As Reported below, the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), which effectively ran The Marlowe Academy in the last school year, made limited progress in its attempts to improve standards at the academy, overseeing a failed OFSTED. It then made limited progress in two subsequent monitoring Inspections and paved the way for the most recent barely adequate one.
It also took over three Maidstone primary schools in April 2012, including the previous Bell Wood Primary School which became Tree Tops Academy. OFSTED has now carried out its first monitoring Inspection eight months after AET took over the school which was previously in Special Measures. The summary conclusion of "Having considered all the evidence I am of the opinion that at this time the academy is not making enough progress in raising standards for all pupils. This visit has raised serious concerns and the timing of the academy’s next inspection may be affected" is surely an indictment of the academy chain's input to this school.
Some excerpts from the Report:.....
LATEST (13/7): Kent County Council had its debate on the e-petition submitted by Bearsted parents on Thursday. The debate can be found in full at: http://www.kent.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/82135, 3 hours and five minutes into the meeting. There was unanimous praise for the leaders of the campaign (unique in my experience), although there was much discussion on county wide issues. KCC takes some pride in its place forecasting, although I would challenge that confidence, as we continue to see too many predictable crises in provision. Three important outcomes. The decision by the governors of St John's to expand to two forms of entry in September 2013, and to provide an additional Year One class for those children currently disappointed, will need to go out for consultation, and Department for Education approval, although there is a presumption in the School Admissions Code of Practice that such expansion will be approved. There will not be additional provision at St John's during the course of the academic year 2012-2013, so those children who have lost out this time round, will have to wait until September 2013, to amply to transfer into Year One. The problem for 2012 entry has been exacerbated by the large number of siblings, and this ought to be a factor tracked in the future.
Ther have been similar problems in the Kings Hill area of West Malling, and it appears this campagin has inspired parents there to set off on a similar trail. You will find a facebook page at: http://workingpartykingshill.blogspot.co.uk/.
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Kent County Council has issued the following press release: "Primary school expansion in Grove Green brings welcome news to local parents......
LATEST (1st July): It is being widely reported that three additional places have been offered at St John's CofE Primary School in Grove Park, at the eye of the Bearsted primary schools admissions storm, following a mistake by the school governors in allocating places initially. Apparently a parent found a discrepancy between the supplementary admission form (designed to establish religious affiliation) and the school's oversubscription rules. Governors had followed the form, but not the rules.
This brings the school's admission numbers up to 33 which coincidentally is the number identified by the governors a month ago, as being a possible maximum they could accept. I could not understand this, as it would breach Infant Class Legislation, (and in any case how would an appeal panel decide which three children to favour?), but is the position in which the school now finds itself.
The rules make clear that such a breach of Infant Class legislation has no immediate effect for the school year 2012 - 2013, but if numbers remain above 30 for 2013 - 2014, the the school is required to either set up another class with a fresh teacher or else employ two full-time teachers in the class. One wonders what the appeal panel for the school, sitting this week, will make of this with the Infant Class Legislation rule already breached. Will they decline to admit additional children as the rules imply or, with resources apparently available, will they accept further children to make up a second class. If there are initially insufficient to provide a full class, I am sure that there would be other late applications from local families whose children are still not settled in a suitable school.
This is by no means the first time a church school has found itself compromised by confusing oversubscription rules relating to church attendance, with over fifty such schools across the county each applying their own criteria; see for example: Deal Parochial School. However, it is certainly the most embarrassing; with the flavour being seen at School Allocation Trouble.
The debate at KCC (see below) takes place after this week's St John's appeals. My original thought was that it needed to focus on ensuring there are sufficient local places for next year and beyond in the Bearsted area, but this information could change everything......
Pressure continues to build over the shortage of reception class places in Bearsted, centred on Madginford Park Infants School, Thurnham CofE Infants School and St John's Primary School. At the recent meeting of Bearsted Parish Council, Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council, listened to the concerns of many local parents whose children have no local school to go to, and has promised to do what he can to resolve the problem. One new issue is that at present, 43 of the 80 plus children without a school of their choice have been allocated places at St Paul's Infant School over two miles away. KCC is responsible for providing transport for those unable to make other arrangements, likely to be a minibus, driver as the only adult present, no seat belts, cost estimated at .......
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:........
To be updated. My previous article gives general figures on primary school admissions.
I am fielding many enquiries about infant class appeals and, sadly, having to explain that because of Infant Class Legislation, there is little or no prospect of success for most appeals, apart from the following five reasons:.......
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: .........
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 ......