How to apply to Borden Grammar School
Borden Grammar School is selective, so your child needs to sit the 11+ test to be considered for a place.
You register your child for the Kent Test with Kent County Council during its registration window. Late Kent Test registrations go to Kent County Council by email at kent.admissions@kent.gov.uk. The Borden Test has its own registration: you complete a paper form from the school office or the school website, as there is no online registration.
Once you have your child's result, you apply by naming Borden Grammar School on your common application form, which goes to your home local authority. Application deadline: Sunday 31 October 2027. This is the national closing date. Kent County Council has in the past moved the deadline to the following Monday when 31 October falls on a weekend — it did so for 2027 entry, when the date moved to Monday 2 November. The council confirms its own closing date in its co-ordinated admissions scheme, usually published the year before. Treat 31 October as the date to work to, and check the council's scheme before you submit.
Reaching the qualifying score makes your child eligible, but it doesn't guarantee a place. If more qualifying children apply than there are places, the school uses its oversubscription criteria, set out further down this page.
What will my child be tested on?
The Kent Test is run by Kent County Council and used by the grammar schools across Kent, so your child only sits it once to be considered for any of them. Kent County Council says the tests in English, maths and reasoning are devised by GL Assessment.
There are two multiple-choice papers, and answers go on a separate answer sheet. The first is an English and maths paper lasting an hour. Each section starts with a 5-minute practice exercise, followed by a 25-minute test. The English section is a comprehension exercise plus questions on literacy skills. The second is a reasoning paper of about an hour, including practice, with verbal and non-verbal reasoning sections of roughly the same length.
Your child also completes a writing task. It lasts 40 minutes, including 10 minutes of planning. It isn't marked, but a local headteacher panel may read it as part of the headteacher assessment stage.
Results give three standardised scores, for English, maths and reasoning, plus a total. Each score ranges from 69 to 141.
Borden gives boys two routes to grammar school eligibility. The first is the Kent Test on its own: a Kent Test pass is enough to apply to Borden. The second is the school's own optional Borden Test (the Borden Assessment Procedure), provided by Quest Assessments. Your son must have sat the Kent Test to take the Borden Test, and a pass in either test means he is assessed as suitable for grammar school.
The Borden Test is a paper test and isn't adaptive. There are two papers, sat on the same day with a short break between them, each lasting about 60 minutes plus time for instructions. Paper 1 covers English and verbal reasoning, and Paper 2 covers maths and non-verbal reasoning. All questions are multiple choice, usually with five options (A to E). Answers go on a separate answer sheet for each subject: your son draws a clear horizontal line through the box next to his chosen answer. The school hasn't published a pass mark. Quest Assessments doesn't respond to individual enquiries from parents, so questions about the Borden Test go to the school.
The official familiarisation materials for the Borden Test are on the Quest Assessments parent guidance page. Read our guide to the Quest Admissions exam for what the test looks like and how it's marked.
The table below shows what each paper covers.
