Canterbury, Kent · Kent
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys
Builds a +20-point score tier directly into its oversubscription policy — a genuine superselective structure, not just a reputation.
The Langton's own current admissions policy reserves its second and third priority categories specifically for boys scoring 20 or more marks above Kent's basic pass mark — effectively an aggregate around 352 — with boys who merely cleared the county threshold pushed to a lower-priority fourth category. Because the school describes itself as oversubscribed in every year group, most Year 7 offers in practice go to boys well above the basic qualifying bar, the hallmark of genuine superselective status. Also worth correcting: several independent 11+ websites describe Kent County Council as this school's admissions authority — the school's own foundation status and KCC's own admissions guidance both confirm it is actually the school's governing body, with KCC only running the shared county-wide test.
Key facts
- Gender
- boys
- Age range
- 11-18
- Region
- South East
- Local authority
- Kent
- Established
- 1881
- DfE URN
- 118884
- Website
- https://thelangton.org.uk
Admissions
- Admissions authority
- The school sets its own test and criteria
- Entrance test board
- The Kent Test (PESE), commissioned county-wide by Kent County Council. GL Assessment is confirmed as the paper-setter via a UK government Find a Tender contract-award notice, though not named directly on KCC's own consumer-facing pages.
- Test format
- A combined English & Maths paper (about 1 hour), a Reasoning paper covering verbal and non-verbal reasoning (about 1 hour), both multiple-choice and computer-marked, plus an unmarked 40-minute writing exercise used only for borderline or SEN headteacher-panel decisions.
- Qualifying / pass mark
- Two thresholds apply. The Kent-wide grammar-qualifying standard (a recent cycle: aggregate 332, no component below 108) is the baseline. Above that, the school's own current admissions policy gives priority to 'boys whose Kent Test score is twenty or more marks above the pass mark' — implying an effective priority threshold around 352 aggregate, though the school does not publish this combined figure directly, nor its actual final lowest-offered score for a given year.partly verified
The ~352 aggregate priority threshold is this research's own arithmetic combining the Kent-wide 332 baseline with the school's '+20 marks' policy language — the school does not state this combined figure directly, nor does it publish an actual final lowest-offered score for any specific year.
- Superselective?
- Yes
Confirmed directly from the school's own current admissions policy: oversubscription priority categories 2 and 3 (health/access, siblings, then Pupil Premium, then 9-mile proximity) are reserved specifically for boys scoring 20+ marks above the Kent-wide pass mark, ahead of category 4's 'other qualifying boys' who merely cleared the basic threshold. Given the school's own statement that it is oversubscribed in every year group, this structure means most Year 7 offers go to boys scoring well above the basic bar — a score-tiered hierarchy built directly into policy, not just a product of reputation or demand.
Catchment & priority criteria
No postcode or village catchment. The school defines a 9-mile straight-line radius from the school (covering roughly Whitstable/Herne Bay/Faversham to the northwest, Ashford/Wye to the southwest, and towards Sandwich/Deal to the east), used to rank the '20-or-more-above-pass-mark' applicant pool by proximity. The separate 'other qualifying boys' pool is ranked by plain proximity to home with no radius limit.
- Children with an EHCP naming the school (a separate ASD-resourced provision is capped at 3 EHCP boys per year group)
- Looked-after and previously looked-after children
- Boys scoring 20+ marks above the Kent pass mark: ranked by (i) health/special-access grounds, (ii) sibling at the school, (iii) Pupil Premium
- Boys scoring 20+ marks above the pass mark and living within 9 miles: ranked by proximity
- Other qualifying boys (met the baseline only): ranked by (i) health/access, (ii) sibling, (iii) Pupil Premium, (iv) proximity, then random ballot for the final place
Results
| Year | Attainment 8 | GCSE 5+ Eng & Maths | Progress 8 | A*–A | A*–B |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 66.0 (Kent LA average 47.0, England state-funded average 45.9) | 91.9% (96.3% at grade 4+, vs England 65.0%) | +0.25 ('Above average', confidence interval +0.02 to +0.49) — down from +0.46 for the 2022/23 cohort | verify with school | verify with school |
| 231 A-level students: average grade B (38.62 points per entry), 93.6% retained to end of programme. DfE's current tables no longer publish a simple A*-A/A*-B grade-band breakdown. | |||||
| 2025 | 66.8 (Kent LA average 46.7, England state-funded average 46.1) | 88.9%, down from 91.9% in 2024 (96.9% at grade 4+, vs England 64.8%) | Not calculated by DfE — no KS2 baseline data for this cohort nationally | ~33% (partly-verified, secondary source only) | ~63% (partly-verified, secondary source only) |
| 205 A-level students: average grade B (38.58 points per entry), 94.0% retained. A secondary source (Good Schools Guide, not independently verified against DfE) reports approximately 33% A*-A and 63% A*-B for this year. | |||||
Ofsted
- Rating
- No single overall grade — Ofsted suspended headline overall-effectiveness grades for state-funded schools from September 2024. Category judgements: quality of education Outstanding, behaviour and attitudes Outstanding, personal development Outstanding, sixth-form provision Outstanding, leadership and management Good.
- Date
- 26-27 November 2024
- 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/118884
- 2. School's own current Admission Policy 2026/2027 — PAN, oversubscription criteria, 9-mile priority-area map — https://thelangton.org.uk/app/uploads/2025/10/Admission-Policy-2026-27.pdf
- 3. School's own history page — https://thelangton.org.uk/about/our-history/
- 4. Kent County Council — admissions criteria, confirms foundation/VA/academy schools are their own admissions authority — https://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools/school-places/admissions-criteria/admissions-criteria-202627
- 5. UK Find a Tender — contract-award notice confirming GL Assessment as the Kent 11+ examination-services provider — https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/012602-2022
- 6. Ofsted report, inspected 26-27 November 2024 — https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50268361
- 7. DfE Compare School Performance — results over time — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/118884/simon-langton-grammar-school-for-boys/secondary/results-over-time
- 8. DfE Compare School Performance — Progress 8, 2023 and 2024 — https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/118884/simon-langton-grammar-school-for-boys/secondary/progress-measures-for-2023-and-2024
- 9. Good Schools Guide review (secondary source, A-level grade breakdown) — https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/uk-schools/review/simon-langton-grammar-school-for-boys
Last updated 2026-08-30. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.