I've found from experience that what is printed in the Lewisham booklet and reality are not the same thing. I know parents last year and the year before that got their child into Prendergast HF from the corners of SE23 without too much effort.

The test for Harris is a non-verbal test with shape sequences and is the same one as Askes were using unless they have changed it this year. This is totally different from the 11+ which is verbal reasoning, maths, comprehension and a writing task. My child tells me children come and go at Harris CP all the time just like at any other school so it is not impossible to enter mid-term in any year group. Their results are excellent because they have a narrow curriculum, constant testing and retakes, very few school trips out, mostly good teaching and aim for 100% 'C' passes. Their intake is a mystery because although they divide the children into 9 ability bands from the test results and take the top from each band, like you say, they manage to admit very few low ability children (see DfE KS4 results). A new Head is starting in Sept so it will be interesting to see what changes she makes.

Sorry but I wasn't disputing your journey times to Kent grammars but adding that Sutton's are shorter. The journey is 29 minutes station to station. And yes passing the test doesn't guarantee entry but the children I know that have not been tutored have been offered places. The grammars try to design the tests so untutored children are not disadvantaged. For example, Sutton reject applicants if it is obvious children have pre-prepared phrases or generic essays.

Kingsdale's latest ofsted report has some suggestions about why their results have fallen.