Please note that for parents applying for any school in Kent or Medway outside the normal admission round, there is a new process for admissions which began last year. 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 will find further details here.

Medway Test result and Review statistics for 2010 and 2011 entry are here.

I have wide experience of the secondary school transfer schemes in Kent and Medway, and am happy to place my expertise at your service, both supporting parents through the appeals process and advising on choice of schools and patterns of application, drawing on my extensive local knowledge of the area and its schools. I give talks for parents at an increasing number of primary schools, by invitation, and am also happy to talk with groups of parents, as well as individuals.

Whilst there are now national closing and offer dates, each Local Authority operates slightly different processes for allocating pupils, for example Medway parents have six choices and Kent parents have four choices. The Medway secondary school admission prospectus (an essential item, available from Medway Council or your local primary school)   contain details of the all important oversubscription rules, which determine if you will be offered a place if too many people apply. Medway residents need to apply on the  Medway Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF), including any schools in Kent. In the same way, residents of Kent should apply for Medway schools on their own Local Authority application form.

GRAMMAR SCHOOL TESTING

Where children have taken the Medway Test and been unsuccessful, parents have the right to request a review of the decision within the next week. Results will be out in time for you to complete your SCAF. Parents will need to think carefully about whether to apply for a Review, as if unsuccessful, you may find yourself barred from making an appeal on academic grounds. For more information see Medway grammar school Review and appeal.

• For all oversubscribed schools find out if you would have been accepted last year. Ask for the distance from school the furthest pupil who was accepted lived. Many church schools admit children according to their level of church support. Find out which category of religious support was the lowest accepted.
•  If the school is described as “Community” or “Voluntary Controlled”, oversubscription rules are laid down by the LA. Each “Voluntary Aided” or “Foundation” school makes its own rules and you need to check these out carefully to find if you are likely to be offered a place.
•  Check the rules about free school transport, which only apply if you live more than three miles from your nearest appropriate school, or for certain church schools. These rules are detailed in the School Admission Booklet for your LA. See the page on School Transport and Appeals.
• Try and make sure that you will be eligible for at least one school on your list, otherwise you will be allocated the nearest one with vacancies, which may not be to your liking.
• Parents applying for secondary school places may be given a supplementary form “only where the additional information is required for the governing body to apply their oversubscription criteria to the application”. In Medway, this only applies to St John Fisher Catholic School. You are under no obligation to provide information which is not required for this purpose. No form should ask parents to state what preferences they have named on their SCAF, or the order in which they have stated their preferences, as no school requires this to apply its oversubscription criteria.
• In Medway, 84% of children secured their first choice in March for entry in September 2011.
  
•  Each oversubscribed school in Medway keeps a waiting list and fills vacancies from this list, in order. This means there is no advantage in having no school offered on your list in March. You need to apply to be placed on the waiting list, but you cannot be placed on a grammar school waiting list unless your child has passed the Medway test. 
•  Both Kent and Medway have an online application system on which parents can change choices up to the closing date. Details of the Medway scheme can be found here. One concern for primary heads is that because they do not see these forms, they are unable to check if parents have made sensible decisions. Conversely, parents can hide decisions from the school, – valuable where certain primary schools strongly encourage certain applications. Online applicants will be able to access decisions after 4 p.m. on 1st March. Paper applicants will receive decisions by post on 2nd March.
• Most schools now have specialist status, specialising in areas such as: mathematics & ICT, humanities, or sport. Some such as Rochester Grammar will give priority to up to 10% of places for candidates with a particular aptitude, in this case Music.
• Medway secondary schools mainly use nearness of homes to the school as measured by the nearest safe walking route determined by the Medway Council Geographical Information System. In a series of successful appeals in recent years, including a complaint to the Ombudsman at The Thomas Aveling School, I have demonstrated that the application of this system is seriously flawed.
• Rainham Mark Grammar took all applicants who passed the Medway Tests in 2008, 2009 & 2010, regardless of scores. Just 6 first choices were turned dwon in 2011. Don't be put off by high scoring criteria at this schools Rochester Girls Grammar has a high initial cut off score. However, it takes in a good number through the appeal system, some with a bare pass, so don't be put off if you like the school. You will not know the cut off score before you apply.