(Last Updated 19 May 2012)

Omissions are primarily of technical instructions about procedures to be followed by schools, and not of direct relevance to parents. You will find the full scheme here. This link also contains regulations for In Year Casual Admissions.

 The Key Scheme dates are:

In addition the scheme states:

2. The SCAF will be used for the purpose of admitting pupils to the first year of secondary education in the specified year, and any successive year in which this scheme is still in force.

3. The SCAF must be used as a means of expressing one or more preferences for the purposes of section 86 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, by parents resident in the LA area wishing to express a preference for their child:
(a) to be admitted to a school within the LA area (including VA and Foundation schools and Academies)
(b) to be admitted to a school located in another LA’s area (including VA, Foundation schools and Academies)

4. The SCAF will:
invite the parent to express four preferences including, where relevant, any schools outside the LA’s area, and to rank each school according to their order of preference.
invite parents to give their reasons for each preference.
explain that the parent will receive no more than one offer of a school place and that:
(i) a place will be offered at the highest ranked preference for which they are eligible for a place; and
(ii) if a place cannot be offered at a school named on the form, a place will be offered at an alternative school.
Specify the closing date for applications and where paper SCAFs must be returned to.

5. The LA will make appropriate arrangements to ensure:
That the online admissions website is readily accessible to all who wish to apply using this method.
That the paper SCAF is readily available on request from the LA, from all Kent maintained primary and secondary schools and is also available on the Kent County Council website to print, complete and return.
That a composite prospectus of all Kent secondary schools and a written explanation of the co-ordinated admissions scheme is readily available on request from the LA, from all Kent maintained primary schools and is also available on the Kent County Council website to read/print.

6. Completed applications must be submitted online and paper SCAFs returned to the LA or any Kent primary school by 31 October 2012. This is a National Closing Date set by DofE, which falls at the end of Kent’s half term. Some parents will not have been able to discuss the outcome of the 11+ assessment process with the primary school headteacher before this date, and in these exceptional circumstances applications will be accepted by the LA as ‘on time’ as long as they are received no later than 5 November 2012.

7. To help the LA ensure that everyone who needs to make an application has done so, primary schools may ask parents for a note of their online application reference, or – if they have concerns – may ask the online admissions team to check that an online application has been submitted.

Supplementary Information Forms (SIFs).

8. Only applications submitted on a SCAF (online or paper) are valid. Completion of a school’s Supplementary Information Form alone does not constitute a valid application.

9. A school can ask parents who wish to name it, or have named it, on their SCAF, to provide additional information on a Supplementary Information Form (SIF) only where the additional information is required for the governing body to apply its oversubscription criteria to the application. Where a SIF is required it must be requested from the school or the LA and returned to the school.

10. If a child is resident in another area, the home area’s online or paper SCAF must be used.

Testing (2013 entry)
11. The Kent schools that require children to sit the Kent grammar school tests are listed separately.
* Chaucer Technology School has a grammar stream and may admit up to 35 children (15% of their Published Admission Number) who are assessed as suitable for a grammar school through Kent’s PESE.
** Dover Grammar School for Boys and Dover Grammar School for Girls also accept pupils who have reached the required standard through the “Dover Test”.

12. Registration for the Kent grammar school tests will open on 1 June 2012. Parents wishing their children to sit the Kent grammar school tests are required to register with the Kent Admissions Team (either online or using a paper registration form) no later than 2 July 2012.

13. Children who are not registered for the Kent grammar school tests by the closing date for registration will not be entered into the Kent test taking place:
for in-County pupils on 12 and 13 September 2012
for out-County pupils on 15 September 2012 (practice test 8 September 2012).
A child’s place of residence is where the child normally sleeps, not a temporary address (such as for holiday or educational purposes) before returning overseas. For UK service personnel and other Crown Servants, if the fixed UK residence is not known at the time of registration, then a unit postal address, or, if appropriate, a “quartering area” address may be used.
If the parent chooses to name a Kent grammar school (which uses the Kent Procedure for Entrance to Secondary Education) on the SCAF for a child who has not taken the test, this preference will be treated as invalid because the child will not have met the entry criteria. In these circumstances a child will not have an opportunity to sit the Kent test until after 17 April 2013.

14. In the following exceptional circumstances, where a child is unable to sit the Kent grammar school tests on the specified dates, arrangements will be made for testing to take place by the end of January 2013:
illness on one or both test dates, confirmed by a doctor’s certificate;
a move into the Kent LA area after the closing date for test registration. (NB: This can only be arranged if parents return the late paper SCAF before 10 December 2011.)
Outside these specific circumstances, children who have not registered for testing but want a grammar school place will not have an opportunity to sit the test until after 4 April 2012. Parents would need to submit a late application SCAF to the LA.
Parents will need to follow the late applications process set out in the LA’s booklet “Admission to Secondary School in Kent 2012”.

15. Following the marking and the application of the Head Teacher assessment stage* the LA will write to parents of all registered children advising them of the assessment decision. Letters will be sent by 1st class post on 17 October 2012, to arrive on 18 October 2012. Where a parent has registered for the Kent Test online, and provided a valid e-mail address, assessment decision e-mails will be sent after 4pm on 17 October 2012.

16. Parents will have until 31 October 2012 to complete their online application or return their paper SCAF to the LA. Applications from parents of children who sat the Kent Test but could not discuss their preference options with the primary school headteacher when they received their assessment decision will be accepted by the LA as ‘on time’ as long as they are received no later than 5 November 2012. There will be no right of appeal against the assessment decision, but after 1 March 2010 parents may make an admission appeal to an independent appeal panel if their child is refused admission to any school, including a grammar school.

Late applications received after the SCAF closing date but before 10 December 2012
17. The closing date for applications in the normal admissions round is 31 October 2012. As far as is reasonably practicable applications for places in the normal admissions round that are received after that date but before 10 December 2012 will be accepted, provided there is a good reason for the delay. Examples of what will be considered as good reason include: when a single parent has been ill for some time, or has been dealing with the death of a close relative; a family has just moved into the area or is returning from abroad (proof of ownership or tenancy of a Kent property will normally be required in these cases).

18. Exceptional provision is made for the families of UK Service Personnel, Crown Servants and British Council employees, as required by the School Admissions Code. Applications will be accepted up until 10 December 2012, where it is confirmed by theappropriate authority that the family will be resident in Kent by 1 September 2013.A confirmed address, or, in the absence of this, a Unit or “quartering area” address, will beaccepted as the home address from which home-school distance will be calculated.Children who are not successful in gaining any place they want will be allocated anavailable place at an alternative school, and will have the same access to a waiting list /rights to appeal as other applicants.

19. The LA will hold these late applications until they are processed on 17 April 2013 . To allow the necessary work to be completed, applications must be received by 19 March 2013 to be included in the 17 April 2013 reallocation. Late applications made after 19 March 2013 will be processed in accordance with the Kent County Council’s reallocation processes as published in the booklet ’Admission to Secondary School in Kent 2013’.

26. Where the parents of a Kent pupil have applied to a school outside Kent, the LA will have regard to information received from the relevant LA to ensure that Kent LA offers the parents a place at the highest ranked preference for which the child is eligible for a place.

29.  Offers – 1 March 2013

30. On 1 March 2013 the LA will
send an offer e-mail after 4pm to those parents who have applied online and provided a valid e-mail address.
Send ALL parents decision letters. The letter will give:
the name of the school at which a place is offered;
the reasons why the child is not being offered a place at each of the other schools named on the SCAF;
information about the statutory right of appeal against the decisions to refuse places at the other nominated schools;
advice on how to apply for a place on the waiting list for any school named on the SCAF. Parents cannot ask for their child to go on the waiting list for a grammar school unless the child has been assessed suitable for grammar school;
contact details for the school and LA and for the admission authorities of Foundation, VA schools and Academies where they were not offered a place, so that they can lodge an appeal with the governing body.
The letter will notify parents that they need to respond to accept or refuse the offer. It will not inform parents of places still available at other schools.

32. Kent pupils who have not been offered a place at any of the schools nominated on their SCAF will be offered a place by Kent LA at an alternative school in the LA area, following consultation with individual schools. This place will be offered on 1 March 2013.

Acceptance/Refusal of Places - 21 March 2013
34. On 21 March 2013 the LA will check to see whether a response from each pupil who was offered a place on 1 March 2013 has been received. If a response has not been received by 21 March 2013, it will remind the parent of the need to respond within a further seven days and point out that the place may be withdrawn if no response is received. Only after having exhausted all reasonable enquiries will it be assumed that a place is not required.

35.On 17 April 2013 Kent County Council will run a reallocation process to offer vacantplaces that have become available to pupils on each school’s waiting list. After 17 April2013 the schools will offer any remaining places and vacant places that become availablefor applicants on their waiting lists. Kent County Council will process late applications thatare received during this time.Waiting Lists

36.Kent County Council will keep a waiting list for all schools up to 17 April 2013. This will include details of the following:(a) all applicants who named the school on the SCAF and were not offered a place on1 March 2013 and who have asked to be included on the school’s waiting list;(b) late applicants whose applications were/are sent to the school by Kent CountyCouncil.(A grammar school can only put children on its waiting list if they have been assessed assuitable for a grammar school.)

37.Waiting lists will be sent to schools on 21 March 2013. Applicants will need to be listed inorder of priority by schools, in accordance with the school’s oversubscription criteria andreturned to Kent County Council by 27 March 2013. Kent County Council will initiallyreallocate vacant places on 17 April 2013. After this date, schools will be sent back the remainder of their waiting lists and will make offers.34. After 2 April 2012 the LA will reallocate any vacant places that have become available at all schools on the dates specified within this scheme.

38.After 17 April 2013 waiting lists will include:(a) applicants named in paragraph 36 above(b) applicants who did not name the school on their SCAF and now wish to be considered for a place at the school.(c) Late applicants who have not previously been considered for a place at any Secondary school whose details were/are sent to the school by Kent CountyCouncil

39  For the purposes of reallocation, parents that havemoved a sufficient distance to require all new preferences should be considered as a lateand directed to Kent County Council. Schools are free to offer places to applicants that didnot name the school on their original SCAF, but have subsequently decided to apply for aschool place.

42. Applications after 17 April 2013 for Year 7 places New applicants for Year 7 places who apply after 17 April 2013 and before 19 July 2013 must apply to Kent County Council by completing the paper Late Secondary ApplicationForm. The offer will be made by Kent County Council and recorded on the pupil database.If the new applicant cannot be allocated a place at any school requested by the parent,Kent County Council will make an alternative offer and advise the parent of their right toappeal and to ask for their child’s name to be put on a waiting list. Parents that havemoved a sufficient distance to require all new preferences will be treated in the same way as late applications.