As soon as I write something positive about Kent primary school standards, bad news has a habit of turning up, this time with two  more OFSTED failures at Sandown School in Deal and Kingsmead Primary in Canterbury.   

The story of Sandown Primary in Deal illustrates the problems too many schools are having...........

I now have detailed information on Kent and Medway primary school admission offers for September 2012. On the surface, all looks well with a healthy 95% of children in Kent being offered one of their three choices, similar to last year. However, with rising rolls the number of children being allocated a school they hadn’t chosen has risen from 564 to 818 in two years, a worrying rise of 45%.

You will find more general information in a separate article below.  I have started to provide more detailed information on difficult areas, via the links below. 

Analysis of the figures shows a sharp contrast between most of West Kent and most of East Kent and between urban and rural areas. Maidstone town is the most difficult area, with over 100 children allocated to schools they did not apply for (you will find an earlier article on part of the problem here) and NO places free in any school in the town. Other problem areas include:........

The Failure of Halling Primary means 30% of all Medway Primary Schools with a recent OFSTED have failed an inspection

Meopham School, near Gravesend, has failed its OFSTED and been served with Notice to Improve after a number of difficult years. As with Dartford Technology College last year, criticisms are not as heavy as some, focusing on  significant improvement being required in relation to low levels of achievement and attainment in mathematics and the inadequate sixth form. There is also...

Kent continues to throw up failing primary schools at a faster rate than the national picture, and I have commented on this several times before. The two most recent ones, Hamstreet, and Dame Janet Infants in  Thanet, have very different profiles and different reasons for failure. 

Hamstreet is very unusual in my experience for,......

Holy Family Roman Catholic Primary School joins the growing list of Maidstone primary schools failed by OFSTED, when it was given 'Notice to Improve' in October. Particular criticism is made of the "slow progress many pupils make, especially in Key Stage 2 mathematics; their attendance; and the school’s governance".  The full list of failing schools in the town is: .........

Congratulations to: Downs View Infants School, Kennington; Herne Bay Infants School; St Michael's CofE Infant School, Maidstone; and Woodlands Junior School in Tonbridge on being awarded an Outstanding OFSTED Grading in the past month. These contribute to the total of ten Kent primary schools to be found Outstanding in the past year, the others being:..........

With an increase of 25% in the number of children not offered any of their choices in Kent Infant Schools (even taking the predicted increased numbers into account), The general picture is outlined here. I am still unclear where all the major pressures are. KCC confirm they have put in an extra 354 places to help ease these, asserting that this is the result of advance planning. This is directly contradicted by the headteacher of Claremont Primary School in Tunbridge Wells, who states, as quoted on the front page of 'Your Tunbridge Wells' this week: 

"The Local Authority have recently informed us that there has been an unprecedented and unexpected increase in the number of people seeking Reception places across the town this year. As a result they have asked us to take an additional class for September 2011 in order to meet their statutory duties. This is combined with increases in the number of admissions for three other Primary schools....

Have just done yet another interview on Radio Kent about Primary School  standards in Kent. This issue has surfaced again as KCC has set up an enquiry into why Kent primary schools underperform nationally at the end of primary school KS2 tests. The links at the bottom of this page show my concern over this issue has existed for some time. My key points were: ......

Medway Primary Schools appear to be failing OFSTED's at an even faster rate than in Kent, as St James CofE Voluntary Aided Primary School on the Isle of Grain is placed in Special Measures. Once again the school has no permanent headteacher, and the Governing Body has proved inadequate to support the school in a difficult time: "The governing body has had too little involvement in monitoring the school's work and has not provided enough challenge". As always it begs the question as to what the Local Authority was doing to support a school without a permanent headteacher.  That makes five failures since May 2010, two further schools have come out of Special Measures in that time, and just 15 have had a Satisfactory or Good rating, with none being Outstanding. I last wrote about the problems in Medway as recently as November, but it is apparent that Medway Council still has a great deal to do to provide the children of the area with a satisfactory education. 

As yet another Kent Primary School, St Michael's CofE Junior, fails its OFSTED, contributing to the fact that nearly a quarter of all Kent's failing primaries are in Maidstone, KCC must be wondering what to do next. The Report is nowhere near as bad as that for Downsview Primary  in Swanley, after an Inspection that also took place in November and is one of the worst I have ever seen, but one has to ask why the problems were not picked up by the team of support and advisory staff that KCC provides to prevent just such issues........