The schools are good, with one twist: the grammar schools are all in other towns. Nine in ten graded schools across Kent are good or better. The local primaries sit right on the average in maths. Herne Bay has one secondary of its own. For some families the school run turns into a trip to another town, and they signed up for that knowingly.
There are three mainstream state primaries in the area, and their Key Stage 2 maths average comes out at about 100. That's steady and nothing special either way, which suits parents who want a primary that gets on with it. The one carrying the town's name is Herne Bay Junior School in the town centre, with Herne Bay Infant School next door feeding into it. On the edges, Hampton Primary School covers the west side and Reculver Church of England Primary School the east, and a handful of village and church primaries round out the choice. The Department for Transport's 2019 modelling puts the nearest primary about 11 minutes' walk from the average home.
Ofsted has graded 221 of the 245 schools and settings it has rated across Kent as good or better, which is about nine in ten. Of those, 38 are outstanding. At the other end, 21 require improvement and 3 are inadequate. These are county-wide counts, not a Herne Bay league table, so they tell you what the system around the town looks like rather than grading any one gate you'll be standing at. Plenty more settings haven't had a published grade yet, and they count as not graded, not as failing.
At secondary age there's one local option: Herne Bay High School, a mixed-ability foundation school that became a specialist sports college in 2002. On the same 2019 modelling, the nearest secondary is about 30 minutes' walk away, which is a long way for a teenager who'd rather be in bed. Many students go further, to the grammar schools in Faversham, Ramsgate and Canterbury. That's where Kent's admissions system does its sorting, and parents who assumed the grammar question would sort itself out usually find out otherwise in the autumn of Year 6.
Buying near a named school doesn't guarantee a place in it. Kent County Council allocates places under its own admissions rules, and the house you buy isn't a ticket in. The admissions criteria for the exact school, checked the year you apply, are worth more than anything the listing says about being "close to good schools".
Schools are one of Herne Bay's real strengths. The primaries are dependable, the county system around them is overwhelmingly rated good, and the grammar schools are there for anyone willing to travel for them.