This page is designed primarily for parents resident in Medway, whose children will be transferring to state secondary schools in September 2009. It should be read in conjunction with the pages on Grammar School Admissions, Medway Grammar School Admissions and Kent 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, both supporting parents through the appeals process and 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 an increasing number of primary schools, by invitation, and am also happy to talk with groups of parents, as well as individuals.

TIMETABLE

In each Local Authority (LA), an admissions booklet will be issued in early September. Each LA has its own closing date, and operates a different process for allocating pupils, for example Medway parents have six choices and Kent parents have four 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. Medway residents need to apply on the  Medway Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF), including any schools in Kent. In the same way, residents of Kent should apply for Medway schools on their own Local Authority application form.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL TESTING

 It is essential that all parents, who are considering entering their child for the Medway or Kent tests, register their child on the appropriate form obtainable from the primary school or the LA. In Medway, you will find a copy fo the form in the LA Prospectus “Admission to Secondary School”.  Your child cannot take the Medway or Kent tests if he or she has not been registered. You cannot apply for a Medway grammar school if your child has not sat the  Medway tests. There is nothing to lose by entering your child for either set of tests.

Kent, Medway and Bexley all have grammar schools, Grammar School Applicationsare considered on a separate page and Medway grammar schools now have a page of their own.

 

Where children have taken the Medway Test and been unsuccessful, parents have the right to request a review of the decision within the next week. Results will be out in time for you to complete your SCAF. Parents will need to think carefully about whether to apply for a Review, as if unsuccessful, you may find yourself barred from making an appeal on academic grounds. For more information see below and at Medway grammar schools.

 

Secondary School Open Days take place in October and November. Most Grammar schools hold Open Days after assessment results are sent out on 31 October. Details of these are published in the Medway Admissions Booklet.

Parents will then be able to select up to six schools in order on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF).   

 Some scenarios:

 1) If the child has passed the Medway tests, you may name just grammar schools on your SCAF. 

 2) If your child has not taken the eleven plus, you can only apply for non selective schools.

 3) 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.

 4) 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 a 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. 

 Each school draws up a list of eligible applicants in terms of priority according to their oversubscription criteria. They are not told where you have listed them on the SCAF, so list schools exactly as you prefer them and don’t be swayed by any school telling you it gives priority to those who list them first. Your child will then be offered the highest preference school for which they are eligible. This means that some children could get their fourth choice ahead of others who listed it first if their claim is stronger. If your child does not qualify for any school on your SCAF, the LA will offer a place at the nearest school it judges as appropriate, or sensible.

APPEALS

Your right to appeal is to a particular school, and so you must have applied for it on your SCAF. Medway & Kent parents have the right to apply for any additional Kent school (including grammar schools)after 26 March 2009, and if turned down to appeal. This does not apply to Medway schools.

 

Grammar school appeals are likewise not against a non selective decision in general, but must be made for a named school. 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 2 March before the school technically rejects your application and only then can you appeal. If you have been to a Medway Review, the grounds on which you can appeal are severely limited.

 

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 (Maidstone Grammar School).

 

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.