Westlands School in Sittingbourne, and Hayesbrook School in Tonbridge are the first two Kent schools to take advantage of their academy status by offering additional places in the past few weeks, outside the rules on waiting lists and appeals. We can expect more to follow, taking advantage of there being no sanctions against these actions........

I shall be on Radio Kent between 8 and 9 in the morning of Wednesday March 2nd, and possibly later on, answering questions and talking about transfer patterns and issues.

Decisions arrive by email for those who have applied electronically after 4 p.m. on March 1st. With some 80% of the 20,000 children involved in Kent and Medway having completed online applications, this can still be a lengthy process, with some families waiting several hours for their decision. All applicants will have a letter posted on that day aimed to arrive by post on March 2nd setting out the school allocated and the procedure if you wish to appeal for a school you have not been offered.

Please note, if you now wish to apply for a new school in Kent that you have not previously listed, there is a new system forcing you to go through the bureaucratically cumbersome In Year Admission process, details here, or from KCC.  For Medway it appears much quicker, a complete turn around from two years ago when you couldn't even apply for new schools at this stage.

I am already arranging consultations for clients, so please contact me as soon as you know the school to which you have been allocated. Remember, the minimum you need to do to appeal is to write on the form provided:  "I am appealing for a place for my child (name) at (name) school. A more detailed letter will follow". This enables you to take your time over putting your appeal together without needing to rush to meet deadlines.

Several firms of Kent solicitors are now offering appeal services at fees which appear to be some £160 per hour or more. Please remember that preparing school appeals are not primarily legal matters. I believe my own experience of over 600 successful school appeals over the past eight years, together with my extensive knowledge of admission and appeals matters across Kent and Medway is a strong recommendation in itself.

Last updated: 26 Jan 2011.

Transfer from primary to secondary school for children with Special Education Needs can carry additional complications. You will find much helpful advice at Independent Panel for Special Education Advice (IPSEA), or on the MENCAP website.

I consider children with statements below.

Children with SEN, but not carrying a Statement have at least the same entitlement to a place at the secondary school of their choice as any other child.

Many schools  have an item in their oversubscription criteria giving priority for “Health and Special Access Reasons”. These usually specify that the priority applies to children whose medical or physical impairment means they have a demonstrable and significant need to attend that particular school. It is rare, without a statement, that this clause is activated at the normal admission round, and it is far more likely to be considered at appeal (see below).

No school is allowed to discriminate against a child who has Special Educational Needs, whatever their nature.

However, many parents are taken aback to discover at Open Evening that school swill often discourage them from making an application.  This can be for one or more of the following reasons:

a)      Children with learning difficulties may well have a negative effect on the school’s academic performance in an age when there is intense pressure to achieve maximum results (current government pressure is for all schools to achieve at least 40% of children with 5 A-Cs at GCSE including English and maths);

b)     Each school is allocated funds for children with SEN, according to a formula that does not depend on the number of such children in the school.  It is not required to use such funds for this purpose anyway.  Thus the fewer children with SEN that need additional resources, the better off the school is financially;

c)      If a school develops a reputation for being good with children with SEN, then it attracts even more children with SEN and this can affect its academic performance  and its reputation amongst other families (a few years ago one school in Mid Kent saw this effect dramatically affect its academic performance until it marketed itself in a different way).

d)     Some children, especially those on the autistic spectrum and with ADHD, have the potential to affect discipline within the school (one school in South Kent suffered this way when it became a lead school for autism under the short lived change of policy to stop admissions to SEN Units, see Units).

None of this may reflect the school’s actual approach to children with SEN (which can still be excellent), and so parents should not be put off if there is initial discouragement, but make further enquiries (school SENCO, OFSTED Report, finding out the school’s reputation in this field from independent sources, talking to parents of other children with SEN at the school – possibly through support groups, etc).

School Appeals for Children with SEN

At this stage, the situation changes dramatically, for if a school is oversubscribed, the instruction to Appeal Panellists is to “consider whether the appellant’s grounds for the child to be admitted outweigh any prejudice to the school”.  The school can comment to the Panel if there are reasons why that school in particular is inappropriate for the child (for example stairways in the case of a physically disable child), but is in peril of breaching disability legislation in doing so, and in any case, the Panel is independent of the school and will be positively looking for reasons why  there are individual grounds for admission.  Again, I am aware of one school with an excellent reputation for supporting children with SEN that actively discourages Appeal Panels from offering them places on appeal, but can be spectacularly unsuccessful in doing so.

Needless to say, I have considerable expertise and success at supporting families through such appeals, ensuring that delicate and often complex cases are presented in the most effective way.

Secondary Admissions for children with Statements of SEN.

These take place outside the normal admission process.  Each school statement of SEN carries with it the name of the school which the child is to attend.

Where children have a Statement of Special Educational Need, the process of secondary transfer is completely outside the normal process and takes place earlier in the school year. KCC publishes information on its website.

All school Statements carry a named school on them, and when the child transfers from primary to secondary school, a new statement has to be prepared naming an appropriate secondary school, which can also be a Special School or SEN Unit attached to a mainstream school.

"Parents may express a preference for the maintained school they wish their child to attend, or make representations for a placement in any other school. LEAs must comply with a parental preference unless the school is unsuitable to the child’s age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs, or the placement would be incompatible with the efficient education of the other children with whom the child would be educated, or with the efficient use of resources. LEAs must consider parental representations and arrange any meeting(s) with LEA advisers or officers the parents seek, before issuing the final statement. Unless a parent indicates that they do not want their child educated in a mainstream school (whether by expressing a preference or making a representation for a particular school or otherwise) an LEA must ensure that a child is educated in a mainstream school unless that is incompatible with the efficient education of other children".

The Local Authority is required to consult with the proposed school, and consider any representations they may make. However, the LA has the power to make that decision, whatever the views of the proposed named school, subject to the conditions above.The situation for an Academy is slightly different. If the Academy and the Local Authority cannot agree that the school is suitable, then the matter si referred to the Secretary of State who will make a final decision.

In other words, press for the school of your choice and if you can persuade the Local Authority of its suitability, you will be offered a place.

If you are unable to secure the school of your choice on the statement, then you have the right of appeal to the HESC Chamber (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First-Tier Tribunal, previously known as SENDIST. Don't be put off appealing by delaying tactics of the LA, and don't be frightened by what can seem to be a very formal process. Many parents will win appeals, or the LA will settle before the appeal is heard, without professional assistance (see Statements).

Last week, some 9,000 Kent children took the Kent eleven plus, results due on 18^th October. Parents then have less than two weeks until 31 October (a week shorter than last year!) to list four secondary schools in preference order on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF), so early planning is important. Already some secondary schools have held Open Days, and parents should visit all possible schools and ask about the chances of a successful application.

It is impossible to give specific advice on choosing schools in a short article, as the situation varies enormously from town to town and often year by year. My website at www.kentadvice.co.uk provides more information and I plan to expand this shortly.

If your child passes the Kent test, you can name just grammar schools on your SCAF.  If you don’t qualify for any of these, you may be offered the nearest grammar school with a vacancy but last year some parents were offered non selective places as there were no other local grammar school places vacant. 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 you are eligible, whether or not it is a grammar school. If your child has taken the eleven plus and not passed, you must include any grammar on the SCAF  you wish to appeal to, but I recommend you include at least one non-selective school. Appeals will not be heard until the summer of Year Six. If your child has not taken the eleven plus, you can only apply for non selective schools.  Some schools last year still claimed falsely that parents needed to put the school first on the SCAF to secure a place.

After closing date each school draws up a list of eligible applicants according to their oversubscription rules. They are not told where you listed them on the SCAF or which other schools you applied to, so list schools exactly as you prefer them - there is no way of improving your chances at a school by tactics of choice.  The only exception to this is, if  going to appeal, you will find the appeal panel is told and may be influenced by the school you have been allocated. There is no advantage in putting just one school on your list.

I strongly recommend you apply on-line so you reliably receive results the day before they are delivered by post. Last year over 79% of Kent parents went online.

On National Offer Day 1^st March 2011, your child will be allocated the highest preference school for which they qualify.  So some children could get their fourth choice ahead of others who listed it first if their claim is stronger. If you don’t qualify for any school on your list, KCC offers a place at the nearest appropriate school with vacancies.

This is a time when rumours swirl about the playground gates, many of them old wives tales. If in doubt check it out and my best wishes to every family going through what is undoubtedly an extremely stressful process. Remember, over 80% of all families were offered their first choice school in March last year, a figure which will have been much higher after the appeals process was concluded.

Peter J Read

Independent Education Advice

Secondary school transfer statistics 2010 entry

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  

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 successful, but one Foundation school with just 10% of 20 appeals successful.

 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..

Secondary Transfer Appeal Statistics 2008

LEA or Community Schools

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. 

Note: these statistics hide a multitude of sins. One LEA Grammar school had 55 successful 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 passed the Kent tests and be seeking a place in schools that are full). 

Update: 9 November. I am still receiving enquiries from parents who have been waiting for upwards of two months for a decision on which school they are being allocated. The Kent Secondary Transfer Scheme states that decisions should be made within 13 school days of the In Year Form being received. For primary schools it is 10 school days.

From September 2010 onwards, all applications to join a school outside the normal admission round have to be carried out through a centralised admission scheme, rather than, the previous method of approaching individual schools directly. You will find details of the Kent process here. It comes on Page 14 of the Determined Admission Arrangements of the 2011 Co-ordinated scheme. You will find the Medway Scheme here at Annex 5.

As Medway is a much smaller Authority than Kent the processes may well be much speedier to implement.

This is a hugely bureaucratic process, and you may be lucky to find a school prepared to ignore it. This issue presented Kent with massive administrative problems in September, because of the large number of applicants and was featured on BBC SE with a contribution from myself.

You will need in the first instance to approach the Local Authority for an In-Year Common Application Form (IYCAF), in Medway (SCAF) which will also provide an information pack outlining the process. For Kent and Medway secondary schools, parents can apply to up to four schools through this process. The LA then oversees the entry process and arranges that the child will be offered a place at the highest ranked school for which the child is eligible, or if none of these, then an alternative school.

The Kent Secondary Transfer Scheme states that decisions should be made within 13 school days of the In Year Form being received. For primary schools it is 10 school days. Clearly KCC is unable to meet these deadlines because of pressure of numbers.

In the case of grammar school applications, this process threatens to be fiendishly complex!

At the end of the process, if unsuccessful at a school of their choice, parents will have the right to appeal or go on a waiting list, although clearly the administration of the new IYCAF will delay the whole procedure.

Applications across county borders are even more complex!

For Year 7 in September 2011, there will be particular difficulties for new applicants and for parents wishing to apply for fresh schools after the initial allocations are made. In Kent these are made on the same IYCAF, which will be considered after initial reallocations are made on 4th April. Vacant spaces will  only offered through Kent County Council on 6 May, 10th June, and 8th July. You cannot make an appeal for a school until your application has been turned down.

If you are making your first application for grammar schools, testing will be organised if one of your grammar schools has vacant spaces, otherwise you may be turned down without testing. If you then appeal, testing will need to be organised, the problem being that it will be at the school's convenience and you may have to wait several weeks before knowing the outcome.  I will attempt to clarify this as the season develops, but there is still some uncertainty about the processes.

I am already working with several expatriates, who are relocating back to Kent to try and secure places for their children in Year 7 of new secondary schools for September. Their problems appear particularly acute as KCC is not allowed to begin the process until they are domiciled in the UK.

There is still no reference in the Medway scheme to applicants who have already applied to schools through the normal process, but wish now to submit a late application after allocations have been made. Historically this was at the discretion of the Admissions Manager (rarely given) but is mainly allowable for some grammar schools and out of county applicants only.

Good luck!

I am happy to provide advice through my telephone consultation service on primary admissions or appeals (but read Appeals for the difficulties with appeals). I have additional information on oversubscription levels for individual schools across the county, that assist in informing my unique independent advice service on primary admissions.

For parents applying for any school in Kent or Medway outside the normal admission round, you will not be able to approach individual schools directly to apply, although you are of course to be encouraged to talk to them in advance of an application.  You need to approach the Locally for an In Year Admission Form. You will find further details here.

Information on Individual Schools is here.

•  There are standard application forms known as the Reception Common Application Form (RCAF) and Junior Common Application Form (JCAF). Parents can also apply online here, and I recommend this process.

•  Primary school admissions are straightforward for most parents, with similar rules for entry to most schools, except church voluntary aided schools.

• MAKE SURE YOU HAVE APPLIED FOR THE CORRECT SCHOOL. EACH YEAR, I AM CONTACTED BY PARENTS WHO HAVE PUT DOWN THE WRONG SCHOOL BY MISTAKE, ALMOST ALWAYS TWO SCHOOLS WITH SIMILAR NAMES, OFTEN CHURCH SCHOOLS WITH THE SAME SAINT IN THE TITLE! YOU CANNOT CHANGE YOUR CHOICE, ONLY APPLY AGAIN LATE THROUGH THE  In Year Admission process. However, if the school is full, an appeal is unlikely to be successful because of Infant Class Legislation. The worst scenario i have come across in recent years was a Gravesend child being offered a school in Dover, because parents ticked the box for a school with a very similar name to the one they intended.

• If applying for a Kent primary school place for September 2012 or January 2013 at the normal age of admission, you MUST complete an admission from by 14 January 2012 (online) or Monday 17 January (midday) for a paper application. 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.

• The rule about 'ticking the box to indicate church school preference' has thankfully been abolished for church voluntary controlled schools, but if applying for a Voluntary Aided  School, make sure you understand the admission rules and have filled in the supplementary admission form.  For those reading this page outside the normal admission round, such rules should be looked at well in advance, to see what conditions will apply for an application to stand a chance of success.

•  It is worth asking the primary school the distance from home to school of the furthest child  to be offered a place last year, to estimate your chances of success, or in the case of voluntary aided schools the category they were allocated to. 

• 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 for local schools on entry, on my Kent or Medway Primary School individual school information pages. or for a single school by direct link to OFSTED here. (2) the importance the school places on achieving high SATs results as distinct from educating the pupils.  I have posted details of Kent Primary School admission and appeal statistics for 2011 entry here.

• If your child is at Infant School and you do not wish to transfer to a Linked Junior School, you can apply for other Junior Schools on the JCAF, or for any All through primary school school on an In Year Application Form, although chances that it will have vacancies are low, and you may have to try through the appeal process. Infant Class Legislation does not apply for such appeals. 

• Key dates for Kent applications are: 

This Kent On Sunday article is based on information I obtained from Kent County Council. The data in it has also been used by Radio Kent and Meridan TV.

A response to comments from Medway Council appears below.

 Kent County Council data shows there is a total of just 131 vacancies in Kent’s 33 grammar schools, mainly in the east of the county.  268 out county children are taking up places in West and North West Kent grammar schools, displacing many children from these areas eastwards some to grammar schools they cannot reach daily. More than 40 West Kent boys have been   offered places in Folkestone or Sittingbourne.    

The biggest influx is into the four Dartford grammar schools, with 29 children coming from as far as 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 in order by Skinners, Dartford, Weald of Kent, Tunbridge Wells Boys, Maidstone, and Tunbridge Wells Girls. This year’s problem is highlighted by these eight schools which all turned away more than 40 first choices who had passed the 11+. Last year there were just three, the same top schools as this 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. 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.  There are 85 children in the adjacent areas who have been offered none of their four choices. 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 School (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 the 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’s Academies present a very mixed picture.  Cornwallis,  Folkestone and Leigh are all heavily oversubscribed. The other six, mainly with new buildings still to arrive, have a total of 328 vacancies between them before some pupils who had not applied to them, were allocated places by KCC . 

Following my campaign through the national media, Medway Council has changed its policy of not allowing late applicants for grammar schools entrance to apply for the 95 spaces in Chatham grammar schools.  Only two weeks ago Council officers were telling enquirers that there was no facility for late testing, but now the grammar schools have laid on additional open days and been overwhelmed by enquiries from Kent parents unable to get into oversubscribed Kent schools. 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 Following a comment by Medway Council on this article, I have written the following letter to KOS.

I was fascinated that Medway Council claimed in last week’s KOS that late testing for Medway grammar school places has been available for several years rather than introduced in the middle of this year’s admission process following media pressure, as I believe.

Perhaps the person who gave the statement did not know that Medway’s own prospectus states that late testing can only take place in exceptional circumstances; that it is not even mentioned in the legal document that sets out Medway’s admission procedure; that when the Council commented on the media debate I initiated they were solely concerned with defending the status quo and forgot to mention this central issue; that parents were consistently told last year there was no provision for late testing; that when I contacted grammar schools early in March they were not aware of the change in procedure; and that one of my clients living in Kent contacted the Council offices two weeks ago and was told that there was no such procedure.

However the good news is that the Council has indeed bowed to that pressure and some Kent children allocated to inaccessible grammar schools will now be able to take up the vacant spaces previously barred to them if they now take and pass the Medway selective tests. 

Slightly late in the day, I have details of the most oversubscribed primary/infant schools in Kent for Reception age children, by first choices. Highest was St John's CofE Primary - Tunbridge Wells, followed in order by Callis Grange Infants - Broadstairs, West Hill - Dartford, Priory Infants - Ramsgate, Riverhead Infants- Sevenoaks, Sandgate Primary - Folkestone, Oaks Infant School - Sittingbourne, Great Chart Primary - Ashford, Shears Green Infants - Norrthfleet, Slade Primary - Tonbridge, St Peter's Methodist - Canterbury, Tunbury Primary - Walderslade, St Botolph's CofE - Northfleet. All these schools turned away more than 25 first choices in March, although there has of course been movement since then and many children have now been offered higher choices than they were originally allocated.

For 2010, Most oversubscribed school in Kent for the third consecutive year was the Leigh Academy in Dartford, turning away 218 first choices. This is followed for non -selective schools by, in order: Valley Park School- 112, Homewood School - 110, North School Ashford - 96, Fulston Manor School - 83, Westlands School - 78, Bennett Memorial Diocesan School and Folkestone Academy - 64,  Brockhill Park School - 60, Sandwich Technology College - 57, Mascalls School - 55, Charles Dickens School - 53, and Hayesbrook School - 50. All others are less than 50.

Newcomers to the list are: Brockhill Park (up from 17), Sandwich Technology (up from 48), and Hayesbrook (up from 29). Out go: Aylesford (down from 68  to 15), Maplesdon Noakes (55 to27 ), St Simon Stock (53 to 11)  and Cornwallis (50 to 30 )

For grammar schools most first choices turned away -  Skinners School with 115 (up from 92 but see below); then Judd School- 88 (in top two for past two years); Tonbridge Grammar School - 77 (top last year); Weald of Kent Grammar School - 50; Dartford Grammar School for Girls - 47; Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Girls  - 39; Maidstone Grammar School - 36; Dartford Grammar School - 35; Queen Elizabeth's Grammar SChool - 34; Simon Langton Grammmar School for Boys - 34; Sir Roger Manwoods School - 33; and Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys 32. All others had fewer than 30.

The caution with regard to Skinners is that many parents put them second to Judd and this year in particular the figures are skewed with Skinners offering places to 73 first choices, 39 second choices and 3 third choices (St Olave's is often the third school in this triangle)). Over at Judd there were 120 first choices and 2 second choices offered places so I would argue that Judd is the more oversubscribed – the vagaries of the system!

Children who had applied for non-selective school as back up and were allocated this are not included 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 .