Wilmington Grammar School for Girls

If your daughter does her best work when she feels settled and looked after rather than under pressure, Wilmington Grammar School for Girls is the kind of place that tends to win families over. It sits on a compact campus between Wilmington and Dartford in Kent, taking girls from 11 to 18 and sharing a co-educational sixth form with the neighbouring boys' school. Most pupils are local, walking in or taking short bus rides from Bexley, Dartford and Swanley, and the intake has a wide ethnic mix that reflects the area. The school dates from 1962 and began life in an 18th-century building known as the Grange, which still carries a traditional charm despite its earlier days as the Wilmington Workhouse.

The Good Schools Guide describes it as the place for bright girls who thrive in a balanced setting and appreciate solid teaching and mutual respect. Parents told the Guide it is 'not a pressure pot', describing learning that comes with a calm feel alongside a clear expectation of doing well. The music department is warmly described as a 'family', with pupils encouraged to drop in at break to play together, and sport stands out, with well-used facilities including a sports hall and fitness suite. It is the pastoral care that draws the warmest praise of all: parents and pupils call it 'phenomenal' and 'extraordinary', and several said they recommend the school to others on that basis alone.

The school has been led since September 2025 by headteacher Dave Fuller. For a girl who values being properly known, this is a school that seems to make that its first job.