If Dartford Grammar School is on your child's list, preparation should be shaped around how this school actually selects — not generic 11+ advice. Dartford is a Kent grammar, so entry to Year 7 is decided by one thing: the county-wide Kent Test. Get that test right and you have done the work that matters. This guide walks you through exactly what it assesses, when it happens, and how to build your child up to it, with free practice for every part of the process.
About Dartford Grammar School
Dartford Grammar is a boys' school with deep history — founded in 1576, and with Sir Mick Jagger among its famous old boys — and an unusually international outlook. The sixth form runs the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma rather than A-Levels, which shapes a language-rich, globally minded curriculum from Year 7 upwards. The main school is boys-only; the sixth form is mixed. That international character matters when you weigh whether the school fits your child: it rewards curious readers who enjoy languages and ideas, not just fast test-takers. Admission at 11+ is by the Kent Test alone — there is no separate school-set paper for Year 7 entry.
- Location: Dartford, Kent
- Intake: Boys (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1576
- Type: Foundation Grammar
- Admissions test: Kent Test (GL Assessment) — English, Maths and Reasoning
You can see the full school profile on Quest Arena, and Dartford sits alongside the other Kent grammars in our grammar school directory. Kent runs England's largest fully selective system — 32 state grammar schools — so competition for a place at a well-known school like Dartford is genuinely strong, which is exactly why a structured plan matters.
How selection works at Dartford Grammar School
Selection for Year 7 rests on the Kent Test, the county-wide qualifying assessment produced by GL Assessment and sat by almost all Kent children in early September of Year 6. You register in advance — usually during the spring or summer of Year 5 — and then your child sits the papers at their primary or a designated centre. The Kent Test is made up of multiple-choice papers covering three areas:
- English — comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar
- Maths — arithmetic and problem-solving drawn from the Key Stage 2 curriculum up to Year 5
- Reasoning — a combined paper of Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR)
GL papers are tightly timed (roughly a minute a question), calculator-free, and answered on a separate sheet. Scores are age-standardised — adjusted for a child's month of birth so that a younger, summer-born pupil is not disadvantaged against an older classmate who has had months longer to mature. In practice this means two children can score the same raw marks yet receive different standardised scores, with the younger child given a small uplift. Kent judges children against a county-wide standard rather than a fixed pass mark you can bank on, and the exact threshold moves year to year, so we will not quote a number your child must hit. Aim to be comfortably above average across all three papers rather than scraping one.
One more thing to keep separate in your head: qualifying on the Kent Test is the door, not the guarantee. Because Dartford is heavily oversubscribed, meeting the standard makes your child eligible, after which the school's published oversubscription criteria — such as distance and other priorities — decide who is offered a place. Always confirm the precise admissions rules, registration window and deadlines for the year on the official Dartford Grammar School website and the Kent County Council pages. Treat those, not this guide, as the final word.
What to practise for this test
Because the Kent Test is a GL assessment, the good news is that GL is the most learnable of the boards — its question types are published and stable, so systematic, type-by-type practice pays off directly. Build strength in each of the four skill areas:
- English & comprehension — reading unfamiliar passages under time, plus spelling and grammar accuracy. Wide reading is the single biggest driver of scores here.
- Maths — quick, confident arithmetic and multi-step word problems, all within the Year 5 curriculum ceiling.
- Verbal Reasoning — the roughly 21 named GL question types: letter codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter, and number series. Each rewards vocabulary and drilling.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning — series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and cube nets. These sit outside the national curriculum, so most children only meet them through 11+ practice.
Start with our GL Assessment practice papers — all free — and use the free worksheet library to strengthen whichever subject a first timed paper exposes as weakest. When your child can handle single question types, move to full timed mock papers, then finish on centre-specific mocks matched to the Kent format so the real hall feels familiar. If reasoning feels shaky, our revision hub breaks each VR and NVR type down with worked examples before you time it.
A realistic preparation timeline
You do not need to start early to start well — you need to build the right habits in the right order. Here is a sensible build-up with no invented dates; check the exact registration window on the school and Kent County Council sites via our key dates page.
| Stage | Focus |
|---|---|
| Year 4 into summer | Daily reading for pleasure; times tables to 12×12; no formal papers yet. |
| Year 5 autumn | Begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice with free worksheets; introduce VR and NVR gently. |
| Year 5 spring | Watch for the registration window (it typically opens in the spring/summer of Year 5 — confirm dates officially and register on time). |
| Year 5 summer | One full timed mock a week; review the errors far more carefully than the score. |
| Early Year 6 | Sit the Kent Test in early September; keep practice light and calm in the final fortnight. |
| Autumn Year 6 | Complete the secondary application (CAF) by the national deadline; await results and offers. |
The principle running through all of it: consistency beats cramming. Short daily sessions build the pace, vocabulary and composure that decide selective places at the margin. Missing one registration deadline can undo a year of good work, so put the official dates in your calendar the moment they are published — the test itself cannot be rescheduled around a family holiday.
On the day and after
By test day the practice is done — your job is to protect your child's calm.
- A proper night's sleep and a real breakfast matter more than any last-minute worksheet.
- Pack the essentials the night before: pencils, a rubber, water, and the letter or details the school or centre has provided.
- Teach one simple rule for timed papers: if a question is sticking, mark it, move on, and come back. Never let one hard question eat the time meant for five easy ones.
- Keep your own nerves off your child. "Just do your best and enjoy the puzzles" travels a lot further than "this really matters."
Afterwards, results and offer timelines are set by Kent County Council and the school, not by us — the 11+ process guide explains how qualifying, ranking and catchment fit together, and reassures you that a qualifying score is the door, not the guarantee. If Dartford does not work out, a child prepared this thoroughly is well placed for other strong Kent grammars too, and every hour of GL practice transfers directly.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dartford Grammar School GL or CEM?
The Kent Test is produced by GL Assessment, so Dartford's qualifying exam is GL-based. CEM's separate paper 11+ was discontinued around 2023, and Kent has long used GL. There is no separate school-set paper — the Kent Test is the assessment for Year 7 entry.
Does the Kent Test include verbal and non-verbal reasoning?
Yes. Alongside English and Maths, the Kent Test includes a reasoning paper combining Verbal Reasoning and Non-Verbal Reasoning, so your child should practise both. Our free GL papers and worksheets cover every named question type.
When does my child sit the test?
Kent pupils sit the Kent Test in early September of Year 6, but you must register in advance — usually during the spring or summer of Year 5. Always confirm the exact registration and test dates on the official school and council websites.