Dartford, Kent · Kent
Dartford Grammar School for Girls
Its brother school requires 40 points above Kent's standard threshold — this school requires none at all, just the ordinary county-wide pass.
Dartford Grammar School for Girls dates to 1904 and sits in the same town as Dartford Grammar School (boys), sharing the same Kent Test — but the two run genuinely different admissions logics. Where the boys' school requires most successful applicants to clear a bar 40 points above Kent's standard threshold, the girls' school's own current policy adds no extra requirement at all: clear the ordinary county-wide standard, and you're ranked purely by score only if the school is oversubscribed within your priority category. Sister schools, same test, different selectivity by design.
Key facts
- Gender
- girls
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Kent
- Established
- 1904
- DfE URN
- 144100
- Website
- https://www.dartfordgrammargirls.org.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- The Kent Test, commissioned and administered county-wide by Kent County Council. GL Assessment is widely reported as the paper-setting body, though this isn't confirmed in any primary KCC or school document.partly verified
GL Assessment as provider is reported only by secondary/tutoring sources, not confirmed by KCC or the school directly.
- Test format
- The Kent Test's standard structure: Maths and English papers, plus Reasoning (Verbal, Non-Verbal and Spatial) — this breakdown comes from tutoring-sector sources rather than the school's or council's own primary documents, which name the test but don't itemise its internal structure.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- No requirement above Kent's general county-wide grammar-qualifying standard (a recent cycle: 332 total, no component below 108) — confirmed directly from the school's own current policy. Girls simply need to reach that standard; if the school is oversubscribed within a priority category, places go by highest aggregate score, not a higher pass bar. This is a genuine structural contrast to Dartford Grammar School (boys), which requires most of its intake to clear a bar roughly 40 points above the same county threshold.
- Superselective?
- No
Confirmed directly from the school's own current admissions policy: there is no additional score requirement above the standard Kent-wide threshold, only rank-ordering by score within priority bands if oversubscribed. An independent source (Grammar School Hub) corroborates that the school isn't described as superselective. This is a clear, sourced contrast to the boys' school in the same town.
Catchment & priority criteria
A Priority Area covering the Borough of Dartford plus ten named parishes (Ash-cum-Ridley, Crockenhill, Eynsford, Farningham, Fawkham, Hartley, Hextable, Horton Kirby and South Darenth, Swanley, West Kingsdown) — 100 of the 180 Year 7 places are reserved for this area.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school who passed the assessment
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Pupil Premium-eligible girls (registered for Free School Meals in the last 6 years)
- 100 places for girls resident in the Priority Area
- All other eligible girls regardless of address
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 75.5 (Kent average 46.7, England average 46.1) | 94.9% (a secondary aggregator separately states 97.2% for the same cohort — not resolved) | Not calculated by DfE — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | — | — |
| A-level (171 students): DfE's confirmed headline measure is an average grade B (39.77 points/entry). The school's own site shows grade-band percentages, but its results pages appear to reuse URL slugs across different years, making it unreliable to attribute a specific percentage to this exact year — not used here. | |||||
| 2024 | 75.3 (Kent average 47.0, England average 45.9) | 99.4% | +0.82 ('well above average') — this cohort predates the COVID-era Progress 8 gap | — | — |
| A-level (176 students): average grade B (41.0 points/entry). | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- Under Ofsted's post-2025 report-card framework: 'Exceptional' — the top band — in Achievement, Attendance and Behaviour, Personal Development and Wellbeing, and Post-16 Provision; 'Strong standard' in Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, and Leadership and Governance. Safeguarding met. The prior inspection (2021, old framework) confirmed the school's existing Outstanding rating.
- Date
- 17 March 2026
- Report
- Read the full report
Sources
- 1. DfE Get Information About Schools — URN, status, gender, LA — https://get-information-schools.service.gov.uk/Establishments/Establishment/Details/144100
- 2. Admission Policy and Over-Subscription Criteria, Year 7 entry September 2027 — https://www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/224370/Dartford-Grammar-School-for-Girls-admissions-criteria-2027-2028.pdf
- 3. Ofsted report, inspected 17 March 2026 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50302186
- 4. DfE Compare School Performance — 2025 GCSE results — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/144100/dartford-grammar-school-for-girls/secondary
- 5. DfE Compare School Performance — historic Progress 8 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/144100/dartford-grammar-school-for-girls/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
- 6. School's own history page — founded 1904 — https://www.dartfordgrammargirls.org.uk/Teaching-and-Learning/A-Brief-History/
- 7. Grammar School Hub — independent cross-check on selectivity and results — https://grammarschoolhub.co.uk/schools/dartford-grammar-school-for-girls/
Last updated 2026-08-30. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.