school and the test each one uses.
How selection works at Chatham & Clarendon Grammar School
Entry is by the Kent Test, produced by GL Assessment and sat in early September at the start of Year 6. The Kent Test is taken by tens of thousands of children each year and assesses three papers: an English paper, a Maths paper, and a Reasoning paper that combines verbal reasoning (VR) and non-verbal reasoning (NVR). These are GL-style papers — largely multiple-choice, answered on a separate sheet, and tightly timed at roughly a question a minute with no calculator.
Scores are age-standardised, which means every child's raw mark is adjusted for how old they are in months on the test date, so a summer-born child is not disadvantaged against an autumn-born classmate. Kent combines the standardised results into an aggregate and applies a threshold rule (children generally need a strong aggregate with no single paper falling too low) to be assessed as suitable for grammar school. A head-teacher assessment and appeal route exists for children who narrowly miss or who have a strong school case. We deliberately do not publish a specific pass mark here — the exact thresholds are set by Kent County Council each year and can shift, so treat the official Kent admissions guidance as the authority.
Because the Kent Test is a GL-format exam, our free GL Assessment practice papers mirror the answer-sheet layout and timing your child will meet on the day, and our centre-specific mocks let you rehearse the exact Kent combination of subjects.
What to practise for this test
The Kent Test rewards breadth across four skill areas, so spread practice evenly rather than over-drilling a favourite subject:
- English & comprehension: reading passages under time pressure, spelling, punctuation, grammar and a strong working vocabulary — the single best predictor of both comprehension and verbal-reasoning marks.
- Maths: the full KS2 arithmetic and problem-solving range up to about Year 5 level — fractions, percentages, ratio, measures, and quick, accurate mental calculation.
- Verbal reasoning: GL's named question types — codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter and number series. Each type has a method; drill until each is automatic.
- Non-verbal reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and spatial patterns — skills that fall outside the normal school curriculum, so most children meet them for the first time in practice.
Build the core with our free worksheet library, targeting whichever subject a first timed paper exposes as weakest, then convert that into exam stamina with full-length mock papers. Review every wrong answer more carefully than the score itself — understanding the mistake is what raises the next mark.
A realistic preparation timeline
Steady, early habits beat last-minute cramming. This build-up assumes a September Year 6 test:
- Year 4: daily reading for pleasure across fiction and non-fiction, and times tables to 12×12 until they are instant. No formal papers yet — the aim is a wide vocabulary and quick number sense.
- Year 5 autumn: introduce 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice using free worksheets, rotating through English, Maths, VR and NVR so all four grow together.
- Year 5 spring: keep building skills and note the Kent registration window (typically opens around late spring/early summer). Check our key dates page and the school's website, and never miss the county registration deadline.
- Year 5 summer into Year 6: move to one full timed mock paper a week, then in the final six weeks switch to Kent-format centre mocks so the test itself feels familiar.
Our free revision hub can help you sequence these weeks without over-loading your child.
On the day and after
By September, the goal is calm familiarity, not new learning. In the final days keep sessions short and confidence-building, protect sleep, and pack the practical essentials — HB pencils, an eraser, water and layers for a chilly hall. On the morning, a light routine and an early arrival reduce nerves far more than any last cramming session.
Remind your child of the exam-hall basics they have already practised: read each instruction, watch the timing of each section, answer the questions they find easy first, and mark the answer sheet cleanly in the right row. If a question is hard, move on and return to it — a blank is only worth guessing at the end. Afterwards, results usually arrive in October; whatever the outcome, praise the effort and note that Kent's head-teacher assessment and appeals process exists for borderline cases.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Kent Test GL or CEM?
The Kent Test is a GL Assessment exam, and has been since Kent moved away from CEM. CEM's paper 11+ was discontinued in 2023, so all current Kent grammars, including Chatham & Clarendon, use GL-format papers.
What subjects does Chatham & Clarendon test?
Three papers: English, Maths, and a Reasoning paper combining verbal and non-verbal reasoning. There is no separate creative-writing paper as in some other counties — the Kent Test is largely multiple-choice.
When is the test and can we appeal?
Children sit the Kent Test in early September at the start of Year 6, with results usually in October. Kent runs a head-teacher assessment and appeals route for children who narrowly miss the threshold — see the school and county guidance for the current process.