Families targeting Rainham Mark Grammar School ask the same first question: what exactly should we practise? The honest answer is that preparation only works when it fits how this school actually selects its pupils. Rainham Mark chooses on the Medway Test, which is set separately from the Kent Test, so a plan borrowed from a Kent school will leave gaps. This guide sets out precisely what the Medway Test assesses, when the key deadlines fall, and how to build the reading, number and reasoning skills that decide selective places at the margin — using free practice from start to finish.
About Rainham Mark Grammar School
Rainham Mark is a mixed grammar at the eastern end of the Medway towns, in Rainham itself. It has served the area since the late 1950s and now operates as a selective academy, taking boys and girls who qualify through Medway's shared selection process. Because it sits inside the Medway consortium of state grammars rather than the Kent system, its admissions run to the Medway calendar and use the Medway Test — a distinction that trips up many families who assume every grammar in the county tests identically.
- Location: Rainham, Medway
- Intake: Mixed (boys and girls)
- Founded: 1958
- Type: Academy grammar school
- Admissions test: Medway Test (GL Assessment)
You can see the school in context alongside every other selective option in the area on our UK grammar school directory, and read its full school profile for a quick summary of how it fits the wider Medway system. For this year's exact admissions dates, catchment wording and open-evening details, always treat the school's own website as the authority: rainhammark.com.
How selection works at Rainham Mark Grammar School
Selection is by the Medway Test, administered through GL Assessment and taken by children in early September at the start of Year 6. Medway runs its own test, separate from Kent, and children who want to be considered for Medway grammars sit it in the September before secondary transfer. It is worth registering directly with Medway Council even if you also live near Kent schools — the two authorities do not share a single test.
The Medway Test is built from three papers:
- English — comprehension and technical English skills.
- Maths — Key Stage 2 arithmetic and problem-solving.
- Extended Writing plus Reasoning — a longer piece of writing alongside verbal and non-verbal reasoning.
The extended-writing element is the feature that most clearly sets Medway apart from a pure multiple-choice GL region: children are asked to produce a sustained piece of their own writing, not just tick answers. Results are norm-referenced, meaning your child is ranked against everyone who sat the test that year rather than measured against a fixed pass mark. Scores are age-standardised, so summer-born children are not penalised for being younger. Because the exact qualifying threshold shifts with each year's cohort, we will not quote a specific pass mark — any site that promises a fixed number for a given year is guessing. Confirm the current arrangements and appeal routes on the school and Medway Council pages before you rely on them.
What to practise for this test
The Medway Test rewards breadth: strong readers who can also write, calculate at pace and handle reasoning puzzles. Split preparation across the four core skill areas and tie each to a specific free resource.
- English and comprehension: reading unfamiliar passages closely and answering under time pressure. Wide reading is the single best investment here. Build stamina with the comprehension sets in our free worksheet library.
- Extended writing: practise planning and drafting a short piece in a fixed window — a clear opening, ordered paragraphs, varied sentences and accurate punctuation. Markers reward structure and control, not length for its own sake.
- Maths: secure times tables to 12×12, then drill fractions, percentages, ratio and multi-step word problems from the worksheet library until they are automatic.
- Verbal and non-verbal reasoning: the Medway reasoning paper draws on standard GL question types — codes, letter sequences, analogies, odd-one-out and closest-meaning for verbal; series, matrices, rotations and reflections for non-verbal. Because these types are stable, systematic type-by-type practice pays off directly. Warm up on our GL Assessment practice papers.
Once individual skills are solid, rehearse the whole test under exam conditions. Sit full timed mock papers to build pace and composure, then, in the closing weeks, switch to centre-specific mocks matched to the Medway format so the real paper feels familiar.
A realistic preparation timeline
Good preparation is a slow build, not a last-minute sprint. The children who cope best on test day are the ones for whom the format holds no surprises.
- Year 4: no formal papers. Read together daily across fiction and non-fiction, talk about new words, and get times tables to 12×12 completely secure. This quiet groundwork is what later reasoning and comprehension scores rest on.
- Year 5 autumn: introduce 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice using the free worksheets, rotating through English, maths and reasoning so nothing is neglected.
- Year 5 spring: keep an eye on registration. Medway's window opens months before the September test, so check the deadlines on our key dates page and confirm them against Medway Council and the school site. Missing the registration deadline cannot be appealed.
- Year 5 summer into the holidays: begin one full timed mock paper a week. Review the errors far more carefully than the score — every wrong answer is a free lesson.
- Final six weeks before September: move to centre-specific papers in Medway format, and add short, regular extended-writing practice so a full piece under time no longer feels daunting.
On the day and after
By the time your child walks into the hall, the learning is done; test day is about composure. A child who has completed ten timed mocks at the kitchen table treats the real thing as the eleventh. A few practical points make the difference:
- Keep the night before calm and ordinary — a good sleep beats last-minute cramming every time.
- Sort the practical kit in advance: pencils, eraser, water, and anything the school specifies.
- Teach the recovery habit — if one question stalls, move on and come back. Selective papers are designed so few children finish everything.
- Watch the pace, especially on the extended-writing task: a quick plan first, then write, then a moment to check.
Afterwards, avoid dissecting individual questions. Results arrive to Medway's published timetable, and the outcome is only one part of a wider admissions decision that also weighs catchment and preferences. Whatever the result, the reading, number and reasoning habits your child has built are genuinely useful for secondary school and beyond.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Medway Test the same as the Kent Test?
No. Medway sets its own test, separate from Kent, though both are taken in early September of Year 6. If you are considering grammars in both areas you may need to register for, and sit, each authority's test.
Does the Medway Test include creative writing?
Yes. Alongside English comprehension, maths and reasoning, Medway includes an extended-writing task, so writing technique matters more here than in purely multiple-choice GL regions. Practise planning and drafting a full piece under time.
What score does my child need to pass?
There is no fixed number we can safely quote. The Medway Test is norm-referenced and age-standardised, so the qualifying threshold depends on each year's cohort. Check the current arrangements on Medway Council's and the school's own pages.