Kent Independent Education Advice

Newspaper Articles

This page offers links to articles penned by me for local newpapers, mainly Kent on Sunday (KOS). Most were printed in full, several were the basis for informing news stories. I shall be adding archive articles as time permits.

Sunday, 22 April 2012 15:15

Problems in Infant Class Admissions: Kent on Sunday - 22 April 2012

On the surface, Kent primary school infant class placements, which took place at the end of March look well with a healthy 95% of children in Kent being offered one of their three choices, similar to last year. However, looking beneath the surface, a much more worrying picture emerges because of increased numbers in some areas as the number of children being allocated a school they hadn’t chosen has risen from 564 to 818 in two years, a frightening rise of 45%. Analysis of the figures shows a sharp contrast between most of West Kent and most of East Kent and between urban and rural areas. Maidstone town is the most difficult area, with over 100 children allocated to schools they…
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Sunday, 25 March 2012 06:27

Secondary Transfer in Kent & Medway; oversubscription and vacancies

An abbreviated version of this article appeared in Kent on Sunday 0n 25th March 2012. It is drawn from two other articles on this website: Oversubscription and Vacancies; and Movement in and out of the County. Information from KCC and Medway under FOI requests, reveals considerable change in the pattern of secondary school applications this year. The focus is on grammar school patterns of admission in West Kent. There is a considerable swing in grammar school assessments from East to West, driven by parental pressure to secure grammar school places, and the intense coaching culture which becomes self–fulfilling. This is combined with pressure from children along the boundary to the West and NW, and from London Boroughs stretching through to…
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Saturday, 10 March 2012 20:34

Cracks Continue to Widen in Kent's Grammar System

Parents of Kent children, applying for secondary schools, learned their allocated schools last week. Overall figures were very similar to last year, although the number of children given none of their choices rose from 413 to 443. As usual, West Kent is the main problem area (not to overlook other hot-spots), although the difficulties are clearly more pronounced this year, especially amongst children qualified for grammar schools. All three of the ‘super-selectives’ - Judd School, Skinners School and Tonbridge Grammar School - saw their base-line Kent Test score for entry rise, Judd requiring a record marks aggregate of 418 points (maximum possible 420), and even then some with this score did not gain admission. There are three main reasons…
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Monday, 14 November 2011 18:46

Medway Test Shambles - Kent on Sunday

The following article appeared with an accompanying newspaper report in Kent on Sunday, October 30th. It was subsequently reproduced in full, in the blog of Medway Councillor Tristan Osborne. The row about the shambolic Medway Test arrangements at two Test Centres, described by Councillor Les Wicks, Portfolio Holder for Education at Medway Council, as ‘a mortification’ - continues unabated. The Medway Eleven plus is held in a number of large centres (mainly schools) on a Saturday morning in September. There have been complaints about the operation of these tests for years, the Council agreeing nine changes in procedures with the Ombudsman in 2008 after a large number of complaints; last year the council admitted fault after another large number of…
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Saturday, 11 June 2011 07:19

School exclusions: SEN children and academies June 2011

The following item served the basis for an article in KOS on 11 June 2011, and also triggered the front page news story. A Freedom of Information request I submitted has revealed a number of alarming features in the pattern of permanent exclusions (expulsions) in Kent schools. The first two new style academies created in Kent top the list of permanent exclusions between September and Easter, headed by Westlands School in Sittingbourne with 11. Next is Canterbury High School with nine permanent exclusions. Both these schools previously had outstanding Ofsted reports, so it is difficult to believe they have difficult disciplinary problems. Other schools with high numbers of permanent exclusions over this period are: Chaucer Technology School, also in Canterbury…
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Wednesday, 04 May 2011 20:43

Top Kent schools get millions in funding meant for deprived inner city pupils KOS May 2011

EXCLUSIVE - Top Kent schools get millions in funding meant for deprived inner city pupils More than £4.5 million a year of Government funding is being "unfairly" pumped into selected schools to spend as they wish through a project abolished five years ago. And despite the grants being designed specifically to help schools in deprived urban areas, many of those in Kent receiving the no-strings-attached cash are in affluent areas or are grammar schools. Figures obtained through a Freedom of Information request by Peter Read of Kent Independent Education Advice revealed a total of £4.5 million was being handed over annually through the former Excellence in Cities scheme, which was abolished in 2006. The project looked to raise standards in…
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Friday, 08 April 2011 08:47

Oversubscription in Kent Secondary Schools April 2011

Kent County Council figures show a pleasing increase in the number of children being offered their first choice secondary school on 1st March, up from 80% in 2010 to 83% in 2011. Just 413 got none of their choices. With nearly 500 fewer Kent children in the system, waiting lists for popular schools are generally much lower this year. There is a similar picture in Medway with 87% of children being allocated their first choice school, although this is helped by a fall in the age group of nearly 10%. Last year the eighteen most popular schools each turned away more than 50 children who put them in first place, but this year the same number of schools sees the…
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Saturday, 19 March 2011 07:33

Empty Spaces in Old Style Academies KOS March 2011

Another knotty problem for Michael Gove. Following Kent secondary school allocations on 1st March just gone, 9% of places in Year Seven were left empty or occupied by children who had not applied for the schools in question. The Audit Commission considers there should be no more than 5% empty spaces in any area or authority. So there is a problem in Kent. However, with 49 of the100 Kent secondary schools either Academies or well on the way and another 36 Foundation or Voluntary Aided schools partially independent of KCC, the county has lost all control of its ability to plan numbers of places to fit the population, and so has no way of meeting government targets...... (read more)
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Latest News & Comments

The latest news posted by Peter J Read, click on a news item below, leave a comment or subscribe to the news via the email link to the right.

More Kent Primary School failures: Canterbury & Deal

As soon as I write something positive about Kent primary school standards, bad news has a habit of turning up, this time with two more OFSTED failures at Sandown School in Deal and Kingsmead Primary in Canterbury.

The story of Sandown Primary in Deal illustrates the problems too many schools are having........... Read more...

Written on Friday, 18 May 2012 06:04 Be the first to comment! Read 40 times
Boys Grammar School Places in West & North West Kent

Even before most appeals are heard, there are signs that up to 90 additional grammar school places are being freed up for boys in West & North West Kent, easing pressures on the many boys who have passed the Kent Test but currently do not hold a grammar school place. Both Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys and Wilmington Grammar School for Boys are indicating to Appeal Panels that they are able to admit an additional class of entry (30 boys each), as large year groups passing through the schools free up additional space lower down, for one year only. An appeal panel would have difficulty in not offering this number of places as the school has indicated there is room. A few additional places will also be freed up .........
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Written on Wednesday, 09 May 2012 19:14 Be the first to comment! Read 263 times
Primary School Admission Problems in Bearsted Area - Update

Pressure continues to build over the shortage of reception class places in Bearsted, centred on Madginford Park Infants School, Thurnham CofE Infants School and St John's Primary School. At the recent meeting of Bearsted Parish Council, Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council, listened to the concerns of many local parents whose children have no local school to go to, and has promised to do what he can to resolve the problem. One new issue is that at present, 43 of the 80 plus children without a school of their choice have been allocated places at St Paul's Infant School over two miles away. KCC is responsible for providing transport for those unable to make other arrangements, likely to be a minibus, driver as the only adult present, no seat belts, cost estimated at .......
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Written on Tuesday, 08 May 2012 13:22 Be the first to comment! Read 243 times
Academy & Free School News May 2012

According to the Department for Education, just one new application for Academy status has been received this month in Kent or Medway, from Hartley Primary School. Interestingly,.......
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Written on Saturday, 05 May 2012 06:03 Be the first to comment! Read 134 times
Cranbrook School consulting on change to admission at age 11.

Cranbrook School is consulting on changing its age of admission from 13 to 11, for entry in 2014, as explained in a letter from the Headteacher to parents; a recommendation which in my view is long overdue.

First, a bit of background into why Cranbrook still exists as Kent's only 13-18 school......
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Written on Wednesday, 02 May 2012 20:26 Be the first to comment! Read 162 times
West Kent Grammar Schools and the Sevenoaks Annex

Weald of Kent Grammar School has recently offered a number of additional places to girls in the West Kent selective area, as places have become available. In addition Tonbridge Grammar School has offered further places, seeing its cut off off score falling to 412 (from 414) for Inner girls. This underlines the conundrum about the proposed Sevenoaks annex. Currently, there are some 50 boys in the area, found to be of grammar school ability, who have no grammar school place and probably no girls. However, any annex has to offer the same number of places for boys and girls. I cannot see Weald of Kent being supportive of a proposal that could take away many of its students, and in any case I am not convinced that parents living in Sevenoaks will choose an annex over the established and OFSTED Outstanding Weald of Kent Grammar, just a few miles away in Tonbridge.

Why the discrepancy?......
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Written on Wednesday, 02 May 2012 17:29 Be the first to comment! Read 201 times