Independent Education Advice - Kent Secondary School Admissions

Kent Secondary School Admissions 2010

This page is designed primarily for parents resident in Kent, whose children will be transferring to state secondary schools in September 2010. It should be read in conjunction with the pages on Grammar School Admissions and Medway Secondary School Admissions.

I have wide experience of the secondary school transfer schemes in Kent and Medway, and am happy to place my expertise at your service, advising on choice of schools and patterns of application, drawing on my extensive local knowledge of the area and its schools. I give talks for parents at several Kent primary schools by invitation, and am also happy to talk with groups of parents, as well as individuals. For admissions you may well find my telephone consultation service useful.

Parents who registered online and wish to find out how to obtain decisions on secondary transfer now, should go to the news page on this website.

A new scheme for secondary school admissions for children living in Kent was introduced last year. The main changes are: (1) grammar school assessment to take place in September, see details below; (2) there will now be four schools named on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF). The full details together with next year's oversubscription rules for individual Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools are posted at KCC. I have simplified the regulations here.

THE KENT SCHEME

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families approved a new scheme for secondary transfer in Kent in 2008. The scheme will operate for Kent residents, no matter where the schools for which they are applying are situated, and refers to entry in September 2010.

TIMETABLE

Key Action	Key Dates in Scheme
Registration for Grammar School Testing opens	1 June 2009
Closing date for Registration	10 July 2009
Test Date	15/16 September 2009
Test Date for out of county and some children from Independent Schools	19 September 2009 (practice test 12 Sept)
Assessment Decision sent to Parents	19 October 2009
Closing Date for Common Application Form	6 November 2009
National Offer Day	1 March 2010
Schools send out welcome letters	5 March 2010
Date by which places should be accepted or declined	26 March 2010
Vacant places allocated to children on waiting list who applied through SCAF	31 March 2010
New waiting list drawn up according to oversubscription criteria including late applicants	1 April 2010

In each Local Authority (LA), an admissions booklet will be issued by mid September. Each LA has its own closing date, and operates a different process for allocating pupils, for example Kent parents have four choices, and Medway parents have six choices. These booklets contain details of the all important oversubscription rules, which determine if you will be offered a place if too many people apply.

It is essential that all parents, who are considering entering their child for the Kent tests, register their child on a form obtainable from the primary school. Your child cannot take the Kent tests if he or she has not been registered. You cannot apply for a grammar school if your child has not sat the Kent tests. Copies of the registration form will be distributed through primary schools and can be downloaded here.

There is nothing to lose by entering your child for the tests. Parents in Kent livig near the Medway border may also wish to consider entering their child for the Medway tests, which assesses children on different skills. Further details of grammar school admissions are here.

APPLICATIONS

Some scenarios:

If the child has passed the Kent tests, you may name just grammar schools on your SCAF. If your child does not qualify for any of these, because other children have taken up all available places, you will be probably be offered the nearest grammar school with a vacancy, although KCC no longer has an obligation to do so (This is a particular issue in West Kent, but this year also affected children in Canterbury, Dartford, Faversham,Gravesham & Maidstone.
If your child has not taken the eleven plus, you can only apply for non selective schools.
If your child has taken the eleven plus and not passed, and you wish to appeal, you must name the grammar schools you wish to appeal to on the SCAF, together with any non selective schools you wish to apply to.
If your child has passed the eleven plus and you name grammar schools and a non selective school, for example a church comprehensive school, you will be offered the highest school on your list for which your child is eligible. If this is the non selective school then you will be offered it in preference to a grammar school lower down your list.

The process of identifying which one school your child will be offered on National Offer Day is called an Equal Preference Scheme and is quite complex to understand. However...

you will not boost your chances at one school by placing it in a different order than your genuine preference. Sadly, some schools still verbally advise parents otherwise. No Kent or Medway school is told the position where parents have placed a school on the SCAF, and so none can offer a place according to position. You should not place a non-selective school ahead of a grammar school on your form unless it is a real preference, otherwise you may find yourself offered a place at the non-selective school, even though the child has passed the eleven plus.

Kent on Sunday published an article by me in March that highlighted the main issues with secondary transfer in Kent. Headlines are below. The full article is here.

As a result, you must list any school you wish to appeal for on your SCAF. Sadly, you have to wait until National Offer day on 1 March before the school technically rejects your application and only then can you appeal. This year the first appeals were heard in the last week of March (Medway tends to come first), the final ones not being heard until the first week in July.

You will find details of Open Days and Evenings for admission to secondary schools in Kent in September 2010 here.
It is difficult to give general guidance on placing schools in order, as circumstances change enormously from town to town depending on popularity of individual schools and their oversubscription rules. Above all, make sure that you and your child visit the schools you are considering.
Kent, Medway and Bexley all have grammar schools, and Grammar School Applications are considered on a separate page.
For all oversubscribed schools find out if you would have been accepted last year. Ask for the furthest distance from school those pupils lived, who were accepted. Bexley publishes this information in their admission booklets. Many church schools admit children according to their level of church support. Find out which category of religious support was the lowest accepted.
If the school is described as “Community” or “Voluntary Controlled”, oversubscription rules are laid down by the LA. Parents in towns such as Ashford, where all schools are of this type, can choose local schools in preference order without difficulty. Each “Voluntary Aided” or “Foundation” school makes its own rules and you need to check these out to find if you are likely to be offered a place.
Check the rules about free school transport, which only apply if you live more than three miles from your nearest appropriate school, or for certain church schools. These rules are detailed in the School Admission Booklet for your LA. See the page on School Transport and Appeals. Try and make sure that you will be eligible for at least one school on your list, otherwise you will be allocated the nearest one with vacancies, which may not be to your liking.
In Kent, most non-selective schools formally cater for pupils of all abilities. These include several newer comprehensive and church schools, built mainly in rural areas in the 1970s. Thirty are foundation schools and make their own rules for selection if they are oversubscribed. Eleven church schools are scattered round the county. Several of these are highly selective on religious criteria (one reason they regularly appear at the top of performance tables). Their oversubscription rules also vary from school to school and you should plan a year ahead to meet these if you do not currently fit.
There are currently ten Academies in Kent operating or being planned, and a further three in Medway, independent of Kent County Council. Further details are at Academies.
Parents applying for secondary school places may be given a supplementary form “only where the additional information is required for the governing body to apply their oversubscription criteria to the application”. You are under no obligation to provide information which is not required for this purpose. No form should ask parents to state what preferences they have named on their SCAF, or the order in which they have stated their preferences, as no school requires this to apply its oversubscription criteria. KCC advise you to delete any such question and mark it “N/A” or “not applicable”.
"Late" Catholic Baptisms are surging as "marginal or lapsed Catholics" desire to secure a place at an oversubscribed Catholic school. Research published by the Pastoral Research Centre Trust (01/08) shows baptisms of children between one and thirteen years of age have surged to 30% of the total from 5% fifty years ago. Over the same period cradle baptisms have fallen from 85% to 64%. The Trust research establishes entrance to popular schools as the key reason for this.
for 2009 entry, 79% of Kent families were offered their first choice school in March, up from 70% the previous year becuase of the change in admission arrangements. In Medway, 85% of children secured one of their first two choices in March.
In Kent, a previous system for placing children after 1st March called reallocation has been abolished. Now, each school in Kent will keep a waiting list and fill vacancies from this list, in order. This means there is no advantage in having no school offered on your list in March. You need to apply to go on the waiting list, but you cannot go on a grammar school waiting list unless your child has passed the Kent test. In Kent you can apply late at this stage for fresh schools not named on the SCAF. In Medway for 2009 entry you could apply late just for schools if you live in Kent, but not in Medway. 2010 late entry in Medway may be diffeerent again.
Both Kent and Medway have an online application system on which parents can change choices up to the closing date. One concern for primary heads is that because they do not see these forms, they are unable to check if parents have made sensible decisions. Conversely, parents can hide decisions from the school, – valuable where certain primary schools strongly encourage certain applications. Online applicants will be able to access decisions after 4p.m. on 1st March. Paper applicants will receive decisions by post on 2nd March.
Most schools now have specialist status, specialising in areas such as: mathematics & ICT, humanities, or sport. Some select up to 10% of pupils on aptitude. A few Kent schools select a proportion of children by tests of academic ability, including Homewood (20%), Chaucer Technology College (15%), and Archbishop’s (15%). Find out what the tests are so that your child is prepared.
For some parents, choice of school is determined by the desire to avoid being offered an unpopular school. I think the best news is the improvement in some of Kent’s weakest schools over the past few years. If all schools are satisfactory, then the pressure on families is greatly reduced.
Voluntary Aided Church Schools are required to have their admission rules approved by the Diocesan Board of Education. Rochester Diocese does not carry out its statutory obligations, and it is reported that Canterbury Diocese does not. One consequence of the latter is that several schools in Canterbury Diocese have admission rules that do not meet statutory requirements.

There was a total of just 131 vacancies in Kent’s 33 grammar schools in March, mainly in the East of the county. 268 out county children were offered places in West and North West Kent Grammar schools displacing many children from these areas eastwards, some to grammar schools they cannot reach daily, more than 40 West Kent boys offered places in Folkestone or Sittingbourne.
The biggest influx is into the four Dartford grammar schools, with 29 children from Greenwich, another 15 from Lewisham. Bromley took up 59 Kent grammar school places, Bexley 56, East Sussex 50.
Most oversubscribed grammar school was Tonbridge followed by Judd, Skinners, Dartford, Weald of Kent, Tunbridge Wells Boys. Eight schools turned away more than 40 qualified first choices, last year there were just three.

Kent On Sunday reported my concerns in March about the reduction in Kent secondary school places through the Building Schools for the Future programe. Gravesham will see 810 places removed, although there is already a shortage of secondary school places and a significant increase in families moving into the area. KCC denies there is a problem, but secondary allocation in March will expose the problem as the reduction of 30 places in each of the oversubscribed Northfleet School for Girls, St Geeorge's, St John's and Thamesview schools really bites. The planned reductions at the oversubscribed Gravesend Gramamr School being rebuilt for 70 fewer boys than its current roll appear to be withdrawn, but this doesn't solve the problem for the future. A parallel crisis in primary schools appears about to break, with insufficient places for infant classes next September already on the cards.
For the second year running the most oversubscribed school in the county is the Leigh Academy in Dartford
There is a wide fluctuation in popularity of non selective schools. The biggest controversy surrounds Valley Park School in South Maidstone, whose popularity has soared, turning away 106 first choices. The order then goes: Folkestone Academy; Homewood (Tenterden); Bennett Memorial (Tunbridge Wells); Westlands (Sittingbourne), Charles Dickens (Broadstairs), North (Ashford), Archbishops’ (Canterbury); Aylesford (rebuilt under PFI and not even full last year); Only half the top twelve were in the list last year.
At the other end of the scale, four schools were over half empty before children unsuccessful in any of their applications were allocated to them.

All Kent schools allow late applications after March 31st. According to Medway Council, Kent pupils can apply after this date for Medway Grammar schools also.

Some headline Kent figures for secondary transfer. 78% of parents received their first choice, up from 70% last year due mainly to eleven plus results being provided before applications were made. The number of out of county offers was 521, down from last year's figure. Out of 16277 Kent pupils, just 773 were allocated a school by KCC again down on last year - but not a comfort to those who are in this situation. Hot spots appear: again West Kent, girls offered places at Invicta Grammar school in Maidstone, boys in Sittingbourne and Folkestone; North West Kent grammar and non selective schools with particular pressure on all three boys grammar schools; Queen Elizabeth's Grammar Faversham; Canterbury; boys in Maidstone Grammar schools. Enormous presure on Maidstone non selective schools, with swings in popularity and two schools making changes in oversubscription criteria. Valley Park School is massively oversubscribed, the catchment having shrunk to a one mile radius this year. There are reportedly over 80 children in th earea who have been given none of their four choices.
As expected, the change in oversubscription criteria at Maidstone Grammar has added to the problem, with Maidstone boys who scored lower than 391 not getting places this year if they lived more than 2.66 miles from the school, 52% of successful applicants came in Criterion 1, scoring over 391. There were just 84 places for siblings and others in the local parishes at the expense of boys living as far away as Tenterden.
The Judd School cut off is 414 (not all boys on 414 were offered a place). For Skinners, some pupils with 406 (but not all) have been offered a place. Tonbridge Grammar Inner 407 , Outer 412. Additional information welcome. Dartford Grammar has come in at a very high 401 for its first time as a super selective, although local candidates only needed a straight pass. I would estimate it splits half and half.
Despite changing its admission criteria this year to give priority to children in Gravesham Borough, Gravesend Grammar School is so in demand that boys in south Meopham, culverstone and Vigo have been turned down, with most being unsuccessful at appeal. It appears likely with the replacement grammar school being built for 100 fewer pupils than at present, that boys in the south of the Borough will no longer have gramamr school palces to go to. I have campaigned for some time that there are insufficient secondary school palces in Gravesham under the new Building Schools for the Future programme. It gives me no pleasure to be proved right.
I was delighted to be asked to open the admissions debate on on GMTV back in March. Nothing controversial but my first advice was and remains, in the words of Corporal Jones, 'Dont panic'. You cannot change the decision. What you can do is appeal and there is NO advantage in appealing early, as all appeals for a school are heard at the same time. Take your time and make it a good appeal.
- I also opened the lead item on Meridian TV news, the pressures on Southwest Maidstone non-selective schools, recording my view that the situation in Maidstone is unprecedented. Oversubscription at schools such as Valley Park (area for offers is reported to be as little as one mile from the school), Cornwallis, Aylesford and St Simon Stock (large increase in Catholics - possibly a reflection on Eastern European immigration) has the consequence of many families being allocated to none of their four choices. The Maidstone Grammar School change in admission criteria has only increased the pressure.
- I have also initiated media coverage in the Sunday Telegraph, and other papers on the admission problems with Medway Grammar Schools - the convoluted rules on the Review process and the failure to open up places for Kent children losing out on places because of pressure from across the west boundaries of the county. These two effects annually leave many places going vacant in Chatham Boys Grammar School and Fort Pitt Grammar School, although the latter has now gone Foundation and will control its own appeals process next year.
- Other news coverage has come on BBC South East, the Daily Express, Invicta FM and local newspapers. Although I feel sorry for so many families at this time I am happy to provide information by whatever means possible.
- The number of 11+ applicants for grammar schools in Kent has risen from 9,500 to over 11,000 (11670 registered for the test). This includes a total of some 60% of the age cohort from Kent selective areas. The rise is mainly because of the change in testing which now provides results before parents decide on schools. There is also some evidence that because of the economic climate, some parents are withdrawing their children from private education and looking towards grammar schools as an alternative. However, the pass standard will remain at the same level, with 25% of children from the Kent selective area still being found suitable for grammar school.

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Kent Secondary School Admissions 2010