Town in Kent · South East
Maidstone, in Kent, has 14 secondary schools in this dataset — 12 state-funded and 2 independent. 4 are selective, admitting on an entrance test; 4 have a religious character; 12 have a sixth form.
The typical school here posts a three-year Progress 8 of -0.30 (below average) — 0.29 of a grade per subject below the national median of -0.01. That is the middle of the 11 schools in this area with a published score.
The spread inside the area is wider than the gap between areas: from -0.71 to +0.68. Which school a child goes to matters more here than which area you move to.
For 2026 entry the typical school here drew 0.96 first preferences per place — more pressure than the national median of 0.95×. 5 of the 12 schools with published figures were named first by more families than they had places for. A high figure means popular, not good, and it is not your chance of a place — that depends on where you live.
Overall absence runs at 8.1% for the typical school here, below the national median of 8.7%. Absence is a plainer signal of whether pupils are turning up and engaged than any grade average.
Ordered on the three-year average Progress 8, which is steadier than any single year. Read the confidence interval beside each score before you read the order: it is the range the school's true figure is likely to sit in, and a wide one means a small year group rather than an unpredictable school.
| School | Progress 8 | 95% interval | Attainment 8 | Pressure | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oakwood Park Grammar SchoolAcademy converter | +0.68well above average | +0.39 to +0.852023–24 | 66.6 | 1.02× | Good (ungraded) |
| 2 | Invicta Grammar SchoolAcademy converter | +0.58well above average | +0.61 to +0.972023–24 | 68.6 | 1.14× | Outstanding |
| 3 | Maidstone Grammar School for GirlsFoundation school | +0.51well above average | +0.36 to +0.772023–24 | 66.4 | 0.99× | Outstanding |
| 4 | Maidstone Grammar SchoolFoundation school | +0.32above average | +0.31 to +0.692023–24 | 66.1 | 1.15× | Standards maintained (ungraded) |
| 5 | St Simon Stock Catholic SchoolAcademy converter | +0.01average | +0.00 to +0.422023–24 | 46.7 | 0.87× | Expected standard (achievement) |
| 6 | The Lenham SchoolAcademy sponsor led | -0.30below average | -0.56 to -0.082023–24 | 38.6 | 0.94× | Good |
| 7 | Cornwallis AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.36below average | -0.52 to -0.132023–24 | 38.8 | 1.41× | Good (ungraded) |
| 8 | The Maplesden Noakes SchoolAcademy converter | -0.47below average | -0.75 to -0.362023–24 | 39.8 | 0.93× | Good |
| 9 | Valley Park SchoolAcademy converter | -0.51well below average | -0.77 to -0.422023–24 | 40.2 | 0.94× | — |
| 10 | St Augustine AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.55well below average | -1.05 to -0.562023–24 | 38.5 | 0.35× | Needs attention (achievement) |
| 11 | New Line Learning AcademyAcademy sponsor led | -0.71well below average | -1.04 to -0.542023–24 | 35.0 | 0.44× | — |
4 of the 10 other schools ranked here have a confidence interval that overlaps Oakwood Park Grammar School's. On these figures they cannot be told apart from the school at the top of the table, and the order between them is not a finding. 1 school here has an interval that includes zero (shaded above) — those cannot be told apart from an average school nationally.
These are not bottom of the table — they are not in it. A school with no published score has not done badly; the measure was not calculated for it, and the reason differs.
| OneSchool Global UK - Maidstone Campus | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
|---|---|
| School of Science and Technology Maidstone | No Progress 8 published — usually a new school, a special school, or too small a cohort |
| Sutton Valence School | Independent — no Progress 8 is calculated for fee-paying schools |
The most sought-after school in Maidstone for 2026 entry was School of Science and Technology Maidstone at 1.63 first preferences per place — 303 families named it first for 186 places.
Pressure is not a chance of admission. A school with two applicants per place can still admit every family living near it, while a less popular school further away turns you down. Distance from the gate is usually what decides it, and no national figure can tell you that for your own address.
See Maidstone on the map →The same schools on a map, with every filter: results, admissions pressure, Ofsted, faith and selection — or sorted by distance from your own postcode.Admissions do not stop at an authority line. If you live near one, your realistic list of schools spans both sides of it.
The results here are for 2023–24 and earlier, so they describe pupils who have already left. Nothing on this page covers sixth-form results, pastoral care, music, sport or drama, or how a school feels to walk around — which is what parents most often say settled it. The ranking is a starting point for a shortlist, not a verdict on a school.
Nor is it a prediction of a place. Admission depends on each school's criteria and, most often, on how far you live from it — and in Kent you apply for a state-funded place through the council's coordinated scheme, naming several schools in order of preference.