Independent Education Advice - Kent Admission & Appeal Statistics

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Kent Admission and Appeals Statistics

Secondary school transfer statistics released by Kent County Council.

Kent Pupils	2010		2009		2008
No. of pupils	No. of pupils	%	No. of pupils	%	No. of pupils
Offered a school named on the application form	15,270	96.1%	15,504	95.5%	15,396	95%
Offered a first preference	12,725	80.1%	12,769	78.5%	11,508	70.5%
Offered a second preference	1,753	11.0%	1,850	11.5%	2,750	17%
Offered a third preference	595	3.7%	640	4%	1,138	7%
Offered a fourth preference	197	1.2%	245	1.5%	N/A	N/A
Allocated by Local Authority	620	3.9%	773	4.5%	840	5.5%
Total number of Kent pupils offered	15,890		16,277		16,236

Year	2010	2009	2008
Out of County Applicants	1,532	1,554	1,795
Out of County Offers	532	521	556

Year	2010	2009	2008
Total Numbers of Pupils in the Cohort	17,422	17,831	18,134

11 Plus news 2010 Entry

The source of the data on this page is Kent County Council. My thanks for their co-operation in this.

Category	2009 entry	2010 entry	change
	Number	Number	Number
Kent Entrants	9249	9418	-101
OutCounty Entrants	1992	2107	+115
Success Boys	2588	2561	-27
Success Girls	2549	2552	+3
Success Kent	4039	4120	+81
OutCounty Success	1098	993	-105

So, of the 11,255 children who sat the Kent Test in September, 5,113 were assessed selective, roughly the same number as last year (11,241). The number of out of county children sitting the test rose by 115, the number of Kent children fell by 101 reflecting a lower number in the age group. However, the number of Kent children passing is up by 81 to 4,120, whilst the number of out county children passing is down by 105 to 993.

There are 4,458 grammar school places in Kent, so if only Kent children were taking them up, there would be 338 spare places, nearly all in the East of the County. The great unknown is how many out of county children will take up Kent places, as many of them have multiple applications across different counties and Boroughs.

My sense of these figures is - little change.

Kent Transfer Appeal Statistics 2009

LEA or Community Schools

School Type	Number of Appeals	Number of Successes	% Success Rate
Grammar	391	167	43
NonSelective	158	99	63
Primary	367	36	10

Please note that the large majority of successful primary appeals would be for junior classes, as Infant appeals are governed by Infant Class Legislation (see Primary admissions page).

Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools

School Type	Number of Appeals	Number of Successes	% Success Rate
Grammar	562	201	36
NonSelective	215	104	48
Primary	82	Not known

In addition there are a number of schools that do not use KCC Appeal Panels. Statistics are not available for these.

Statistics vary enormously school by school. For grammar schools the proportion of successes range from 76% of 33 appeals (an LEA school) down to 7% of 108 appeals (a Foundation School). For non selective schools, there were five schools where all appeals were succcessful, but one Foundation school with just 10% of 20 appeals successful.

Kent Secondary Transfer Statistics 2009 entry

There was a total of just 131 vacancies in Kent’s 33 grammar schools, at National Offer Day in 2009 mainly in the east of the county. The problem is that the 268 out county children who took up places in West and North West Kent Grammar schools displaced many children from these areas eastwards, some to grammar schools they cannot reach daily, with more than 40 boys West Kent boys offered places in Folkestone or Sittingbourne.

The biggest influx is into the four Dartford grammar schools with 29 children coming from Greenwich and another 15 from Lewisham. Bromley took up 59 Kent grammar school places, Bexley another 56 and East Sussex 50.

Most oversubscribed grammar school was Tonbridge (101 turned away), edging out Judd from last year (95). These were followed by Skinners, Dartford, Weald of Kent, Tunbridge Wells Boys, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells Girls. This year’s problem is highlighted by these eight schools who all turned away more than 40 qualified first choices. Last year there were just three, the same top schools as last year.

However, for the second year running the most oversubscribed school in the county is the Leigh Academy in Dartford, rejecting 200 first choice applicants.

One striking feature of non selective school placements is the wide fluctuation in popularity from year to year. I think the biggest controversy in the county surrounds Valley Park School in South Maidstone, whose popularity has soared this year, turning away 106 first choices, up from 16 in 2008. Other non selective schools rejecting more than 60 first choices are: Folkestone Academy (newly rebuilt); 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); Mascalls (Paddock Wood) and Fulston Manor (Sittingbourne). Only half these schools were in this list last year showing how difficult it is to predict popularity.

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.

Kent Test Statistics for 2009 Entry

9584 Kent pupils registered for the Kent Tests, with a further 2096 out of county.

Of these, 9294 Kent pupils took the tests, with an additional 1765 from out of county.

4213 Kent pupils were assessed selective, that is 45% of those who took the tests. 924 out of county pupils were assessed selective.

53% of the 1459 cases referred for a Headteacher Assessment were successful and are included in the above data.

There are 16297 children in the cohort,so that 21% were automatically found selective, with a further 4% after Headteacher Assessment, making a total of 26% of the cohort found selective.

The number of children who pased the test was up by 250 and there are 600 more successful candidates than there are Kent grammar school places. However, a large number of these are from outside the county with no intention or expectation of taking up a Kent grammar school place, and I understand that the number of out of county pupils offered grammar school places in Kent is likely to be very similar to last year.

The out of county applicants were mainly from Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham, Medway and East Sussex (in order). The more distant ones include: Barking, West Sussex, Islington, Dorset, Milton Keynes, Leicestershire and Glamorgan (although many of the latter may be families planning to relocate to Kent).

Kent Secondary Transfer Appeal Statistics 2008

LEA or Community Schools

School type	Number of Appeals	Number of successes	% success rate
Grammar	456	184	40
Non Selective	126	68	54

Foundation or Voluntary Aided Schools

These are appeals organised by the KCC for these schools. Many Foundation and VA Schools organise their own appeals and I do not have data for these.

School Type	Number of Appeals	Number of successes	% success rate
Grammar	540	143	26
Non-Selective	185	101	55

Note: these statistics hide a multitude of sins. One LEA Grammar school had 55 succsssful appeals, others have very few. Grammar School appeals include both selection appeals (where the child do not pass the Kent test, and oversubscription appeals (where many appellants may have pased the Kent tests and be seeking a place in schools that are full).

I have focused on first choices for simplicity; the number of children on waiting lists may vary considerably from this. For example, many of those who put a grammar school in first place may also now be on the waiting list for a non selective school but won't appear in the statistics below, so the number on waiting lists for non selective schools can be considerably higher than indicated. After grammar school appeals, some of these numbers will fall as children on the lists are offered grammar school places.

Not one of the 34 most westerly secondary schools in Kent had more than three vacancies after allocation on 3rd March (these are probably all taken up by children with SEN statements). The situation will of course change, as some children will have been allocated to schools they will not take up, others will win appeals elsewhere freeing up places, or Independent Appeal Panels require some schools to take additional children.
Kent grammar schools that still have vacancies include: Borden Grammar, Chatham House Grammar, Clarendon House Grammar, Dane Court Grammar, Dover Grammar Boys, Folkestone School for Girls, Harvey Grammar, Highsted Grammar. Others may well have children who have not taken up places offered and so have vacancies. It is a matter of note that all those on this list are coastal grammar schools in East Kent.

9 Kent schools have over 40 vacancies. Several others would have reached this figure if they had not been allocated children who had been offered none of their three chosen schools.

2 Kent schools have more than half their available places still empty.

9092 children took the Kent test, of whom 3778 were assessed as selective, including those who were passed at headteacher assessment.

762 children from outside Kent were assessed as selective, having included a Kent grammar school on their Common Application Form. These would have come mainly from Medway, East Sussex, Surrey, Bexley and Bromley. Of these, 290 were offered places at Kent grammar schools, which would have been mainly at Judd, Skinners, Tonbridge Grammar, and the four Dartford and Wilmington Grammar Schools, adding to the pressure on West Kent grammar school places. Next year's new Dartford Grammar admission criteria will add to the pressure.

In 2007, 41% of pupils attending Tunbridge Wells secondary schools were from outside the district, 600 from outside Kent. The corresponding figure for Tonbridge and Malling was 42%.

KCC report that this year's eleven year old cohort is the largest and that in future, falling rolls will decrease the pressure.

The Year 6 cohort in March 2008 comprised 16,339 Kent pupils (15,975 in 2007).
94% were offered a place at one of the schools named on the CAF as at 3 March 2008 (94%).

There was a total of 2,126 (1,807) secondary transfer appeal for 2008 entry, of which 800 (759) were successful. This is a total of 37% of appeals heard. This statistic covers a wide range according to individual schools.

The headline news for Kent is that the number of children who were allocated their first choice secondary school in March has fallen to 70% from 74% last year, whilst the number of out county applicants has increased from 1589 to 1795. The number of children who have been offered a school not on their list has risen from 4% to 5%.

The Kent test pass mark was the same as the previous year: children need to achieve two scores of at least 120 and one of at least 115 to achieve success, or be awarded a place through the headteacher assessment. Out of some 1200 assessments carried out, around half were successful.

Figures for Kent Appeals, March - December 2007. The following figures are solely for appeal Panels organised by KCC. Many Foundation and VA Schools organise their own Independent Appeal Panels and are not included. Be very careful how you interpret the following, as circumstances very enormously amongst Kent schools (it was ever thus!). The secondary school success rate varies enormously year on year, so is unlikely to be a good guide to 2008, especially with the new Code.

In 2008 there were 55 successful appeals at Clarendon house Grammar School, which is likely to skew figures enormously.

Local Authority Schools

	Appeals	Successes	% success
Grammar	633	295	47
Non-Selective	34	17	50

Foundation and Voluntary Aided Schools

	Appeals	Successes	% Success
Grammar	414	173	42
Non Selective	70	47	67

In 2007, there were 1300 Headteacher Assessments in Kent, of which 632 were successful.

Figures for Kent Appeals, March - December 2007. The following figures are solely for appeal Panels organised by KCC. Many Foundation and VA Schools organise their own Independent Appeal Panels and are not included. Be very careful how you interpret the following, as circumstances very enormously amongst Kent schools (it was ever thus!). The secondary school success rate is over a third higher than the previous year, for reasons which are not obvious and so is unlilely to be a good guide to 2008, especially with the new Code.

Local Authority Schools

	Appeals	Successes	% success
Grammar	633	295	47
Non Selective	34	17	17
Primary	218	73	33

Grammar Appeals include both children who have been unsuccessful in the initial tests, and oversubscription issues.

Foundation & Voluntary Aided Schools

	Appeals	Successes	% success
Grammar	414	173	42
Non-selective	70	47	67
Primary	32	9	28

Scores for a Kent grammar school pass were: at least 120 in two tests, and at least 115 in the third.

74% of Kent children were offered their first choice school in 2007. this is a considerable fall from last year's 79%. however, the percentage of children being offered one of their three choices has risen from 95% to 96.1 %.