Medway has quietly widened its 11-plus. The grammar pass mark is now set at the 26th percentile, up from the 25th, with the test on 15 and 16 September.

Medway children sit the 11-plus next Tuesday and Wednesday, and slightly more of them will be assessed as suitable for grammar school than last year.

Medway Council has raised the grammar cut-off from the 25th percentile of the Medway cohort to the 26th. The change is written into the council’s determined admissions scheme for September 2027 entry.

The secondary admissions scheme 2027 to 2028 says: “The minimum score will be set at the 26th percentile of the Medway cohort (i.e. Year 6 children attending a Medway maintained school) based on school census data.”

The scheme for the year before used the same sentence with one word different: the 25th percentile.

The dates that matter this autumn

The Medway Test is sat in September, but the school application is a separate job with its own deadline. Results land 17 days before applications close.

Timeline of Medway secondary admissions for September 2027 entry: Medway Test for Medway school pupils on 15 and 16 September 2026, test for children from non-Medway schools on 19 or 20 September, results issued on 14 October, secondary school applications close on 31 October, offers sent on 1 March 2027 and offers must be accepted or refused by 12 March 2027
Key dates for September 2027 secondary entry in Medway. Graphic by Medway Live from Medway Council's published key dates.

From the council’s key dates table:

  • Tuesday 15 and Wednesday 16 September 2026: the test, for children at Medway primary and junior schools
  • Saturday 19 or Sunday 20 September 2026: the test for children from non-Medway schools, one allocated day each
  • Wednesday 14 October 2026: results issued, by email after 10am
  • Saturday 31 October 2026: secondary school applications close
  • Monday 1 March 2027: offers sent
  • Friday 12 March 2027: deadline to accept or refuse

Registration for the test closed at 5pm on 12 June. The council is blunt that there is no way back in: “Late registrations to sit the Medway Test cannot be accepted.”

What the percentile actually controls

The test is three papers, in English, Mathematics and Reasoning. Raw marks are standardised for the child’s age, then weighted. The council’s marking page gives the formula:

English test standardised score x 2 + Mathematics test standardised score x 2 + Reasoning test standardised score x 1 = Total weighted score

Nobody sets a fixed pass mark in advance. The council ranks every child from a Medway maintained school by that weighted score, counts down to the percentile it has chosen, and whatever score sits there becomes the minimum for everyone, including children from outside Medway and from Medway independent schools.

So the percentile is the whole ball game. Widening it from 25 to 26 admits one more percentile of the Medway cohort to the grammar pool.

The recent minimum scores, from the same page:

Admission year Minimum weighted score Share of cohort assessed grammar
2024 492 23%
2025 482 25%
2026 481 25%
2027 set in October 26% (design figure)

The council’s own web page still described the design figure as 25% as recently as 12 April 2026, according to the Internet Archive’s copy. It now says 26%.

Six schools, and no guarantee

The scheme lists the Medway schools that admit on the test:

  • Holcombe Grammar School
  • Rainham Mark Grammar School
  • Chatham Grammar
  • Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School
  • Fort Pitt Grammar School
  • The Rochester Grammar School

Chatham Grammar also accepts a grammar assessment from the Kent Test.

Being assessed as grammar is not an offer. The council states it plainly: “Passing the Medway Test does not guarantee a place in a Medway grammar school.” Oversubscribed schools still fall back on their own admission criteria. Results are also not portable, so a Medway pass does not open a Kent grammar school.

There is no resit, no remark and no academic review. A child who misses the score can still name grammar schools on the application form, but the council cannot offer one on national offer day, and the family is left with an appeal.

Last year’s numbers

On the most recent national offer day, 2 March 2026, Medway’s admissions team processed 4,536 secondary applications, including 950 from children living outside Medway. Of the 3,586 Medway children offered a place, the council says more than 96% got one of the schools they had named. Ninety-nine per cent applied online.

The most recent published breakdown of test outcomes covers the 2024 sitting, for 2025 entry. The council reported that 3,844 children sat the test in total, 2,103 of them Medway pupils, and 936 Medway pupils were assessed as suitable for grammar, up from 847 the year before, when the cut-off moved from the 23rd to the 25th percentile.

What it means for you

  • Sitting the test is not applying. You still have to submit a secondary application by 31 October, and you must apply through Medway Council if you live in Medway, even for schools in Kent or Bexley.
  • Use all six preferences. Medway residents get six, and the council advises using them all.
  • Name a mix. The council’s own advice for families whose child is assessed non-grammar is to name both grammar and non-grammar schools, because it cannot offer a grammar place without the score.
  • Results come by email after 10am on 14 October. Check junk folders. If nothing has arrived by 15 October, email medwaytest@medway.gov.uk.
  • The order you list schools is private. Schools are not told your preference order; only you and the council know it.

A separate deadline is running for younger children. Applications for primary and junior places in September 2027 opened on 1 September 2026 and close on 15 January 2027.

If your child does start a new school next September, our guides to parking in Medway and Medway train times to London cover the journey, and Medway school streets explains the gate closures now running at several sites.

Sources