According to the Department for Education, just one new application for Academy status has been received this month in Kent or Medway, from Hartley Primary School. Interestingly,.......

News of proosoed new academies and free schools in Kent & Medway below.......

My apologies that this is rather belated - I've been a little busy, and this website is a one man part-time operation!

New Kent academies for February are: Mayfield Grammar School (formerly Gravesend Grammar School for Girls); The Folkestone School for Girls; The Maplesdon Noakes School, Maidstone; Milestone Special School in New Ash Green, in federation with the Leigh Academy, Dartford.  

Just one new Kent academy application for February, reflecting the slow down in the county, possibly because all those seriously interested have already applied. This is Grove Park Community Primary School in Sittingbourne, the town fast becoming a hotbed of academy activity.  In Medway, there is Woodlands Primary School in Gillingham. 

The BBC reports that there are 7 Kent primary schools identified as being forced to become academies, by dint of their consistent low performance in national league tables (a Teachers'Union has found two more). These have not been identified but a look at Key Stage 2 records over the past four years suggests......

A year ago, there was much debate about the vacant site at the redundant Wildernesse School (boys) in Sevenoaks, after it merged with The Bradbourne School (girls) nearby, in the latter's premises, to serve as the basis for the new Knole Academy which has now been operating since September. The new academy will soon be accommodated in its adapted premises, costing £18 million to develop.

There are now two alternative but incompatible proposals for the vacant Wildernesse site: a Christian Free Comprehensive School; and an annexe to one or more existing grammar schools. Both projects have a proposed start date of September 2013. .....

There is little progress in either Kent or Medway this month towards new schools applying to become academies, or fresh applications to set up Free Schools. Two schools : Cranbrook School and Chiddingstone Primary.......

Government has now accepted an application for the proposed new Tiger Primary Free School in Maidstone to open in September 2012.  The application now has to go through a number of stages before being approved. The intake is planned to be 30 children from 2012 and 2013, rising to 60 children in September 2014. This will  be the first case in Kent where the lack of place planning that goes into approving Free Schools comes head to head with established schools. Applications are now being accepted for the school (although it has not yet been approved) and, as the admission process is planned to be 'independant' (spelling error on application form) of the Kent admission process, it will create havoc ......

Just one new Academy opened in Kent or Medway this month: Smarden Primary School. This joins the large and growing Kemnal Academies Trust which operates out of Bromley, and also includes: Horizon Primary School in Swanley; Orchards Academy in Swanley (previously Swanley Technology College); Rainham School for Girls; and Pluckley CofE Primary School. The trust also includes: Kemnal Technology College in Bromley; three Bexley  schools; three Essex schools; and one from West Sussex. 

There is also just one new application..........

New Kent and Medway Academies for September are: Barton Court Grammar School, Canterbury; Brockhill Park Performing Arts College (Hythe - in a chain with Highworth Grammar School for Girls and Towers School and Sixth Form Centre); Homewood School and Sixth Form Centre, Tenterden (in a chain with Sandwich Technology School); Sheldwich Primary, Selling CofE Primary School, Lynsted & Norton Primary School, Milsted & Frinsted CofE Primary School (in Federation). New sponsored (old style Academies) are: St Augustine Academy (previously Astor of Hever Community School, Maidstone)  (sponsored by the Woodard Foundation) and Horizon Primary School (Swanley). In Medway there are:.......

New Kent academies open for August 2011 in Kent include Wilmington Grammar School for Girls in a chain with Wilmington Grammar School for Boys. This is allowable because Wilmington Girls was awarded Good with Outstanding Features in its most recent OFSTED Report, enabling Wilmington Boys to be accepted under its wing, as its OFSTED Report was just Satisfactory. This type of linkage emphasises the importance of a good OFSTED Report, sometimes at the expense of other essential aspects of a good eduction (no suggestion of this at Wilmington Girls). The other conversions are:......

Just one new academy in Kent appoved this year; Mascalls' School in Padddock Wood. There are also two new academies in Medway: Rainham Mark Grammar and Cliffe Woods Primary School.However, there is a large number of new applications:..........