Cranbrook School, Cranbrook

Ofsted's report card from its 6 May 2026 inspection grades Cranbrook School on 7 areas: 3 strong standard and 4 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Strong standard. "Pupils consistently achieve highly across the curriculum and in public examinations at the end of key stage 4 and post-16."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Pupils are keen to come to school each day."

Post 16 provision - Strong standard. "Students in the sixth form benefit from an ambitious programme that prepares them very well for their next steps."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "The curriculum is broad, ambitious and appropriately challenging for all pupils."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders are ambitious for vulnerable pupils to achieve highly and overcome barriers to success."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders have a detailed understanding of the school and its context in the local community."

Personal development and wellbeing - Expected standard. "Leaders have thoughtfully designed an appropriate programme of personal development."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should continue to monitor the impact of their inclusion strategy and ensure that training is consistently improving inclusive teaching and reducing barriers to learning"; "Leaders should ensure that checks on learning are used consistently and precisely, so teachers know that pupils have understood important knowledge before moving on to new learning"; "Leaders should ensure that pupils develop secure and detailed knowledge across all aspects of the personal development programme so that they are well prepared for life in modern Britain".

In 2026, pupils at Cranbrook School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 68.3, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 48.1 in Kent and 47 across England.

89% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 49% in Kent and 47% in England.

That is up from 66.9 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.43: pupils made above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 60.2, against 69.1 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 8.9 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 21 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

Cranbrook School is a grammar school: places go to children who reach the required standard in its entrance test, and only then are the oversubscription criteria applied.

For September 2026 entry, 143 families put Cranbrook School as their first choice and 281 named it as one of their preferences, for 88 places offered. That is 1.6 first choices for every place. 57 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Cranbrook School admits pupils through an entrance test - in Kent, the Kent Test. Children have to be registered for it in advance, normally in the spring or summer of Year 5; the test itself is usually sat in September of Year 6, and results come out in October, before the 31 October deadline for naming secondary schools.

Passing the test makes a child eligible rather than guaranteeing a place: when more children pass than there are places, Cranbrook School ranks them by the criteria in its admissions policy, which can include test score and distance. Check Kent's admissions pages and the school's own policy for this year's registration deadline - a child who is not registered in time cannot sit the test.

Kent has 32 state grammar schools in all, so a child who passes may have several selective schools to choose between.

52 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Cranbrook School (as of September 2025): 100% would recommend the school, 100% say their child is happy there and 91% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (100%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (91%).

Of the 149 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 97% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 1% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 167 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 53% went on to university or other higher education, 2% to apprenticeships and 29% into work. 46% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

4.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), and 6.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

The largest ethnic groups are White British (76%) and Mixed (6%).

In 2026, 18 pupils (1.9%) received SEN support and 4 (0.4%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

There is no railway, tram or Underground station within about three miles of Cranbrook School.

6 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Cranbrook School (opposite), 60 metres away.

In August 2026, police recorded 37 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, shoplifting and criminal damage and arson. That is well below the typical figure around schools in Kent (101).

In 2024/25, Cranbrook School issued 21 suspensions, 2.3 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Cranbrook School are Cranbrook Church of England Primary School (0.3 miles) and Sissinghurst Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School (1.3 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.