If Wilmington Grammar School for Girls is on your child's list, preparation should be shaped around how this school actually selects — not generic 11+ advice. Wilmington admits on the strength of the Kent Test, a GL Assessment paper sat in early September of Year 6, so the smartest plan is to rehearse exactly the subjects, question types and timing that test uses. This guide sets out what the school is, how selection works, precisely what to practise, and a calm, realistic build-up you can start at any point in Year 4, 5 or 6.
About Wilmington Grammar School for Girls
Wilmington Girls' Grammar shares a site with the boys' school and serves the north-west of Kent, drawing pupils from Dartford and the surrounding towns. It is a selective girls' grammar with a mixed sixth form, and entry to Year 7 is decided by the Kent Test. Because places at north-west Kent grammars are in demand, girls who prepare methodically — rather than cramming in the final weeks — tend to sit the test with the composure that separates a good score from a borderline one.
- Location: Dartford, Kent
- Intake: Girls (Mixed Sixth Form)
- Founded: 1959
- Type: Academy Grammar
- Admissions test: Kent Test (GL Assessment)
For a fuller picture, our full school profile collects the key admissions facts in one place, and Wilmington's own site is always the final authority on this year's dates, catchment rules and open events: wgsg.co.uk. You can also see how Wilmington sits alongside the other 32 selective schools in the county on our grammar school directory.
How selection works at Wilmington Grammar School for Girls
Wilmington selects through the Kent Test, which is produced by GL Assessment and administered by Kent County Council. Kent runs England's largest fully-selective system — 32 state grammar schools — and nearly all of them, Wilmington included, use this single shared test. Children normally sit it in the early September of Year 6, at the very start of the school year, so most of the real preparation happens across Year 5 and the summer holiday before.
The Kent Test assesses three areas across its papers:
- English — comprehension and technical accuracy (spelling, punctuation, grammar).
- Maths — arithmetic and problem-solving drawn from the Key Stage 2 curriculum up to the Year 5 ceiling.
- Reasoning — a combined paper covering Verbal Reasoning (VR) and Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR).
As a GL paper, the format is multiple-choice: answers are marked on a separate answer sheet, sub-sections are separately timed at roughly a minute a question, and no calculator is allowed. Scores are age-standardised — adjusted for each child's month of birth so that summer-born pupils are not disadvantaged — and the results combine into an aggregate. Kent applies both an overall threshold and a rule that no single area may fall too far below the average, but exact qualifying figures are set by the county each year, so always confirm the current standard with Kent County Council and the school rather than relying on a number quoted online. We do not publish invented cut-off scores; the honest position is that the standard shifts slightly year to year.
What to practise for this test
Because the Kent Test is a GL paper, it is the most learnable of the boards — the question types are published and stable, so systematic, type-by-type practice pays off directly. Split your practice across the three assessed areas:
- Verbal Reasoning: drill the named GL types — letter codes, letter sequences, hidden words, word analogies, odd-one-out, closest-meaning and opposites, compound words, move-a-letter and number series — until each is automatic. Vocabulary is the single best predictor of VR and comprehension scores, so pair this with wide daily reading.
- Non-Verbal Reasoning: practise series, matrices, analogies, odd-one-out, reflections, rotations and simple spatial reasoning. These fall outside the normal school curriculum, so familiarity matters more than raw ability.
- Maths: secure rapid recall of times tables to 12×12, fractions, percentages and multi-step word problems, all within timed conditions.
- English: comprehension technique — skimming a passage, then hunting for evidence — plus spelling and punctuation accuracy.
Every question type named above has a free, no-account-needed home on Quest Arena. Start with our free worksheet library to build each skill in isolation, then move to full timed mock papers once the individual types feel comfortable. In the final stretch, our centre-specific mocks let your daughter rehearse in the real Kent Test shape. There is nothing to pay and no sign-up wall — the practice is free forever.
A realistic preparation timeline
The goal is steady exposure, not a last-minute sprint. Adjust to where your child is now, but this shape works well for most families aiming at Wilmington:
- Year 4: build the foundations quietly — daily reading of increasingly challenging books, and times tables to 12×12 until they are effortless. No formal papers yet; the aim is confidence and a growing vocabulary.
- Year 5 (autumn): begin 15–20 minutes of daily topic practice with our free worksheets, introducing one VR or NVR type at a time so nothing feels overwhelming.
- Year 5 (spring): keep an eye on the registration window. Kent's registration for the September test typically opens around late spring or early summer — check our key dates page and, crucially, Wilmington's own site for the exact deadline. Missing registration is the one avoidable way to lose a place.
- Year 5 (summer): move to one full timed mock a week. Review the mistakes far more carefully than the score — every wrong answer is a free lesson.
- Summer holiday before the test: this is the decisive period, since the test sits in early September. Alternate mocks with focused work on the two weakest question types, and taper the intensity in the final week so your daughter arrives fresh.
Throughout, track progress on a real leaderboard if it motivates your child — some pupils thrive on the gentle competition of our live leaderboard, while others prefer quiet practice. Both are fine.
On the day and after
By September your daughter should have sat enough timed papers that the real hall feels like the eleventh, not the first. A few practical points help on the morning itself:
- Prioritise sleep the night before over any last-minute revision — a rested brain outperforms a crammed one.
- Eat a proper breakfast and arrive with time to spare, so nothing feels rushed.
- Remind her of the pacing habit she has practised: answer what she knows, mark anything tricky, and come back rather than freezing on one question.
- On a multiple-choice GL paper there is no penalty for a sensible guess, so no answer box should ever be left blank.
Afterwards, resist the urge to dissect every question. Results for the Kent Test are usually released in October, and the outcome feeds into your Kent secondary admissions application. Whatever the result, keep the conversation about effort rather than a single number — plenty of children thrive at excellent schools reached by more than one route, and the confidence built through months of steady practice lasts well beyond one September morning.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Wilmington Grammar School for Girls test GL or CEM?
It is the Kent Test, produced by GL Assessment. CEM's separate paper 11+ was discontinued around 2022–2023, and Kent's test has long been a GL paper, so all your practice should be GL-style multiple choice.
When does my daughter sit the test?
In the early September of Year 6, at the very start of the school year. That means the summer holiday beforehand is the most important preparation window, and registration usually closes months earlier — confirm the exact dates with Kent County Council and on the school's website.
Does the Kent Test include reasoning?
Yes. Alongside English and Maths, there is a reasoning paper covering both Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning. Because NVR in particular is not taught in normal lessons, targeted practice of those question types makes a real difference.