School place offers

All secondary school offers are sent on 1 March 2024.

How you’ll get your offer

You’ll get your offer:

  • by email after 4pm on 1 March 2024 if you apply online
  • by post if you applied by paper form. It’ll be posted on 1 March 2024 so you will get it after this date
  • from your own local authority if you live outside of Medway, even if the offer is for a Medway school.

We cannot guarantee that your child will get a place at one of the schools named on your application.

Sitting the Medway Test (11+) does not guarantee your child a grammar school place.

Accepting or refusing a place

Once you get your offer you need to decide whether to accept or refuse the school place. You need to complete the acceptance/refusal form and return it to the school you've been offered.

Download an acceptance/refusal form and information

Any offers made on 1 March 2024 must be accepted or refused by 28 March 2024.

Any offers made after 22 April must be accepted within 10 school days of your offer email or letter.

If you do not accept or refuse your offer by the deadline, your offer may be withdrawn and reallocated. 

Before accepting or refusing, remember:

  • we recommend you accept the place offered even if you want to go on a waiting list or appeal, as there's no guarantee it will be successful
  • an accepted place can always be released later if you win an appeal
  • a refused place cannot be offered back, you will need to ask to go back on the waiting list
  • refusing a school place does not improve your chance on a waiting list or in an appeal.

If you’re unhappy with the offer, you can:

  • ask us to add your child to the waiting list for any Medway school. Your child cannot go on the waiting list for a grammar school if they have not passed the Medway Test (11+)
  • if you live in Medway, you can use the waiting list request form to add Medway schools to your application that you did not originally name
  • appeal for any of the schools you named on your application that have not offered your child a place.

How we decide what school is offered to your child

All school places are offered based on each school's oversubscription criteria.

Naming a school in your application does not guarantee you a place. This will depend on how oversubscribed the school is and the priority of other applicants.

We will try to offer your child a place at one of your highest preferred schools.

Most children who are assessed as suitable for grammar school in the Medway Test (11+) will get a place at a grammar school. A child may be given a place at a non-grammar if it’s named as a higher preference on the application or if we cannot meet any of your preferred schools and there are no more grammar places.

The schools you name are not told your order of preference. The order is only known by you and Medway Council for the purpose of offering places only.

If you are not offered one of your preferences

We may not be able to offer your child a place at one of the schools named on your application. This will either be because:

  • there were more applications than places and other applicants had a higher priority based on the school's oversubscription criteria
  • it’s a grammar school and your child has not been assessed as suitable for grammar school in their Medway Test (11+).

You’ll be offered a place at the nearest school to your home with a space if you’re not offered a place at any of the schools named on your application.

If your child is assessed as suitable for a grammar school in the Medway Test (11+) we will try to offer them a grammar school place. This may not be possible if all grammar school places have already been allocated.