If Highsted Grammar School is on your child's list, preparation should be shaped around how this school actually selects — not generic 11+ advice. Highsted admits by the Kent Test, so the smartest plan is to practise the exact subjects, question types and timing that the Kent Test uses, then rehearse them under real exam conditions until they feel routine. This guide sets out what the school is, how its entrance test works, what to practise, and a calm, realistic build-up you can start today for free.
About Highsted Grammar School
Highsted is the girls' grammar serving Sittingbourne and the surrounding Swale area of Kent, with selection by the Kent Test. Founded in 1904 and now an academy grammar, it draws families from across Sittingbourne, Faversham, Sheerness and the wider Swale district who are looking for a selective, academic secondary education for their daughters. Because places are allocated on Kent Test performance alongside the county's admissions criteria, a strong, well-prepared test result is the foundation of any application here.
- Location: Sittingbourne, Kent
- Intake: Girls
- Founded: 1904
- Type: Academy Grammar
- Admissions test: Kent Test (GL Assessment)
Always confirm this year's registration deadlines, catchment rules and open-day dates on the school's own site — that is the single authoritative source. Visit the official Highsted Grammar School website for admissions policy, and read our full school profile for a quick overview. You can also browse neighbouring selective schools in our grammar school directory.
How selection works at Highsted Grammar School
Highsted selects through the Kent Test, the county-wide 11+ assessment produced by GL Assessment and sat by children across Kent's 32 state grammar schools — England's largest fully-selective system. The Kent Test is taken in early September of Year 6, near the start of the autumn term, which means the real preparation happens across Year 5 and the summer holiday before.
The Kent Test is made up of two papers that together cover three areas:
- English and Maths paper — comprehension, spelling, punctuation and grammar, plus curriculum maths.
- Reasoning paper — verbal reasoning (VR) and non-verbal reasoning (NVR).
Questions are multiple-choice, answered on a separate sheet, tightly timed at roughly a minute each, with no calculator. Raw marks are converted to age-standardised scores, so a summer-born child who is younger on test day is not disadvantaged against an autumn-born classmate who sat the same paper. Scores across the sections are combined into an aggregate, and Kent applies both an overall threshold and a rule that no single area should fall too far below the average — but exact qualifying figures are set by the county each year, so never rely on an invented cut-off. Check the official school and county pages for the current standard.
Because the Kent Test is a GL Assessment product, it is one of the most learnable 11+ formats: the question types are published and stable, so type-by-type practice pays off directly. GL verbal reasoning uses a fixed set of around 21 named question types — codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, moving a letter, number series and logic puzzles. GL non-verbal reasoning covers series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and spatial folding. Knowing exactly which types appear is a genuine advantage you can drill for.
What to practise for this test
Match practice to the four skills the Kent Test rewards, and use timed papers to find the weakest one first. Every resource below is free on Quest Arena — no account needed to start.
- English: daily reading for comprehension, plus focused work on spelling, punctuation and grammar. Vocabulary is the single best predictor of both comprehension and verbal-reasoning scores, so widen it deliberately.
- Maths: secure times tables to 12×12, fractions, decimals, percentages and multi-step word problems, all up to the Year 5 curriculum ceiling.
- Verbal reasoning: drill the ~21 GL question types one at a time until each is automatic, then mix them.
- Non-verbal reasoning: train pattern-spotting for rotations, reflections, matrices and series — skills that sit outside the normal school curriculum, so they need dedicated practice.
Build these with our free worksheet library, and because Highsted uses GL, work through our GL Assessment practice papers to rehearse the exact answer-sheet format. When your child is ready for full-length rehearsals, move to our timed mock papers, and in the final weeks switch to centre-specific mocks tuned to the Kent format.
A realistic preparation timeline
Preparation works best as a gentle, steady build-up rather than a last-minute cram. Use this as a shape, not a set of fixed dates — always cross-check registration windows on the school's own site and our key dates page.
- Year 4: lay foundations without any formal papers — read together daily, learn tables to 12×12, and play word games that grow vocabulary.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice using free worksheets, one skill at a time.
- Year 5 spring: introduce individual GL question types; note the registration window, which for Kent typically opens over the summer term before the September test — confirm exact dates with the county.
- Year 5 summer holiday: the crucial run-in. Sit one full timed mock a week, and review mistakes far more carefully than the score.
- Early September, Year 6: test month. In the final fortnight, keep sessions short, calm and confidence-building rather than piling on new material.
On the day and after
By test day the goal is composure, not last-minute learning. A child who has already sat ten timed mocks at the kitchen table walks into the hall treating the real paper as the eleventh — familiar, not frightening. A few practical habits help most:
- Sleep and food: a normal early night and a proper breakfast beat any late-night revision.
- Pace: answer what you know, mark and move past anything sticky, and come back if time allows — never let one hard question eat the clock.
- Answer sheet: because GL uses a separate multiple-choice sheet, practise keeping question numbers and answer rows aligned, and fill bubbles cleanly.
- Guess sensibly: with no penalty for wrong answers, every blank should be filled before time is called.
Afterwards, results and any head-teacher assessment or appeal route follow the county timeline. Whatever the outcome, remember that the Kent Test is one measure on one morning — and that the reading, reasoning and resilience your child has built will serve them well wherever they go next.
Frequently asked questions
Is Highsted Grammar School a GL or CEM school?
Highsted admits through the Kent Test, which is produced by GL Assessment. CEM's separate paper 11+ was discontinued around 2022–2023, and Kent has continued with GL, so your preparation should target the published GL question types.
What does the Kent Test include?
Two multiple-choice papers covering English, Maths, verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, sat in early September of Year 6. Marks are age-standardised so younger children are not disadvantaged, then combined into an aggregate against the county's current threshold.
When should we start preparing for Highsted?
Begin gentle foundations (reading and times tables) in Year 4, move to structured question-type practice through Year 5, and use the summer holiday before the September test for full timed mocks. Confirm exact registration dates on the school's website.