Apply to The Folkestone School for Girls, in plain English.
FSG is the only selective school for girls in the Folkestone & Hythe district. You can be assessed via the Kent 11+ or via FSG's own test held in September each year. After Looked-After Children, the criteria favour girls living in the district — a Pupil Premium tier and a district tier come before everyone else.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
Two ways in: Kent 11+ or the FSG test.
Your daughter can be assessed via Kent's standard PESE (the 11+) or via FSG's own September test (verbal, non-verbal and Maths competency). Provision will be made for an alternative date if she's unwell, observing religion, or if there's a Kent Test clash for out-of-area children. Either passing makes her eligible.
Living in Folkestone & Hythe gives you priority tiers.
After Looked-After Children, criteria 2 and 3 are only for girls living in Folkestone & Hythe district (formerly Shepway). PP-eligible Folkestone girls come first, then all Folkestone girls (by distance), then everyone else.
Pupil Premium only counts if you also live in Folkestone & Hythe.
Like Harvey Grammar (the boys' equivalent), FSG's PP tier is district-restricted. If your daughter is PP-eligible and you live in Folkestone & Hythe, you get tier 2. PP-eligible girls outside the district drop to tier 4. Return the SIF to npetrie@folkestonegirls.kent.sch.uk by 31 October 2026.
Six steps, spread over a year.
From registering for whichever test you choose to your daughter starting Year 7. Steps 4 and 5 both close on 31 October 2026.
4 tiers, with the Folkestone & Hythe district doing the heavy lifting.
EHCPs naming the school are admitted first. Every other eligible girl is sorted into the highest tier that applies. Two of the four tiers are restricted to girls living in the Folkestone & Hythe district.
In plain English: Girls currently in council care, or who left care via adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship orders — including those adopted from state care outside England.
What the document says: A 'looked after child' or a child who was previously looked after but immediately after being looked after, became subject to an adoption, child arrangement, or special guardianship order. A previously looked after child means such children who were adopted (or subject to child arrangements orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after and those children who appear to the admission authority to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted.
In plain English: Girls who are PP-eligible (FSM at any point in the last 6 years) and who live in the Folkestone & Hythe district. Both conditions must apply. Return the SIF (Appendix 1 of the policy) to the school by 31 October.
What the document says: Girls in receipt of Pupil Premium who reside in the District of Folkestone and Hythe (formerly known as Shepway). A child is eligible for Pupil Premium where they have been registered for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years. Parents wishing to apply under this criterion must ensure they complete the Supplementary Form for Pupil Premium Information (Appendix 1) and return it to the school by 31st October in the year of application.
In plain English: All girls who passed either test and live in Folkestone & Hythe district, ranked by straight-line distance — closest first.
What the document says: Girls who reside in the District of Folkestone & Hythe (formerly known as Shepway) — in the event of the number of successful students in Folkestone & Hythe exceeding the number of places available, the nearness of a child's home to school will apply.
In plain English: Any other eligible girl — including PP-eligible girls outside Folkestone & Hythe — ranked by straight-line distance to the school. If two girls tie exactly for the last place, an independently supervised random draw decides.
What the document says: Other girls who satisfy the selection requirements, with those living nearest to the school being given the higher priority. In the unlikely event that two or more children in all other ways have equal eligibility for the last available place at the school, the names will be issued a number and drawn randomly to decide which child should be given the place. This process will be independently supervised.
Straight line, not driving time.
Inside tiers 3 and 4 — which together fill most places — FSG uses the straight-line distance between your home and the school. Routes, bus times and travel difficulty are not considered. The Folkestone & Hythe district boundary acts as a hard split between tier 3 and tier 4 — the same model used by Harvey Grammar (the boys' equivalent).
Distance uses the National Land and Property GazetteerNLPGThe official UK address database. Distance is measured as a straight line between two address points: your home and a fixed point at the school. address point. For new-build homes not yet in that database, KCC uses planning coordinates.
See the approximate catchment on the GrammarBound mapThe district boundary beats raw distance.
Both girls passed either the Kent Test or the FSG test; neither claims PP. Girl A lives in the Folkestone & Hythe district and competes in tier 3 (district, by distance). Girl B lives just outside the district — she's in tier 4 with everyone else. Even if her straight-line distance is slightly shorter, the district boundary keeps Girl A in front.
Mixed academic/vocational sixth form.
Total Year 12 cohort is 180. The external admission number is 25, but the school says this figure may be exceeded if internal Year 11 transfers don't fill the year group.
6 GCSEs at grade 5.5+, with 5 in English and 4 in Maths.
For AS/A2/BTEC courses: at least 6 GCSE subjects at grade 5.5 or above (a grade 6 counts double-weighted in averaging), at least grade 5 in English (Language or Literature) and grade 4 in Maths. A grade 6 or above is required in the chosen course of study or a related subject. To study Maths or Science a 7+ at GCSE is strongly recommended; to study two or more Sciences or Maths + Science, two grade 7s are required in those subjects.
LAC → Distance.
Following the admission of internal pupils transferring from Year 11, external places are ranked: (1) LAC/previously LAC, (2) distance from home to school as for Year 7.
Apply via the Kent Online Application Scheme at kentchoices4u.com or via the school's paper form. Appeals to an independent panel.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Eligible girls are assigned to a waiting list, re-ranked using the same 4 criteria each time a child is added.
Appeal
Right of appeal to an independent panel. Address appeals to the Clerk to the Independent Appeals Panel, c/o The Folkestone School for Girls, Coolinge Lane, Folkestone CT20 3RB, by the closing date stated on the appeal application form.
Subject to availability, girls may be admitted if they achieve a selective standard in the school's English, Maths and Non-verbal Reasoning assessments. The in-year testing comprises Cognitive Ability Tests to ensure students are in line with the top 25% in the national ability profile. Contact the Admissions Manager to arrange testing.