Primary school admission and appeal
- Primary school admissions are straightforward for most parents, with similar rules for entry to most schools, except church voluntary aided.
- If applying for a Kent primary school place for September 2008 or January 2009 at the normal age of admission, you MUST complete an admission from by 18 January 2008. This allows you to name three schools in order of preference. If you don't have one, a Kent admission prospectus for your area can be downloaded at Primary.
- There is no need to put your local school down in first place; enter the one you most want your child to attend. You will not damage your chances at your local school by putting it in a lower order.
- If applying for a church voluntary controlled school, make sure you tick the box showing you wish your child to be considered for a church school, otherwise wise you are considered after all those who have ticked the box, whatever your religious background.
- 14,514 primary school applications were received in Kent in 2008, including 82 from outside Kent who were not offered places. The following table shows the numbers of primary pupils offered their first choice school, and those not offered any school on their list. There are blank spaces in the table where the information is not available. Whilst the data from different years is not directly comparable, the table shows a steady decline in the proportion of children offered their first choice school. The proportion not getting their first choice has nearly doubled over two years, as has the proportion offered no school on their list, but allocated a school by KCC.
It is not clear why this worrying decrease in succcessful applications is taking place.
| 2008 number | 2008 % | 2007 number | 2007 % | 2006% | |
| number of pupils offered a school | 14432 | 100 | 13830 (Kent residents) | 100 | 100 |
| offered a school named on CAF | 13794 | 96.3 | 97.5 | 98.2 | |
| Offered 1st choice | 12933 | 89.1 | 91.3 | 93.6 | |
| Offered 2nd choice | 776 | 5.4 | |||
| Allocated by KCC | 458 | 3.2 | 2.5 | 1.8 |
- First piece of advice on Primary School appeals is – don’t panic. You will not get an earlier appeal or a better hearing by sending in your case early. If you are not ready, make sure you record your appeal by the closing date, using such words as “I am appealing for….... I will send in my detailed case when it is ready”. This enables you to take advice or plan your appeal without additional pressure (it is already stressful enough!). Following several queries on this - the rule is: "Parents should also be informed that there is no statutory time limit for submitting information about their appeal".
- Appeals
for places at primary school are often very difficult, because of a
government ruling that no infant class should have more than 30 pupils. You will find details here . There are just three Kent schools with infant classes of over 30 pupils. However, I have secured success at primary school appeals, and ensure that parents make the best case possible. One of my clients won an
appeal for his son to an infant class in a catholic primary school. His
twin sister had already been offered a place initially. Another won a
place after fraud by another parent was demonstrated. a third won a case aftere we demonstrated doubt over the distance measurement.
- From 31 March to 31 December 2007, there were 250 Kent Primary School Appeals, almost all Year R, of which 82 were successful. The success rate this year is likely to be lower, as Kent County Council has changed to a more reliable method of calculating home to school distances. The figures for Medway were 13 appeals, 3 successful.
- You will find primary school league tables here. These need to be treated with extreme caution. They are heavily influenced by (1) the ability of pupils admitted to the school – see the most recent OFSTED Report for details of attainment on entry here. (2) the importance the school places on achieving high SATs results as distinct from educating the pupils.