(updated 20 October 2011)

Thamesview School Gravesend. OFSTED 2011 - a Good School (and very good Report, Congratulations - PJR!):General Information - Thamesview School is smaller than most secondary schools and is a non-selective high school in an area where the top two fifths of more-able students go to local selective and faith schools. The majority of students are White British and few speak English as an additional language. The percentage of students known to be eligible for free school meals is above the national average. The proportion of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities and statements of special educational needs is well above the national average. The school is a designated centre for physically disabled students. Thamesview School is a Specialist Business and Enterprise College and moved into a new building in September 2010. A purpose built vocational centre opened in 2005. This offers vocational education and training programmes to students from 13 to 19 years old from Thamesview School and other schools in Gravesham and beyond. Summary of Main findings - Thamesview is a good school which works hard to ensure all students succeed. They make good progress from starting points that are often very low and reach standards by the end of Year 11 that are average overall. The number of students gaining five or more GCSE passes at grades A* to C, including English and mathematics, is improving, and the percentage of students gaining five or more A* to C grades at GCSE is now above the national average. All students take a vocational course in line with the school’s business and enterprise specialism. The outcomes for these BTEC courses are good. A large majority of students pass their courses with a fifth gaining merit and distinction passes. The school’s strong emphasis on a caring, inclusive ethos results in all students achieving equally well. Students with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress because of the good individual support they receive. Some of these students, particularly those who are part of the physically disabled unit, make outstanding progress. Students are proud of their school and feel very safe and well cared for. Students are very pleased with the new building and say that it has made a significant difference to their education. They particularly like the way the school is organised into four mixed-age communities as they feel this creates a good learning and social atmosphere. There are very good relationships between staff and students and students behave very well both in and out of lessons. Students reported that ‘bullying is very rare and is always taken very seriously and acted on very effectively’. Nearly all parents and carers support the school’s high expectations of their children and feel the school is a safe and a happy place. Students enjoy their education and come to school regularly and on time. Attendance has improved significantly over recent years and is good. Students are enthusiastic learners and make an exceptional contribution to the life of the school and the wider community. This ranges from their eager participation in school drama productions to construction students working on real building projects in local schools. Some students are also actively involved in research projects which look at areas of school life impacting on teaching and learning. Effective teaching results in good learning in lessons where students are engaged and interested in a wide variety of well-planned activities. Teachers understand their students’ needs well and many are very skilful in developing and consolidating learning. There are some examples of outstanding teaching where careful planning for a range of different activities ensures the pace of learning is brisk and students are actively involved. Some teachers do not always take sufficient account of what students already know and can do and too much direction by the teacher does not give enough opportunities for students to learn independently. Learning support assistants are not always used to best effect in lessons as their input is not planned in enough detail to effectively support learning. The curriculum makes a good contribution to the students’ enjoyment of school. Specialist status and the vocational centre have broadened the range of activities and strengthened provision for vocational courses that meet students’ needs. The school takes excellent care of the students through a total commitment to all aspects of care, guidance and support. Staff make every effort to get to know their students as individuals and work with families and agencies to ensure all students receive support and any help they might need. The quality of education is improving under good leadership which has been successful in steering the school through the disruption associated with the building of and move into a new school.

Oversubscribed and increasing in popularity. Has been completely rebuilt under BSF, but Planned Admission Number down from 210 to 150 over the past few years.20 first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010, 26 in 2011.

Tonbridge Grammar School (for Girls). Is now a 'Gove' Academy. Selects on high scores in two categories. 105 girls in Kent selective areas. 35 'outers'. Scores in categories vary, but are always over 400 in the initial selection.  For 2011, the cut off point rose sharply to 409 for inners and 413 for outers on 1st March. Little change by the time of the appeals. For 2009 entry, the Inners cut off was 407, Outers 412 but these had both fallen by the time of the appeals as some girls were withdrawn. 77 Qualified first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010, down on 2009. Inners cut off 405 for 2010, Outers 407. Appeals organised by school with Independent Panel, for 2010 entry there were 13 successful appeals out of 34.

Towers School, Ashford. 44 first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010. for 2011 applications slumped so there were 18 vacancies in March. Now an Academy supported by Highworth Grammar School.

Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar School. Only takes girls from the West Kent selective area, mainly those closest to the school (cut off distance was 1.8 miles for 2011 entry) but but 14 places being reserved for high scorers, living in the selective area. As a result there will be no successful applicants out of area, except the few still qualifying as siblings.   Heavily oversubscribed. 39 qualified first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010, 22 in 2011. Initially ten successful appeals for admission September 2010. Successful complaints to the Ombudsman subsequently saw a further four places offered. Once again, in November 2011, the school was found Outstanding by OFSTED. Exerpt from Report: Information about the school. Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School is an academically selective school, with a specialism in music and English. It is of average size and the large majority of students are of White British heritage. Very few students have special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are cooperative arrangements in the sixth form with Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys and The Skinners’ School to broaden curriculum provision. Overall effectiveness: The quality of education provided by Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School is outstanding. The headteacher and her senior staff have established a strong and positive ethos throughout the school that supports excellent attitudes to learning and promotes outstanding behaviour. Girls have an obvious and well-founded sense of pride in their school and their place in it. Staff morale is high. Good leadership and management, an evident ambition to maintain existing very high standards while securing improvements in other areas, coupled with accurate self-evaluation and development planning that focuses on appropriate priorities, give the school a secure capacity to continue to improve. The sixth form has a distinctive character but Years 12 and 13 still feel very much a part of the school. The many strengths evident in Key Stages 3 and 4 are also apparent in this outstandingly successful sixth form. All aspects of the personal development of all groups of students are outstanding. The girls are confident yet thoughtful and mature young people who have appropriately high levels of personal ambition. Achievement is impressive, with levels of attainment throughout the school that are high because of the excellent good progress students make. Occasionally, the ground gained in some Year 12 classes is less striking, but when this happens, better progress is then made in Year 13. Students are extremely well cared for and supported. The school identifies individual needs rapidly and astutely, and it responds in ways that enable individuals to feel very well looked after. The range of subjects and qualifications on offer is well suited to students’ needs. The curriculum is outstanding because of the ways in which individual subjects find opportunities to provide challenge and stimulus that go well beyond examination requirements. The school’s specialisms of music and English are used very effectively to enhance provision and to provide an exciting range of opportunities for the girls to broaden their range of experiences. Many students take part in high quality and well-planned music and English-based activities, many of which benefit the local community.Teaching is consistently at least good across all subjects and it is outstanding in about one lesson in four. The best teaching unleashes the girls’ creative and intellectual potential, and their willingness to contribute to lessons, through frequent and highly effective use of questioning to constantly gauge understanding. The school’s drive to improve the degree of independence of thinking has not transformed enough of the good teaching to be outstanding overall, but it has the capacity to do so. Students’ written work is checked reliably but relatively little of the marking provides sufficient stimulus to help students to improve the level of sophistication of their work.

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys. Initially always heavily oversubscribed, but there is a fall off in the number of boys taking up places. There were 32 successful appeals in 2009, and 28 in 2010, reflecting the pressure on places at the school, but putting massive pressure on the resources of TWGSB who vigorously opposed any additional boys being offered places. 32 qualified first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010, 20 in 2011. Applying to be an academy.

Ursuline College Westgate-on Sea. This Catholic School was until recently a private school, until it joined the state sector. Oversubscribed, giving priority to Catholics then other Christians. 17 first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010, 38 in 2011.Lost out in BSF.

Valley Park School, Is now an Academy along with its Federated partner, Invicta Grammmar School. Maidstone was massively oversubscribed in 2009 partly as a result of Cornwallis Academy changing its oversubscription criteria cutting out children from the Roseacre and Madginford areas, but also because of the unpopularity of Swadelands School. The combination of the two reduced its catchment distance for the year to 1.08 miles. There were 64 appeals in the end, of which 38 were successful after the school agreed to admit an additional form of entry. Four families took complaints to the Ombudsman, who recommended fresh appeals, although KCC contested this. In the end the appeals were reheard and all four appellants were offered places. This was an unusual Ombudsman case as the fault was in the decision making process, not the hearings themselves and so the faults were not initially apparent.  Second most popular school in Kent for entry in 2010 and 4th in 2011, with 112 first choices oversubscribed on 2nd March 2010, and 83 in 2011. Initial cut off distance was 1.09 miles. OFSTED April 2010 found it "an outstanding school because outcomes for individuals and groups of students are good and improving and the school's capacity for sustained improvement is outstanding. The school has a strong belief that every student can succeed. Teaching and the sixth form have improved since the last inspection and other important aspects of the school's work are outstanding. For example, care, guidance and support and an innovative curriculum are all increasingly tailored to the needs of individual students and give them every opportunity to reflect their strengths". 83 first choices oversubscribed in March 2011. For each of the past two years the school has been happy to see an Appeal Panel put in an additional form of entry (32 successful appeals out of 55 in 2010). What will happen in the 2011 appeals?