If Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School is on your child's list, preparation should be shaped around how this Rochester boys' grammar actually selects — the Medway Test — rather than generic 11+ advice pulled from other regions. The Medway system is separate from the neighbouring Kent Test, sits in early September of Year 6, and rewards children who have practised the exact paper formats calmly and repeatedly. This guide walks through the school, the test, what to practise, a realistic build-up and a settled plan for the day itself, with free Quest Arena resources matched to every skill named.
About Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School
Known locally as 'The Math', Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School is a Rochester boys' grammar that dates from 1701 and carries a long-standing reputation for mathematics. It is a foundation grammar with a mixed sixth form, and selection into Year 7 is by the Medway Test. For a school with three centuries of history, the admissions route is refreshingly clear: sit the county's selective test, meet the qualifying standard, and then rank against the school's oversubscription criteria.
- Location: Rochester, Medway
- Intake: Boys (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1701
- Type: Foundation Grammar
- Admissions test: Medway Test (GL Assessment)
Always confirm this year's registration window, test date and admissions policy against the school's own authority: the official Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School website. You can also read our full school profile and browse the wider UK grammar school directory to see how 'The Math' sits alongside Medway's other selective schools.
How selection works at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School
Entry is decided by the Medway Test, produced by GL Assessment and administered by Medway Council for its six state grammars. It is a distinct system from the Kent Test next door, so a child living on the border must register with the correct authority for the schools they want. The Medway Test is typically made up of three papers:
- English — comprehension and language skills drawn from the Key Stage 2 curriculum.
- Maths — arithmetic and applied problem-solving under tight timing.
- Extended Writing and Reasoning — a written task alongside verbal and non-verbal reasoning.
GL papers are largely multiple-choice, marked from a separate answer sheet, with no calculator and roughly a minute per question. Scores are age-standardised so that summer-born boys are not penalised for being younger, and the results are used to identify roughly the top quarter of the cohort as selective. The pass is norm-referenced rather than a fixed mark, and exact thresholds vary by year — so treat any specific number you read online with caution and rely on the council and school for the current standard. What matters for your child is not memorising a cut-off but being fast, accurate and unflustered across all three papers.
What to practise for this test
Because the Medway Test is GL-built, its question types are published and stable, which makes systematic type-by-type practice genuinely productive. Focus your effort where the paper actually tests:
- Maths: secure times tables to 12×12, mental arithmetic, fractions, percentages, ratio and word problems. Drill with our free worksheet library, filtering to maths topics.
- English and comprehension: build vocabulary daily — it is the single best predictor of both comprehension and verbal-reasoning marks — and practise reading unfamiliar passages under time.
- Verbal reasoning: work through the named GL types (codes, letter sequences, hidden words, analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter, number series and logic) until each is automatic.
- Non-verbal reasoning: series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and cube nets — the standard spatial patterns that reward pattern-spotting speed.
- Extended writing: practise planning and producing a clear, well-structured piece to a time limit, since the writing element is unique to the Medway paper.
Turn that reference list into practice with our free GL Assessment practice papers, then use timed mock papers to see which subject a real paper exposes as weakest. When you are ready to rehearse in the school's own regional format, move to our centre-specific mocks for Medway.
A realistic preparation timeline
The strongest candidates are not crammed; they are built steadily over two years. No single date below is invented — always cross-check the live window with the council and the school — but the sequence is what works:
- Year 4: daily reading for pleasure and mastery of tables to 12×12. No formal papers yet — the goal is fluency and a love of books, which quietly builds vocabulary.
- Year 5 autumn: begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice using our free worksheets, introducing one reasoning type at a time.
- Year 5 spring: keep an eye on registration. Medway's window opens in the summer term ahead of the September test — check our key dates page and, decisively, the school's own site. Missing the deadline cannot be appealed.
- Year 5 summer into Year 6: introduce one full timed mock paper a week. Review the errors far more carefully than the score — a wrong answer understood is worth more than a right one guessed.
- Final six weeks (up to early September): switch to centre-specific papers in Medway's format so the real test feels like one more rehearsal. Ease off in the last few days; rest beats last-minute drilling.
Use our revision hub to keep the plan on track and to space topics so nothing is forgotten by test day.
On the day and after
By early September your son should have sat enough timed papers that the real hall feels like the eleventh, not the first. Support him with the practical basics: a proper night's sleep, a calm breakfast, and arriving early so nothing is rushed. Remind him of a simple exam habit — read each question fully, answer what he is sure of first, mark and return to anything that stalls him, and keep moving so the clock never runs out on the last section. Marking the wrong row on a separate answer sheet is the commonest avoidable error, so a few practice runs with real OMR-style sheets pay off.
Afterwards, resist the urge to interrogate him question by question — it rarely helps and often worries. Results for Medway typically arrive in October, in time for the secondary application, and the council's admissions process then handles ranking and offers. Whatever the outcome, the reading, reasoning and resilience he has built are worth having, and there is usually an assessment or appeal route to ask about via the council and school if you feel his performance did not reflect his ability.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Medway Test the same as the Kent Test?
No. Medway runs its own selective test for its six grammars, separate from Kent's, though both are GL-built and both sit in early September. If your son is aiming at Sir Joseph Williamson's, register for the Medway Test with Medway Council.
Does Sir Joseph Williamson's set its own maths-heavy paper?
No — despite the name and its mathematical heritage, entry is through the standard Medway Test (English, Maths, and Extended Writing with Reasoning), not a bespoke school exam. Strong maths certainly helps, but every subject on the paper counts.
What score does my child need to pass?
The Medway pass is norm-referenced to select roughly the top quarter of pupils, and the exact standardised threshold varies each year. Rather than chase a number, aim for confident accuracy across all three papers and confirm the current standard with the council and the school.