Apply to Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School, in plain English.
Simon Langton Girls' is a selective grammar in central Canterbury with a mixed sixth form. As a Voluntary Controlled school, Kent County Council is its admission authority — and the oversubscription rules run through five tiers: LAC → Sibling → Health → Pupil Premium → Distance.
The three things to know first.
If you read nothing else on this page, read these. They're the bits that catch parents out.
Your daughter needs the Kent 11+ (PESE).
Only girls who reach the required Kent Test standard are deemed selective. Receiving a "grammar" assessment doesn't guarantee a place here — the five oversubscription criteria below decide that.
You apply through your council, by 31 October 2026.
List Simon Langton Girls on your council's SCAFSecondary Common Application FormThe single form you submit to your home council listing up to six schools in order of preference. by 31 October 2026, even if you don't live in Kent. The school does not take direct applications.
Pupil Premium has its own tier — but only if you send the form.
Girls eligible for Pupil Premium (free school meals at any point in the last 6 years) rank in tier 4, ahead of everyone competing on distance alone. To claim it, return the school's Supplementary Form by 31 October. For everyone else, straight-line distance to the school decides most places in tier 5.
Five steps, spread over a year.
From registering for the test to your daughter starting Year 7. Step 3 is the deadline that catches families out.
If too many girls pass the 11+, these 5 tiers decide.
EHCPs naming the school are admitted first (reducing the 165 PAN). Every other eligible girl is sorted into the highest tier that applies to her, then straight-line distance from her home decides inside tier 5 — and breaks ties inside tiers 1–4 (with a supervised random draw if distances tie exactly). Tap any tier to see KCC's exact wording.
In plain English: Girls currently in council care, or who left care via adoption, child arrangements or special guardianship orders. Also covers girls adopted from state care outside England.
What the document says: Looked After Children and previously Looked After Children — A looked after child is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b) being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act 1989) at the time of making an application to a school. 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: If your daughter will have a sister, step-sister or foster-sister already at the school in September 2027 (including a brother in the sixth form), she gets sibling priority.
What the document says: Current Family Association — a brother or sister in the same school at the time of entry. In this context brother or sister means children who live as brother and sister in the same house, including natural brothers or sisters, adopted siblings, stepbrothers or sisters, foster brothers or sisters.
In plain English: If your daughter — or a parent/guardian — has a medical, mental-health, social or special-access need that makes this school in particular the right choice, you can ask for priority here. Written evidence from a qualified practitioner is required, and must show a special connection to Simon Langton Girls.
What the document says: Health and Special Access Reasons — Medical, health, social and special access reasons will be applied in accordance with the school's legal obligations, in particular those under the Equality Act 2010. Priority will be given to those children whose mental or physical impairment means they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. Equally this priority will apply to children whose parents'/guardians' physical or mental health or social needs mean that they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend a particular school. Such claims will need to be supported by written evidence from a suitably qualified medical or other practitioner.
In plain English: Girls attracting Pupil Premium funding — broadly, anyone who has been registered for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years. To claim this priority you must return the school's Supplementary Information Form directly to the school by 31 October; without it the criterion can't be applied. Within the tier, straight-line distance breaks ties.
What the document says: Pupil Premium — priority will be given to children in receipt of, or targeted for, Pupil Premium funding: children who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point during the last 6 years. Parents must complete the school's Supplementary Information Form and return it to the school by 31 October for this criterion to be applied.
In plain English: Distance from your home to a fixed point on the school site, measured as a single straight line. Used as the main ranking in tier 5 and as a tiebreaker inside the higher tiers too. Routes, bus times and travel difficulty are not considered.
What the document says: Nearness of children's homes to school — we use the distance between the child's permanent home address (defined in KCC's annual admissions prospectus) and the school, measured in a straight line using the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) address point. The same address point on the school site is used for everybody. Where applications are made from properties or abodes that are not registered to the NLPG, including new build properties, KCC may be required to use planning sites or other relevant co-ordinates. In exceptional circumstances where alternative co-ordinates are not available, measurements will be determined by a Senior Admissions Officer and confirmed by Head of Service.
Straight line, not driving time.
Most Year 7 places at Simon Langton Girls are filled in tier 5 — and inside tier 5, distance is the only thing that ranks one applicant above another. KCC measures the distance between your home and a fixed point on the school site as a single straight line. Routes, bus times and travel difficulty are not considered.
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 mapInside tier 5, distance decides.
Both girls passed the 11+, neither has a sibling at the school, neither has a Health claim, and neither is Pupil Premium-eligible. They both sit in tier 5. House A's straight-line distance is shorter, so it ranks higher — distance is the deciding factor.
Mixed sixth form — boys join here.
Simon Langton Girls operates a mixed sixth form of 400 students across Years 12 and 13. Year 12 has up to 200 places. The Published Admission Number for external students is 20; if fewer than 180 of the school's own Year 11s transfer in, additional external pupils are admitted to fill the 200.
8 GCSEs at grades 9–5, including 6 grade 6s.
A minimum of 8 GCSEs at grades 9–5, of which at least six must be grade 6 or above. Plus grade 5 in their best English and Maths. Plus the specific entry requirements for the A Levels you wish to study.
LAC → Internal Y11 → PP → Forces → Externals.
Following enrolment of internal students, places are allocated: (a) LAC/previously LAC, (b) Current Y11 Simon Langton Girls students, (c) PP-eligible students, (d) Armed Forces Community children, (e) External students. If two applicants tie, the tiebreak is (i) highest predicted average grade in best 8 qualifications, then (ii) distance to school.
Apply via the Kent Choices website by 1 March. Late applications considered on a case-by-case basis.
You have two routes, and you can use both.
Waiting list
Ask Kent County Council to add your daughter after National Offer DayNational Offer DayThe single day around 1 March on which every English council releases secondary-school offers. You hear by email or letter.. The list is re-ranked each time someone joins, using the same five criteria. A girl added later with a closer home address can jump above you in tier 5.
Appeal
If your daughter is refused a place, you have a statutory right of appeal. Write to the Clerk to the Governors at the school. Appeals are heard by an independent panel — not by the school or KCC — and do not affect your waiting-list position.
If you move to Kent after Kent Test day, your daughter can still be assessed for a place at Simon Langton Girls. The school will use the Kent Test until the end of the first term, then switch to its own assessment: electronic Progress Tests with an aggregate score of 330 and no test below 110. Reaching the standard does not guarantee a place — the five oversubscription criteria still apply.