News and Comment
(updated 10 March)
Please feel free to suggest items of news, or areas where comment is needed to: peter@kentadvice.co.uk.
News items below appear below as and when I have time in a very busy schedule supporting clients. I am very happy to learn of fresh items of news.
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I am very pleased with the interest shown in this website, with a total of 2746 visitors on National Offer Day. It certainly confirms that the effort in trying to keep it up to date is very worthwhile.
I now have my first set of information on numbers of children offered places in individual Kent schools. There are a number of surprises for me, showing the dangers of forecasting! I will be able to offer further information later.
The following grammar schools each have more than ten vacancies: Borden, Clarendon House, Dover Grammar Boys, Folkestone Girls, Harvey, Highworth (heavily oversubscribed with first choices last year!), Invicta. The following grammar schools have four or fewer vacancies (none between four and ten!): Gravesend Boys (heavily oversubscribed with first choices last year!), Gravesend Girls, Wilmington Boys, Wilmington Girls. All other Kent grammar schools were full on National Offer Day.
Non selective schools with vacancies, that were full last year: Hextable, Meopham, Northfleet Girls, St Edmunds, St George's Gravesend, St John's, Walmer, Wilmington Enterprise.
Non selective schools full that had vacancies last year: Castle Community, Longfield Academy.
Please note that even though a school is full according to the Planned Admission Number, appeals can and will be successful in some cases. An Independent Appeal Panel has the right to instruct schools to take additional children. Last year the number of successful appeals at oversubscribed schools in Kent ranged from nil to 38. Further, where a grammar school has vacancies, the appeal panel is under no obligation to fill these and won't if there are insufficient children of a 'grammar school standard'.
Five Kent schools had over half their places empty before the Local Authority allocated children, who had not been offered any of their choices, to them.
I am sorry, but I am not able currently to provide more details on the above information, which is offered to guide families still looking for appropriate schools for their children.
Kent County Council has released information on secondary school transfer, which you can find on the statistics page.
Good news is that the number of first choices offered is up by 2% to 80% possibly showing that parents have made more realistic choices this year. The number of children to get none of their choices has fallen by 153 to 620, but each of these is a very disappointed family. The number of offers to families from outside Kent is 532, which will be nearly all grammar school children, the majority going to North West Kent. KCC has changed its policy of allocating grammar school children who have been given none of their choices. Last year they were offered the nearest grammar school which meant West Kent children were given Folkestone and Sittingbourne. This year it is the nearest wide ability school or Academy with vacancies, which suggests the majority will have been offered Skinners Academy in Tunbridge Wells.
Most popular school for first choices was Homewood in Tenterden, unsurprising as with an intake of 360, it is one of only two Kent schools admitting more than 300 pupils. The order then goes: Leigh Technology Academy (Dartford) - regularly the most oversubscribed school in the county, Westlands School (Sittingbourne), North School (Ashford), Isle of Sheppey Academy (Kent's largest school), Herne Bay High School, Valley Park School (smallest school on the list suggesting there will be considerable problems in South Maidstone again), Sandwich Technology School, Mascalls School (Paddock Wood) and Bennett Memorial School (Tunbridge Wells).
Radio and televsion interviews this week: BBC South East (twice); Radio Kent (twice); Radio Five Live. Back to a 'normal' life now the media excitement is over.
Early Information
This tends to be mainly about grammar schools as these are more clear cut decisions.
116 Kent children were assessed suitable for grammar school but could not be allocated a place at one of the schools parents had applied for. Children who had applied for non-selective school as back up and were allocated this are no tincluded in the above. Whilst the vast majority of these were from West Kent, 15 children were from East Kent, including 6 from Canterbury and 5 from Whitstable/Herne Bay area .
Much of the following is derived straight from parents and my sources are therefore reliable in my terms but not authorised. I don't quote second hand from other parental websites. Skinners cut off is 410, but with some 409s included (three up on last year at this stage). Tonbridge Grammar inners are down to 405 (at least two down on last year), and for outers the cut off is 407 (down five on 2009). Judd has offered places to some boys on 415, but not all (up on last year). Dartford Grammar School has come in lower than I expected at 395 a fall from last year's 401. Rochester Grammar is at least 533 (with a Medway pass mark of 521). Rainham Mark pass mark is 526. The new super selective - Chatham House in Ramsgate has a cut off above the 360 basic pass mark (lowest score yet to be confirmed). As I forecast last year, there are grammar school standard children in Herne Bay and Whitstable, who have not been offered grammar school places because of reductions in places in Thanet and oversubscription in Faversham and Canterbury. Last year Gravesend Grammar School was heavily oversubscribed - for 2010 entry all qualified applicants in the priority areas have been offered places. Norton Knatchbull appears to have offered places to all qualified boys. Oakwood Park is oversubscribed. Borden, Dane Court, Gravesend Girls, Wilmington Girls, Harvey, Folkestone School for Girls, Chatham Boys, Chatham Girls, all have vacancies. Fort Pitt is oversubscribed. Any fresh information on decisions gratefully received to help complete the picture.
Special Education Needs Unit Review
Hot off the press (27 Feb). KCC has sent out a letter stating explicitly that there are no plans to phase out ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) Special Units, rather that there are plans to increase the number of Unit places provided for children with an ASD during 2010/11. This is a sudden and complete reversal of the previous proposals for such childrne and will be widely welcomed. It completely pre-empts the the Special Education Needs Unit Review for these children that planned to phase out all Special Needs Units in Kent which was due ot be finalised in the Autumn. The pilot scheme operating in Dartford, Gravesham, Swanley, Shepway and Ashford was due to take effect this September. An article appeared in Kent on Sunday this week (page 3) setting out some of the issues and implying that KCC was delaying statements of affected children. A more detailed comment is on the SEN page of this website, although this is now out of date.
The letter only refers to ASD children and it is unclear how this relates to the proposed phasing out of other Units. Needless to say, the addition of children with increased and varying categories of Special Education Need would place additional pressures on teachers in mainstream classes and is likely to affect learning outcomes. I also believe that an outcome of this will be a rise in the number of Statemented children being permanently excluded. KCC had earlier sent out out a generic email response to concerns about the issues. Sadly not only does it not explain the rationale behind the phasing out of Sprecial Units, it doesn't even mention it, although this is the predominant concern of such parents.
The proposition to set up Lead Schools to support children displaced form Units was to be financed from the phasing ou tof the Units. It remains to be seen what is to happen with these at a time when KCC is under severe financial pressure.
School Exclusions
I have now received through the Freedom of information act, data on Kent school exclusions for the year 2008-9, which contain some worrying details. In 2007-8 Kent had the second highest proportion of permanently excluded (expelled) children in the South of England outside London. Whilst this this has now fallen for 2008-9 (comparative national figures are not available) there were still 253 children permanently excluded from mainstream schools and Academies in the County.Worryingly, 20% of these were children with Statements of Special Education Need, and a further 24% on SEN School Action Plus. This is in spite of the Government imperative that states: “Other than in the most exceptional circumstances, schools should avoid permanently excluding pupils with statements”. Indeed the figure for statmented children rises to 54% (20 out of 34) for primary schools. These shocking figures for the exclusion of statemented children are likely to rise with the phasing out of Special Units (see below).
One school, the New Line Learning Academy had 25 permanent exclusions in the past school year, and another four since September, more than twice as many as any other school in the county.
Individual School Information
I have now completed an initial survey of all oversubscribed Kent and Medway secondary schools, all grammar schools and all fourteen operational and planned Academies. It is my intention to add to these sections as new information (not opinion on quality) arrives and I have time. Please feel free to provide me with this or prompt me to add it.
Kent Review of Admission Arrangements
KCC revealed on 15 January that it is to ask for an Independent Review of Kent's Secondary School Admission Arrangements. Details are here. The exact terms of reference of the Review are still being developed but it is evident from Page 7 of the document that it will target the issues of pressure on grammar school places in West and North West Kent. However, I consider the Review is potentially political dynamite, and will open a Pandora's Box of issues, including the whole debate on the existence of grammar schools. It is likely I will be interviewed on BBC SE for this on Monday evening. The story continues to build. See Kent Messenger for more details.
KCC has already removed 800 places from Gravesham secondary schools through the Building Schools for the Future project in an attempt to cater for projected falling rolls. I outlined this in more detail in Kent on Sunday last May, although I understand (but have not had it confirmed) that the proposed cuts in the Gravesend grammar schools may have been reversed.
The scheme has now seen some 300 places removed from Thanet grammar schools because of falling rolls in Thanet, although I remain very concerned about places for Whitstable and Herne Bay families.
Now it is Dover and Folkestone's turn. Kent's Strategic Plan for the Provision of Secondary Places makes clear that there is a forecast decline in secondary numbers of 21% in Dover over the decade and therefore there will have to be cuts in both non selective and grammar provision, so the County idea of cutting grammar school places in the East can hardly have come as a surprise. Nevertheless, both grammar schools still take in a full complement of children each year (partly as a result of the special Dover Grammar School Test) and in the case of Dover Grammar Girls provide one of the highest achieving grammar schools in the County. Moving on to Folkestone, again the Strategic Plan indicates the removal of places, but does not cover the issue of overflow from the growing town of Ashford, which is already evident. In short, there may well be a case for the removal of some school places (not just in selective schools) in parts of East Kent, but where grammar schools are concerned, the area as a whole needs to be looked at, not just individual towns.
In North West Kent we have a very interesting model. Dartford Grammar School for Girls gives priority to Kent children, and there are sufficient places for girls across Dartford and Gravesham. Dartford Grammar School gives priority to boys living in Dartford town, but otherwise goes for high scorers. Both Wilmington Grammar school are close to the county boundary and take in a high proportion of out of county children on distance grounds. There is a considerable shortage of grammar school places for boys across the area with Wilmington Boys Grammar having 108 appelas last year, the highest number in Kent!
In West Kent the twin issues of the two boys' super selective schools and to a lesser extent Tonbridge Grammar School (for girls), together with the associated fierce private coaching culture, combine to produce intense pressure on grammar school places. Last year this was partially resolved by 33 extra children being admitted to Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar School on appeal, but I doubt that will be repeated as the school is now even more 'full' if that is possible. The big question here is, if extra places were to be provided would they simply attract more out of county entrants?
By definition an increased proportion of children being found selective in West Kent sees a reduced proportion in East Kent and this is evident in the statistics, thus skewing the figures even more and challenging the demographic issue. In short, this is a far more complicated situation than simply 'transferring places from East to West' although if East Kent is to lose places for demographic reasons then, for a selective authority not allowed to introduce additional grammar school places, this may be a legal way to ease some of its problems.
Wilmington Enterprise College
This failing Kent school is being fast tracked to Academy status for September 2010, the main sponsor being the Leigh Academy Trust. Further details on the Academies page.
School Oversubscription Criteria
The Kent proposals for 2011 entry to secondary schools are starting to appear here. Last year Judd School, Skinners School and Dartford Girls Grammar were amongst those challenged, with changes to Dartford being made, but the Schools Adjudicator ruling no change for Judd or Skinners. However, he stated that they and KCC should agree a way forward for the future, with KCC clearly seeking priority for Kent children to aid the pressure in West Kent. Further information here. This year's proposals contain no changes, but parents can initially respond to each school by their published date. West Kent parents of potential grammar school pupils (including Tonbridge Grammar) may find KCC or the adjudicator receptive to challenges.
Secondary School League Tables
These have now been published and you will find them here (you need to choose the Local Authority option and pick Kent or Medway for each set of tables). As ever they contain misleading elements with, for example, schools following an accelerated curriculum and taking AS levels early enjoying double counting for a number of their examination successes. The Baccalaureate is included in the A Level tables by a mysterious conversion. A number of non selective schools see their 5 A-C passes boosted by vocational multi certificate courses. As always, Kent gets slammed by certain politicians for a higher than average number of schools achiving less than 30% GCSE passes. I wrote an article for Kent On Sunday on this last year and it is still valid. In summary, as Kent's grammar schools take a quarter of Kent's children who should all achieve 5 GCSEs, the non selective schools should have a lower barrier to pass. What should be headline news is that Kent remains an above average Authority nationally. Congratulations to Dover Grammar Girls for once again achieving such a high place with none of the advantages of many of the other high fliers.
Bexley Grammar Schools
Bexley clearly has pressure on Grammar School places of a similar nature to West and North West Kent. As a result it is carrying out a review of current policies and procedures. It follows complaints from parents about the number of selective places being awarded to children from outside the borough and from independent schools at the expense of pupils at Bexley’s primary schools. This comes about because the top 180 scorers in the Bexley tests have priority for places no matter where they live. Parents claim bright borough children from ordinary schools are now being pushed out of Bexley’s grammar schools in favour of children from independent and out-of-borough schools who have been extensively coached (Coaching is discouraged in Bexley Primary schools).
For 2010 entry, 4,690 children took the test with 1,270 (27 per cent) being found selective. There are just 754 grammar school places in Bexley, but many children take up Kent grammar school places easing the pressure for the Borough, but aggravating it for Kent. Of the top 180 scores, 115 lived outside Bexley Borough.
For 2009 entry, 553 of the 1,294 children deemed selective were from Bexley primary schools. In addition, 79 children from Bexley’s independent schools took the test and 54 were put in the selective band. So only 35% of children in the selective band were Bexley primary school children and just 62% of Bexley Grammar school places went to Bexley children,
Grammar School Tests 2010, for entry 2011
Kent and Medway Councils are currently consulting on dates for grammar school testing. The dates are unlikely to change. For Kent they are 14th and 15th September 2010 for pupils in Kent primary schools, and September 18th for out of county pupils. Medway Council is proposing to bring the date of the Medway Test forward to 25th September 2010, from its current pattern of an October date, more in line with the Kent tests. The consultation documents are available at Kent Consultation and Medway Consultation.
Medway Test information for 2010 entry
(Kent Test information has been moved to the Admission statistics page)
The total number of Year Six Medway children was 3149 (Interestingly, in spite of publicity about falling rolls in Medway, this is 140 more than last year).
| Candidates | Successes | % Success | % of cohort | |
| Medway | 1759 | 727 | 41 | 23 |
| Kent | 314 | 222 | 71 | |
| Out County | 16 | 12 | 75 |
With a further 4 Kent children passing on Review, this gives a total of 222 Kent children being found selective in Medway, 33 up on last year. The higher pass rate for Kent children merely reflects the higher ability of those likely to submit to an additonal set of tests.
The outside Kent and Medway figures are almost identical to last year. It is likely that most of this group just took the tests for practice with no intention of taking up a Medway Grammar school place. None of these Kent or out of county figures are used to determine the pass score which, as can be seen is fixed to allow 23% of Medway children.
Following the test results, parents of children who have not passed are invited to submit them for a review, which is designed to admit an additional 2% of Medway children. Review numbers for the Medway tests are as follows:
| Candidates | Successes | % Success | % of cohort | |
| Medway | 270 | 63 | 23 | 2 |
| Kent | 26 | 4 | 15 | |
| Total | 296 | 67 | 23 |
There were no candidates for review outside Medway and Kent.
- The Maidstone edition of the Kent Messenger has again published statistics for the Kent test for individual Maidstone and Weald primary schools, together with just two independent schools in the area. Whilst of some interest, they should be read with great care. In particular, as Weald schools are not in the catchment of grammar schools, the number of pupils taking the Kent tests will be lower than the norm in selective areas. I remain unclear why most independent schools in the area are ignored, some of whom exist to support entry to grammar schools, whilst others actively discourage the 11 plus. Shernold School, one of those supplied, achieved notoriety early in the year, when all its 11 plus results were nullified because of irregularities, and pupils' standards assessed through work submitted. I am only in possession of the Maidstone edition and am not aware this is repeated in other areas. If so, I would be grateful for the information.
- The Valley Park saga, outlined on other pages, continues. The Ombudsman recently recommended that four complainants about the appeal process at the Maidstone school should have fresh appeals. Although KCC denied there had been any fault in the process they agreed to fresh appeals and these have all been upheld; so the children involved will start at Valley Park this week.
- Bishops Down Primary School in Tunbridge Wells, with a planned admission number of 28, used a Governors Committee to fill the remaining places up until 2009 entry. Following a complaint by me to the Ombudsman relating to the maladministration of appeals at the school, Bishops Down has had its admission number raised to 30 to remove this irregularity.
- Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council has opened up a controversial debate with an article in the Independent newspaper proposing an increase in the number of West Kent grammar school places by reducing those in the East. He and I discussed this on Radio Kent. You will find further information and my comments here. You will also find further comment at 11 plus exams mainly expressing out of county positions. The forum includes information taken from this website, although any mention of kentadvice.co.uk or me is banned there!
- Dartford Grammar School for Girls - The Schools Adjudicator ruled in October on the oversubscription criteria for Dartford Grammar School for Girls for 2010 entry, after a long debate, and it is good news for Kent families. Details here.
- I remain unhappy at the number of secondary schools still advising parents they need to put the school in first place on the SCAF, if they are to receive an offer. This is not only completely untrue as schools are not told where you have put them on the form, it would be illegal. Put schools in the order in which you want them, it is as simple as that; you will not be the loser for it. If you want a second opinion on this make a call to Kent County Council Choice Advisers on 01622 694073. They specialise in offering free advice on school admissions, but are not allowed to go into some matters where I can assist.
- 2009 was my most successful ever for appeals. Currently I am running at 86% of those settled, although a number of those in the balance have now been referred to the Ombudsman, with every chance of success to further increase the rate.
- With the collapse of the legal case in Harrow against a parent accused of a fraudulent application for school admission, I had a further round of media interviews on relevant issues. I was interviewed on BBC World at One and subsequently quoted by Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.
- Details of 2009 admission and appeals decisions have now been moved to the relevant pages.