Dartford Science & Technology College

About Dartford Science & Technology College

Dartford Science & Technology College sits within the Kent local authority, a secondary girls' school that ranks 7th out of 10 schools in the Dartford area based on Progress 8 scores. That puts it in the bottom half of its immediate local peers, though the picture is more nuanced when you look at the wider Kent landscape, where it ranks 44th out of 106 similar schools. The top-performing schools nearby are all grammar schools: Dartford Grammar School, The Judd School, and Dartford Grammar School for Girls, each with significantly higher Progress 8 scores. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is Dartford Grammar School for Girls, just 0.2 km away, which sets a high benchmark for academic comparison. Headteacher Joanne Sangster leads a school of 855 pupils, operating below its capacity of 950, with 21.9% of students eligible for free school meals. The school is heavily oversubscribed for 2025/26 entry, receiving 510 applications for 144 places, with 185 first-preference applications resulting in 119 offers.

Academically, the school's Progress 8 score of -0.04 is rated as 'Average' nationally, and it sits above the Kent local authority average of -0.13, meaning pupils here make slightly better progress than the typical student across the county. Attainment 8 sits at 42.1, with 60.7% of students achieving a grade 4 or above in English and maths, though only 37.3% reached the higher grade 5 threshold. The EBacc entry rate is low at 14%, and the EBacc average point score is 3.43. In its most recent graded Ofsted inspection in 2017, the school was rated Good overall, with Good for leadership and management and Good for sixth-form provision. An ungraded inspection in 2022 confirmed the school remains Good. At Key Stage 5, the sixth form has 56 pupils, with a value-added score of -0.48, rated 'Below average', and an average points per entry of 23, equating to a D+ grade. The best three A-levels average out at a C- grade.

The school offers a broad range of facilities including a swimming pool, sports hall, theatre, science labs, and a dedicated sixth form centre. Sports on offer include tennis, swimming, rugby, hockey, netball, and athletics, while extracurricular clubs range from orchestra and choir to coding, Model UN, and Young Enterprise. SEND provisions are comprehensive, covering specific learning difficulties like dyslexia, moderate learning difficulties, social and emotional mental health needs, speech and language communication needs, hearing and visual impairments, physical disabilities, and autistic spectrum disorder. This makes the school a viable option for families whose daughters need additional support alongside a mainstream curriculum. Given its oversubscription rate of 3.54 and the high number of first-preference applications, parents should be prepared for a competitive admissions process. The school suits families who value a girls-only environment with strong facilities and a sixth form, and who are comfortable with academic outcomes that are broadly in line with or slightly above the local average, rather than the higher benchmarks set by nearby grammar schools.

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