Invicta Grammar School, Maidstone

From the headteacher's welcome: "A very warm welcome to Invicta Grammar School. I hope you share our excitement for the range of opportunities on offer and our passion for the Art, Music and Sport as we strive to give our students the best chance to develop confidence, leadership and emotional intelligence."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, yoga, orchestra, chess, coding, STEM and photography.

Coming up: an open day on Tuesday 9 March 2027. Check the school's website before you go, as dates can change.

In 2026, pupils at Invicta Grammar School averaged an Attainment 8 score of 70.8, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 48.1 in Kent and 47 across England.

93% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 49% in Kent and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 70.8.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.79: 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 69.8, against 70.9 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 1.1 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 24 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

Invicta Grammar 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, 290 families put Invicta Grammar School as their first choice and 720 named it as one of their preferences, for 255 places offered. That is 1.1 first choices for every place. 45 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Invicta Grammar 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, Invicta Grammar 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.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Invicta Grammar School are Valley Park School (0.1 miles, Good, Attainment 8 41.8); School of Science and Technology Maidstone (0.4 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 49.1); Maidstone Grammar School (0.7 miles, Good, selective, Attainment 8 67); and Maidstone Grammar School for Girls (1.1 miles, Outstanding, selective, Attainment 8 62.7).

Invicta Grammar School's 2026 results were higher than all 4 of them.

Invicta Grammar School is one of 9 schools run by Valley Invicta Academies Trust, an academy trust.

Across the trust's secondary schools, pupils averaged an Attainment 8 score of 49.6 in 2024/25.

Of the 249 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 97% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 6% to a further education college and 0% to an apprenticeship.

Of the 186 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 75% went on to university or other higher education, 6% to apprenticeships and 13% into work. 38% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

7.1% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 29 pupils (1.7%) received SEN support and 1 (0.1%) 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.

The nearest railway station is Maidstone East Rail Station, about 1140 metres away (roughly a 14-minute walk).

9 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Invicta Girls' Grammar School (outside), 90 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Invicta Grammar School 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 489 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Kent (101), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Invicta Grammar School issued 29 suspensions, 1.8 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Invicta Grammar School are Valley Invicta Primary School At East Borough (0.1 miles); Maidstone, St John's Church of England Primary School (0.6 miles); South Borough Primary School (0.9 miles); and St Paul's Infant School (0.9 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.