Dover Grammar School for Boys, Dover

From the headteacher's welcome: "A very warm welcome to Dover Grammar School for Boys. I am extremely proud to be Headteacher of a school which is very much at the heart of the local community, serving students and their parents and helping our learners to grow and develop into the best versions of themselves."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include cricket, basketball, badminton, drama, chess, gardening, film, Duke of Edinburgh and cadets.

In 2026, pupils at Dover Grammar School for Boys averaged an Attainment 8 score of 63.1, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 48.1 in Kent and 47 across England.

90% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 49% in Kent and 47% in England.

That is down from 65.4 in 2025.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.54: pupils made well 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 62.5, against 63.3 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 0.8 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 21 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Combined Science, Geography and History.

Dover Grammar School for Boys 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, 183 families put Dover Grammar School for Boys as their first choice and 340 named it as one of their preferences, for 157 places offered. That is 1.2 first choices for every place. 29 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Dover Grammar School for Boys 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, Dover Grammar School for Boys 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.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Dover Grammar School for Boys are Astor Secondary School (0.1 miles, Requires improvement, Attainment 8 30.3); Dover Grammar School for Girls (0.8 miles, Outstanding, selective, Attainment 8 56.7); St Edmund's Catholic School (0.9 miles, Good, Attainment 8 33.7); and Dover Christ Church Academy (1.6 miles, Attainment 8 35.8).

Dover Grammar School for Boys's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

214 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Dover Grammar School for Boys (as of September 2025): 99% would recommend the school, 96% say their child is happy there and 83% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that they would recommend the school (99%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (83%).

Of the 127 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 96% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 24% to a further education college, 1% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 84 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 54% went on to university or other higher education, 2% to apprenticeships and 26% into work. 17% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

7.7% speak English as an additional language, against 18.8% on average, according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 12 pupils (1.3%) received SEN support and 8 (0.8%) 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 autism.

The nearest railway station is Dover Priory Rail Station, about 1090 metres away (roughly a 14-minute walk).

8 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Dover Boys' Grammar School (adjacent), 280 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Dover Grammar School for Boys stands in is among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 332 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage and arson. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Kent (101), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Dover Grammar School for Boys issued 45 suspensions, 5 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Dover Grammar School for Boys are White Cliffs Primary and Nursery School (0.3 miles), St Martin's School (0.3 miles), Priory Fields School (0.3 miles) and Vale View Community School (0.3 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.