Back in the summer Amanda Spielman, the Chief Inspector of Schools, informed schools that Ofsted would carry out visits through the Autumn Term ‘to get some insight on how schools and other providers are bringing children back into formal education after such a long time away’.  She made clear explicitly that these visits were not inspections. Subsequently, following a challenge from the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) on the threat of legal action, NAHT reported that “While Ofsted has sought to play down the nature of these visits publicly, this statement makes it clear that they are indeed a form of inspection and should therefore be approached as such.”  

Such dishonesty is hardly likely to build any form of trust regarding these inspections, and reports back clearly identify that some are indeed conducted as such, not simply visits. It is reliably reported that at least 20 such inspections of Kent schools have taken place this term.

However, astonishingly any insensitivity over the dishonesty has not stopped there. Today, Thursday 15th October is the day of the Kent Test when primary school leaders up and down the county are fully focused on ensuring their pupils will be able to take the test under the best possible conditions, especially given the additional pressures brought about by Coronavirus. Several Kent primary headteachers will, however, have their minds elsewhere as Ofsted has chosen to carry out inspections in their schools this day!

Sir Paul Carter’s well-deserved honour is mainly in appreciation of his 14 years as Leader of Kent County Council for services to Local Government,  but I have known him for over 20 years in the field of education, where his passion, strong beliefs and understanding of what needs to be done to deliver the best for all the children of Kent has made a powerful impact on shaping the service. He and I first met when Paul was KCC Cabinet Member for Education before he became Leader, during which role he exhibited the same qualities. Although interested in all aspects of schooling, Paul’s main interests were in vocational and special education in both of which he has made a very strong mark.

Paul was often controversial, never afraid to pick up an issue, a true leader taking others with him, and a successful businessman in his own right. This appreciation will itself be controversial, for he has certainly made enemies in his determination to battle for the benefit of the people of Kent, and it could be argued that this award is long overdue, perhaps because he often took the fight for the people of Kent to government. You will find the KCC tribute to Sir Paul here, describing many of his other achievements.

In the first three weeks of September this year, 502 Kent families withdrew their children from school to Home Educate, compared to just 201 in the whole of September last year. This is wholly unsurprising as it follows the unique school year of 2018-19 when the large majority of children did not attend school for four whole months from the end of March. As a result, many families who might have been tempted to withdraw their children during that period will not have done so, but let the situation roll on to this term.

Overall, 749 Kent children left school to take up what is known as Elective Home Education (EHE) in the whole of 2019-20, well down from the record 1310 children the previous year and bringing to a halt the sharp annual rise which saw the total increase by 70% over the previous four years. Another 544 children simply went missing from Kent schools, compared with 830 in 2017-18.

The Chief Inspector of Schools, Amanda Spielman, ascribed some of this term’s increase to ‘Anxious parents taking their children out of school to home-educate them, as widespread misinformation on social media fuels fears over the risks of Covid’. This was determined from a pilot study of 130 schools earlier this term. I suspect a greater factor is that families who made that decision from March onwards had no need to follow it through until September. 

Updated 11th November with Kent and Medway data added, 

It is three years since I last published an article on this subject. It began: I am regularly asked regarding possible complaints about Admission Appeals to academies and Free Schools, and respond that it is rare such complaints succeed.

That view remains and is also true of the Ombudsman complaints procedure for maintained schools. Last year I attempted Freedom of Information Requests to update the figures for Academy complaints, but these were rejected on the grounds that the Department for Education/ Education Funding Agency did not hold the data in the correct form and it was too difficult to extract. However, I tried again last month for the local and national data and have now received it without difficulty as reproduced below. This shows a national decrease from 234 complaints in 2016-17 to 104 this year, Kent from 21 to 16, and Medway from four to zero.  Whilst the success rate has risen significantly from six successes nationally it is still very low, with just nine cases nationally found to have seen maladministration that may have led to injustice, and on in Kent and Medway. The norm after such outcomes is for the DfE to order a re-hearing, which may, of course, result in the same outcome, but will certainly use up considerable time in a child's education.

With the increased academisation of secondary schools, the work of the ombudsman has decreased sharply in this area, and there were just six complaints in Kent last year, all following failed appeals to grammar schools, and all unsuccessful, explored further below. There were no complaints in Medway.

The appalling stories of these two Academy Trusts, eventually closed down by the government, both demonstrated shocking management practices, with a great deal of money vanishing along the way. Both have both been the subject of government investigations which began over two years ago and are still not completed. In September 2019 we learned that the Lilac Sky Schools Academy Trust (LSSAT) investigation was finished but that publication was held up for ‘fact-checking' which is apparently continuing a year later, suggesting an awful lot of facts! For SchoolsCompany, I am told that ‘due process is ongoing with regard to this investigation’, two years after it started! You will find copies of two recent letters from the DfE to me here confirming what are surely unacceptable delays given the amount of money mislaid. 

I have written extensively about both Academy Trusts previously and it is clear that government failure to act when their failings first came to light has played a significant part in both the appalling standards which children endured in the Trusts' schools and the large financial rewards accruing to those in charge. Perhaps this disgraceful delay in releasing the facts of the financial finagling is so that the whole thing can be swept under the carpet and the millions of pounds which were lost through wrongly pumping them into the two companies forgotten. No one will ever be held to account for the dodgy dealings of the companies behind both Trusts and the appalling treatment of children under their care, especially at SchoolsCompany. Meanwhile, the Trust leaders have gone on their way rejoicing without even an acknowledgement of regret.

After a period of some five months of being ‘unexpectedly away from his duties’, Clive Webster CEO of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership (KCSP) has resigned with effect from 23^rd September, according to Companies House, although a news item on the Trust website states that ‘he has decided to step down at the end of December 2020’. His name has been expunged from any mention on the Trust website apart from his resignation statement and replaced as the lead introduction, which is now fronted by Mike Powis, Chair of the Trust Board.

I previously wrote a lengthy news article about the Trust in June, analysing the key issues that may have led to his gardening leave or suspension from duties at the time, and there has been no further information about the situation forthcoming since then. Understandably, the Trust has remained very well-disciplined and tight-lipped about the matter, which may well have covered some delicate negotiations. The nature of the resignation statement below suggests it is a departure on agreed terms. 

Kent County Council has now released further details to primary schools about the Kent Test taken in local schools on Thursday 15^th October. As I feared and explained in a previous article, there are no contingency plans set out in case the pandemic increases in severity over the next three weeks before the test, and the Cabinet Member’s Report to the KCC Children’s Young People and Education Committee on 22^nd September completely evaded related issues apart from pinning their hopes on the Test delay. In the Minutes of the previous July meeting he had ‘reassured Committee Members that Kent County Council would do all that was practical and possible to address all forms of disadvantage’.  However, in the same meeting, he referred to the delayed Kent Test assessment until 15th October (and) considered (this) to be the most effective change which could be made’, which was certainly not the case and not even sufficient to meet government advice, as I have discussed previously. There is a vague reference to the Headteacher Assessment process in this context, but this would need a total redefinition of the process to have any effect, as I have previously suggested and appears not to be under consideration by KCC. 

Instructions to schools issued this week include what to do if children fall ill during the Test, how to tackle self-isolation including the possibility of testing over half-term and issues relating the scrapping of external monitoring of test procedures in schools as explained below, along with other relevant issues. 

Updates: The entries on the third page, Other Trusts, are still being updated and extended, following enquiries, as this article is attracting considerable interest  (from headteachers?). I am now surveying all single academy Trust non-selective and primary academies,  with further details below.  

The website Education Uncovered has identified the full list of 183 English Academy Trust leaders receiving (earning?) more than £150,000 in salary for the school year 2018-19. This includes eight leaders who were working in Trusts running mainly Kent schools, including the scandalous increase of 33% for one leader up from £150,000 to £200,000 in twelve months and who then took early retirement at the end of the year. The Trusts are Aletheia Anglican Academies Trust, The John Wallis Church of England Academy; Kent Catholic Schools' Partnership; Leigh Academies Trust; Swale Academy Trust (2); Valley Invicta Trust (2).

I also look below at staff in five other Trusts which have academies in Kent or Medway, and several other Trusts of interest, including cases where well-paid leaders have now retired. 

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has been sending letters to academy trusts who have an executive salary above £150,000 or multiple salaries between £100,000 and £150,000 since 2017, asking them for justification of these payments. The website Schools Week has found few signs of any practical response to this attempt to hold pay back, certainly not amongst the Kent Trusts listed below.

Browsers can decide, from the descriptions below, whether the school leaders concerned provide value for money for their schools. 

For the last three and a half years, Turner Schools has been one of my most prolific themes for articles on this website, aided and abetted by its CEO and founder Dr Jo Saxton, whose passion for promoting the Trust (named after her grandmother) and making fantastical claims for its performance and future prospects was simply breathtaking. She departed the Trust in March, after just three years, to become a Political Adviser to Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, whose subsequent gaffe ridden career is well documented, but presumably is coincidental.

The EKC Group, which runs Folkestone College, has sensed an expansion opportunity and has opened the Folkestone Junior College this month. This offers a full-time alternative to the Turner Schools monopoly of non-selective education in Folkestone, in Years 10 and 11, surely a major challenge to the Trust.

See Update Article with Statement by KCC. 

Kent County Council has now applied for Planning Permission for the controversial new secondary school in Thanet, exposing further problems with the project.

The background to the new school briefly is that, first of all, KCC overestimated the number of secondary aged children coming through the system in Thanet to justify commissioning a new school. The Council then backtracked, with the 2020-2024 Kent Schools Commissioning Plan explaining (p137) how they could comfortably manage the small long term pupil number deficit by expanding two of the District’s six non-selective schools.

The real problem is that two of the Thanet schools are so unpopular with some families to the extent that 189 children were allocated to them in March who never applied to either. Others were offered places in Sandwich and Deal schools, some miles away. The full background to the controversy is explained here. When the new school opens, with a planned intake of 180 children, at least one of these schools is likely to become unviable. As a result, KCC’s introduction to the Planning Permission Consultation is quite simply dishonest, as explained below.

One of the problems with the new school, now to be called Park Crescent Academy after one of the adjacent roads, is that the site on which it is to be built is very cramped as can be seen from the projection above, and explained below. The new academy will replace the residential Royal School for the Deaf which was closed down in 2015, see below. One of the consequences of the limited space, set out below, is that the school will have no sixth form.

Update 16th November: Article Re Mrs Aquina's dismissal. 

The Chair of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership wrote to parents of St Thomas Catholic Primary School on 17^th June to inform them that the headteacher, Mrs Aquilina, was being given ‘special leave until the end of the academic year’. This followed a safeguarding incident which created considerable concern and debate, the absence being widely and reasonably assumed to be a formal suspension from her responsibilities because of the safeguarding issue.

On July 25^th, at the end of the summer term, he wrote again ‘We have now reached the end of the academic year and can confirm that Mrs Aquilina will be returning to her role of Headteacher at St Thomas’ Primary on 1 September 2020…. A meeting with parents and carers of St Thomas’ will be held at the start of the new academic year’

Yesterday, 1^st September, Mr Powis, the Chair of KCSP, wrote again to parents, to inform them that Mrs Aquilina will now be ‘on special leave for the foreseeable future’. The letter unsurprisingly contains no further explanation of the change of direction and no mention of the meeting for parents promised in the previous letter. This may be because of legal issues. 

 Update: It has been suggested that the fall in take-up for the Kent Travel Pass is partly due to some families deciding not to send their children back to school at this time. It will soon become clear if this is a factor.  

Following on from the TUI holiday flight incident and the failure of passengers to follow rules, it is relevant to note the following

It is not surprising that, partly as a result of this and partly through matters relating to social distancing, parental caution has seen the number of applications for the Kent travel passes fall by over half for September. Those for age 11-16 are down from around 24,000 normally to just 12,557 for September, with 16+ passes down from around 7,000 to 2,280. Most of the missing families will now be driving their children to school by car, swelling the road traffic considerably across the county at the two peak school times.

There is likely as a consequence to be travel chaos at peak periods particularly in areas where there are several secondary schools close together. Three towns spring to mind: Canterbury, Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells, but I am sure there are others. One can also add in schools served by narrow roads as explained in a previous article entitled The Coronavirus Effect on the 'School Run' in Kent, Part 2 which I wrote two weeks ago, and looks at the developing problems of getting children to school.  

I also look below at transport matters contained in new advice published by the government on Friday around 5.30 p.m. This sets fresh expectations for schools from the start of the new term, for many just five days in advance, including a weekend and a bank holiday. It contains 18 pages of advice, some wise and helpful, some very belated, some trivial and some patronising.  Finally, a look at Brockhill Park and Ebbsfleet Green Primary Schools. 

There are just five schools that have converted to become academies in 2020, including the four which came together to be the EKC (East Kent Trust) in March.  These are: Briary Primary, Herne Bay; Bysingwood Primary, Faversham; Holywell Primary, Upchurch; and Queenborough School, Isle of Sheppey. I have written extensively about the new Trust here.  The month before, the failed Sunny Bank Primary in Sittingbourne became a sponsored academy with The Island Learning Trust on the Isle of Sheppey. Background here. 

I also look below at the new applications to become academies of: Marden Primary, near Tonbridge; Eastchurch Primary, Isle of Sheppey; Holy Trinity VA Primary, Gravesend; Worth Primary, Deal; and Fairview Primary and Oaklands School in Gillingham, two schools converting to become part of the Westbrook Trust. The re-brokering of the failed Delce Academy to the Inspire Partnership Academy Trust has also taken place. Update: 4/9/20. The conversions of Marden, Eastchurch and Oaklands have now taken place. 

There are six new free schools opening in Kent in September including one new secondary school, Maidstone School of Science and Technology.  There are three new primary schools: Bearsted Primary Academy in Maidstone; Ebbsfleet Green Primary in Dartford; Springhead Park Primary in Gravesham; and two Special Schools, Aspire School in Sittingbourne and Snowfields Academy in Maidstone. 

I look at other decisions of the South East and South London Headteacher Board of the Regional Schools Commissioner, relating to the Barnsole Trust, Folkestone Academy and Holmesdale School, along with an item relating to the North West Kent Alternative Provision Service.

I have followed the misfortunes of the Griffin Schools Trust for many years since it took over four primary schools as academies in Medway, then having Wayfield Primary taken away from it in 2016, following a catastrophic Ofsted Report that highlighted 'Pupils’ safety and well-being are at risk; Staff manage pupils’ behaviour poorly; Normal discipline has broken down; On occasion, staff lose control of pupils, who are then at risk of being harmed'  a theme echoed in the most recent Ofsted report on a Griffin school: 'Many pupils do not feel safe attending this school. They feel intimidated by others’ conduct. Pupils are right to be concerned. Leaders have not been effective in managing pupils’ behaviour. It is increasingly rowdy and sometimes dangerous', this time about Stantonbury International, a school which had been the largest in the country when they took it over, although unsurprising it now has numbers falling sharply. Two recent articles in Education Uncovered focus on the Trust, its failures and its control by a small coterie of four individuals, three of whom have run it since its foundation in 2013. 

One is left in bewilderment as to why the Education Funding Agency awarded Stantonbury to the Griffin  Schools Trust in the first place, with their limited experience of running just one other secondary school, which it has now brought down to Ofsted 'Requires Improvement' and why it has not now closed the Trust down. This is what eventually happened with two other notorious Academy Trusts which also operated in Kent

Update 24th August: I am hearing of various schools and at least one FE College which is trying to bounce qualified students off sixth form and vocational courses. One device is to place them on a 'reserve' list. For schools, there should be clear oversubscription rules to decide how places are allocated. If these are broken, then an appeal will have to be upheld, but you will need to work out how to challenge them. I am having difficulty working out the rules for colleges which are not my normal area of interest. Can anyone please advise me?

Update evening of 20th August: Cancellation of those BTec results which have been published and those which haven't even been released. See below in blue. 

First of all, my congratulations to all young people who have achieved the GCSE outcomes they desired and have worked for in this most difficult of years. 

The GCSE results for 2020, out on Thursday, were based on the same formula as the A-Level outcomes finally agreed after several U-Turns. The official GCSE grade is now the highest of the algorithm calculation and the teacher grade estimate for each pupil, but with outcomes now far too dependent on the inevitable variation in the reliability of that teacher estimate. Schools that have worked hard to ensure their estimates are as fair and rigorous as possible will have seen their pupils penalised, as against those which were generous, perhaps acting for the best for their pupils, or else influenced by the nature of their intake. Once again, I fear that when we see the statistical outcome of the new process, disadvantaged pupils will have been penalised and many from the private sector will have benefited as schools responded to the expectations of their paying customers. 

A major consequence of all this is that the considerable improvement in GCSE and BTec grade levels will lead to extra pressure on school sixth form places, and I explore the consequences of this below, including options for students and the pattern of A-Level entry in Kent’s non-selective schools.  

We have now had the inevitable cancellation of the BTec results. Level Three results needed to be lifted so that results are again compatible with A-Level grades. See the previous article for consequences. In the same way, BTec Level Two results will now count as before to be equivalent to GCSE grades for admission to the A-Level Sixth Forms of many schools, producing more students qualified for them. All the places at some schools will already have been awarded first time round and cannot be removed, so there is a big capacity issue here, as explained below, whilst for other schools they simply add to the pressure on existing places. This is surely all now spiralling out of control and one can only speculate what happens next. See the next sentence for one outcome that should happen without delay. 

I believe that in any decent society Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Education, and Nick Gibbs the Schools Minster,  would and should have resigned without delay. Have they no shame?

You will find my 'Information and Advice' article on school Sixth Forms here, containing considerable additional material. Several years ago I wrote an article entitled Transfer to Grammar Schools in the Sixth Form which surveyed the considerable movement from non-selective schools to Kent grammar school Sixth Forms. I have no reason to think the situation was any different last year, but with the inflated GCSE grades of 2020, the pressure on places will now be considerably greater. I have also carried out a Review of Kent and Medway school 2019 A-Level performance which may be of guidance to students exploring options. 

The A-Level and GCSE exams fiascos are already highlighting considerable incompetence at the Department for Education. The same department is exacerbating the transport issues by having too many vague, unrealistic and unexamined ideas being pumped out at short notice for others to implement, in an attempt to head off the crisis. This latest government document shows that the load and responsibility on school leaders to deliver all they are required to do is out of all proportion to the resources they have available, although I am sure they will give it their best shot. The large majority of parents whose children need to travel on school transport will be dismayed to see the inevitable gap between government pipe dreams and practice. My previous article referred to the knock-on traffic problems of a large increase in car journeys as families switch away from public transport, but the proposal for  ‘implementing ‘safe streets’ policies outside schools’, whilst welcome to many,  is surely fraught with difficulties if introduced in time for the start of term. 

At the other end of the scale: ‘At a national level, at least 50% of journeys to school of 2 miles or less, and which are currently undertaken by public bus, need to switch to cycling and walking in order to make capacity available for those with longer journeys’, which arrives from the ivory tower without any clues as to how the obligation is to be achieved. 

Update evening of 20th August: Cancellation of those BTec results which have been published and those which haven't even been released. See below in blue. 

It had not been my intention to comment on the A-Level chaos this year, because I had nothing extra to say given the complete dominance of this story across the media since last Thursday, but it is now quite simply too big to ignore.  Like many others, I have listened and watched with amazement as the Department for Education twisted and turned in its feeble and unsuccessful attempts to correct the initial blunder. This was caused, I believe, because the algorithm used to allocate results had not been properly tested, if at all, in the months leading up to their publication. As a result, the large scale anomalies which have featured in so many news stories and distressed and angered so many young people were not picked up. This is not the first such revolt by young people in this country bringing about change (Greta Thunberg, Black Lives Matter) but the first to be directly brought about by the incompetence shown by government. And make no mistake, it is this which has brought about the U-Turn. I suspect that, as a direct result of the government's ineptitude, it will not be the last such insurrection. 

We now have the inevitable cancellation of the BTec results, Level three of which needs to be upgraded so that results are compatible with A Level grades. When these are revised they will produce more students qualified for University places, although the places on many of the courses for which they are entitled to places will now be full. This is surely now spiralling out of control and one can only speculate what happens next. See next sentence for what should happen. 

I believe that in any decent society Gavin Williamson, the Secretary of State for Education, and Nick Gibbs the Schools Minister,  would and should have resigned without delay. Have they no shame?

Further article here following new Advice from the Government. 

Updated again 14th August, looking at the provision of bus services for 'The School Run' - and probably more to come in a fast-changing situation.

I wholeheartedly support the government policy principle of encouraging all pupils to return to school in September, and those schools are working incredibly hard to deliver it. However, one of the many intractable Covid-19 related challenges facing some secondary schools and families when re-opening in September is that of pupil transport. Many Kent schools are especially vulnerable, for the county is rural in places with pupils having to travel long distances to their nearest school, and faith and grammar schools will also have pupils who travel considerable distance by public transport. Most readers will have seen or encountered the publicly accessible double-decker buses packed with pupils on their way to and from school in the past, but this won’t be the situation in September. For social distancing rules reduce the number of passengers on each bus by up to two thirds and there are not the spare buses at peak school times to compensate by increasing numbers.

We are now just three weeks away from the start of term and there is no sign of a solution to the potential transport chaos from too few buses and too many cars on the road at peak times. The government has recently released two documents covering the challenges, but with few solutions apart from £40 million in new (?) money mainly to enable students to use unidentified alternatives to public transport (answers on a postcard please!), and keeping fit by cycling, walking or using a scooter. KCC considers that: ‘the financial impact on bus services and operators has been significant so it could be that more services than usual are subject to change or cancellation. In addition, at the moment, operators are only able to let about half of the usual numbers of passengers on their buses and if this remains the case, then providing enough space for all passengers could (!) be a problem, and so students that can travel in a different way should do so at the moment’. This will inevitably have major knock-on effects, with a sharp increase in private traffic on the roads at key times. I have looked at several possible flashpoints below.

There is no doubt that unless there are considerable improvements to what is currently on offer, too many pupils will regularly miss large parts of the school day, with some not being able to make school at all.  It is difficult to see what they can do in the face of government threats to fine families whose children do not attend. However, they will not be alone as others will be in quarantine, or come from families simply frightened of the consequences of children mixing with others during the pandemic, which can of course peak again by then perhaps in local clusters. 

Two years ago, Comprehensive Future published as a fact that: When asked how many pupils were admitted through these priority policies 80 schools responded, revealing that just 574 disadvantaged pupils were offered admission out of their 12,431 available places...… there were 22 selective schools who responded to say they had failed to admit a single disadvantaged pupil through their policies’.  This claim was picked up by the media including the BBC. Unfortunately, this is twice completely false, as I demonstrated in an article last month after the organisation publicly attacked me for querying the data, repeating it in the process. False firstly, because the organisation had quoted completely the wrong data column from their own database, and secondly because the whole database is self-evidently rubbish, see below. As I wrote then, a prime example of the ICT mantra Garbage in, garbage out.  

I have now been informed by CF’s Chairman, Nuala Burgess, that CF is not prepared to discuss the matter further, the bogus claims remain on their website and that of the BBC and so this must cast doubt on any other claims made by CF on data they have harvested to forward their aims.

Update: 26th September: To no one's surprise, KCC completely ignored the challenge. In July,  the Cabinet Member for Education reassured Committee Members that Kent County Council would do all that was practical and possible to address all forms of disadvantage’, but at the same time, 'he referred to the delayed Kent Test assessment until 15th October (and) considered (this) to be the most effective change which could be made’. See September article here. 

I had an extended interview on Radio Kent last week about the unfairness created towards ‘children of ordinary families’ in the Kent Test for this extraordinary year. At the conclusion, Julia George who was interviewing asked me to ‘throw down the gauntlet’ with KCC over my deep concerns, repeated several times over recent months. I did this by simply challenging the Council to respond to the recently published Government Guidance to Admission Authorities, Kent County Council being one of the largest in the country. KCC’s response to the BBC over the challenge wrongly dismisses the guidance because it ‘will cover individual schools and consortia which test far fewer children’. More importantly, it completely ignores the main part of the guidance and my concern, which focused on the unfairness created for lower-income families in Kent, as explained below.

At about the same time, Matt Dunkley, Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education at KCC replied to a letter from Adam Holloway, MP for Gravesham, which echoed my concerns. This response covers somewhat different territory, but again completely ignores any strategy for promoting fairness for disadvantaged families as laid down by the government advice. Moreover, he dismissed my idea for creating flexibility in these increasingly uncertain times and of supporting ordinary families, or any alternative, having set up a false description of it to dismantle!

Oasis Community Learning is trying once again to reverse the inexorable decline in the fortunes of Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey (OAIOS) by bringing in a new Executive Principal over the head of Tina Lee, the current Principal.

Ian Simpson, currently Principal of Oasis Academy Lister Park in Bradford, makes the eighth leader since the school became an academy in 2009. Most of his predecessors have been moved on after failing to turn the school round. Both of the previous two post holders were appointed from within the school only after the Trust failed to attract anyone from outside, despite extensive advertising. Both have been a disappointment. It is not clear if the role of Executive Head is permanent or just a short term firefighting job.

All this is taking place in the context of a forecast crisis in the provision of non-selective places in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, which will come to a head in 2021, if it has not already arrived. 

Hot on the heels of Kent County Council's confirmed arrangements for the Kent Test, as reported in my previous article, the government has now released its formal advice on assessment processes for selective school admissions. This is quoted extensively below in blue and italics. It greatly expands the frameworks set out by KCC and Medway Councils, urging admission authorities to look closely at minimising disadvantage for protected groups, socially and economically disadvantaged children and children who are unable to attend the test centre, as I had hoped KCC itself would. The current KCC proposal heavily discriminates against lower-income families who can't afford private education or extensive private tutoring.  It remains my conviction that, if KCC were to adopt a model such as the one I have proposed before, it would go a considerable way towards meeting the requirement to minimise this acknowledged disadvantage in the current circumstances which has not yet been addressed. However, there is still the flexibility to do so. Medway Council has a more structured procedure for assessing children, but no apparent will to change it as this document advises, so I have little hope that greater fairness will emerge there.  

Several pieces of government advice, considered further below, relate to ‘the attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers which is likely to be magnified by their absence from school during the coronavirus outbreak’. In particular, ‘we therefore strongly advise that tests for grammar and partially selective schools are moved back into late October or to November if local admission co-ordination processes allow’. Along with the other recommendations below which now need addressing, this is considerably more radical than the KCC and Medway decisions which place the revised test dates in the first half of October and offer no further mitigation of disadvantage. 

The immense logistical problems faced by KCC and, to a lesser extent by Medway Council, in providing facilities to test some 5,000 out of county candidates are also explored further below.

Update: You will find an article exploring the government's announcement of 35 new Free Specia Schools to be set up here. 

Further Update: KCC and government have announced the opening of a new secondary special school on the Isle of Sheppey for September 2022. 

This article looks back at provision for children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for the year 2018-19 across Kent, success rates for those appealing against decisions, along with other related matters. The data shows a sharp rise of 80% in EHCPs awarded in under three years, with a corresponding increase in budget putting enormous pressure on KCC education finances.

The data below shows that for nearly half of families requesting a statutory assessment of SEN this is not followed through for some reason, often lack of support from the school which may be for good reason. However, for most who get that far, the overwhelming majority were awarded an EHCP, so it is worthwhile persevering. I imagine that the difficulties of securing an EHCP over the past six months have been immense.  Those unsuccessful in securing an EHCP or one that is adequate for the purpose have the right to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal, although large numbers starting down this route did not follow through, often where KCC decided their cases were not worth defending and concede the EHCP, as suggested by the data.

The article also looks at placements of children with EHCPs, with 40% of primary and 30% of secondary pupils remaining in mainstream schools, along with the number of children being with EHCPs being de-registered from school for Elective Home Education, together with a brief look at the powerful performance of Medway Special Schools. I also look back at a damning Inspection of Kent’s ineffectiveness in implementing the disability and special educational needs reforms as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 which took place in the middle of this period; consider the current situation and the financial pressures imposed by the increase in EHCPs; and the number of families taking up places in private schools, funded by KCC often after Tribunal. These include one which charges more than twice as much as Eton College. 

Richard Long, KCC Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, has now decided on the timing and arrangements for the Kent Test this year. A letter to schools sets out as expected that the Kent Test will be delayed by around one month as a result of the impact of Covid-19 on schools and pupils. The test will now take place on 15 October for pupils who attend a Kent school and 17 October for all other students. Kent parents will also be offered two additional preferences on their child’s Secondary school application this year, an increase from four to six, to account for the later release of Kent Test results.

The most interesting part of his letter reads: ‘while the delay in testing will provide an opportunity for children to settle back into a more normal school environment, we appreciate that children will have missed around four months of schooling. Fortunately, the Kent Test process is already designed to ensure that a child’s wider circumstances can be considered before their assessment is finalised.  We will be providing guidance for schools in light of the differing educational opportunities that children will have received over the last few months, and more generally on implementing the approved plans’. This flexibility leaves open alternative approaches to minimising the gross unfairness I have written about previously, which would discriminate against ‘ordinary’ families and those attracting Pupil Premium who have none of the advantages of children attending private schools or whose parents have arranged extensive private tuition for the six months leading up to the Test.

The question remains as to whether Kent County Council has the desire and the commitment to be as fair as possible to all Kent children looking to a grammar school place.

News Update: I have been contacted by a number of Thanet families whose children were found selective but not offered grammar school places because they live too far away and the grammar schools are full. They were placed on waiting lists, but have been shocked to be moved further down the list. This is because, at the recent admission appeals, several non-selective children were found to be of grammar school ability. The rules require that they are also added to the waiting list and if they live closer go ahead of those already on it! I have previously looked at the dire situation in Thanet here,  with several of these families being offered one of the county's least popular schools. Sadly I have nothing positive to suggest.  

I am starting to receive some feedback on school admission appeals for Kent families, decided on the basis of written submissions only,  although most are happening very late in the year and many have not yet happened. This method is likely to have been the norm for both KCC Panels and other organisations running appeals where there are multiple appeals for a school. It is in my view the only practical way forward for grammar school and probably other multiple appeals as I identified here back in April. However, it is a variation breaking with the hopelessly impractical model outlined by the government, which I described as 'a chink of light in the regulations'.  The use of written submissions only was put forward as one of three possible options, the other two being telephone and video conferencing.    

Most appellants appear content with this process whatever the outcome, it being far less stressful than the 'normal' appeals of previous years, especially in the view of families who have past experience of these. Others are looking to challenge the outcome on grounds that it was very different from the model laid down by the government, as explained here.  However, as I concluded in that article, the model is not obligatory, so such a challenge is unlikely to succeed.

I have not yet heard of the experience of local families encountering telephone or video conferencing for multiple appeals, although KCC appears to be using the former for some individual appeals and I look below at one such in-year hearing. I will update this article as and if I receive further reports of different experiences.  

It can happen in any type of school, as I demonstrated a few years ago when I exposed the Invicta Grammar Sixth Form scandal which went national and resulted in the government being forced to clarify the existing law although I suspect it still continues in a few cases, notably Holcombe Grammar, below.  

A major pointer to off-rolling taking place is a large percentage fall in pupil numbers for a school between the start of Year 10 and January of Year 11 along with, or alternatively, high Elective Home Education numbers (EHE).  The importance of the January date is that after this, pupils leaving the school will have their GCSE performance (or absence) counted in official outcomes even with the new Coronavirus arrangements. I have no proof that off-rolling is the key reason for the sharp falls in pupil numbers identified below, but it is a reasonable suspicion. 

Twelve Kent and two Medway schools lost from 7% to 13% of their cohort in this way this year, five of them for at least two years running. 

I have also given figures for the change between Year Seven and Year Eleven for these schools, which, in some cases should certainly be raising questions, as was the case a few years ago with Holmesdale School then under KCC control. This signposted a school falling apart at the seams, although KCC failed to notice, and I am delighted that it now appears on the way back again under different control. Although Ofsted now has responsibility for identifying schools where off-rolling occurs, I have as yet seen no evidence of this in relevant Reports locally. 

Registration for the Kent Test in October closed on 1st July. Sadly, I have already been contacted by a number of families who omitted to complete the procedure, confused or overwhelmed by Coronavirus. Unfortunately, unless KCC chooses to make an exception in this unique year, you cannot be considered for late Registration and will need to proceed as explained here.  I am so sorry.   

Kent County Council ‘has been contingency planning ever since schools were forced to close on March 20^th, to see what adjustments might be needed to the Kent Test process in different situations as the coronavirus pandemic unfolded’. As a result of all this planning, it has decided simply to postpone the test by five weeks, subject to approval by the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills after 20th July. If matters develop then KCC will think of something else. You will find full details here. 

Unfortunately, the current plan will heavily penalise all those children whose families cannot afford or otherwise arrange for extensive private tuition to make up for the absence of school curriculum time over the second half of this school year, and bar those who miss the Test in the case of a second wave of the pandemic, or for other connected reasons, such as being placed in quarantine or simply through fear. Private schools with a focus on securing places at grammar school for their pupils will now be able to concentrate on preparing their pupils for the Kent Test over the five or six weeks of the autumn term preceding it. Kent state schools are forbidden to do this. 

This all makes a mockery of the statement by the Secretary of State for Education, Gavin Williamson, that: "We’re going to be looking at working with local authorities who have grammar school systems in their area as to how best we can ensure that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are not disadvantaged as they look at taking the 11-plus in the future.”

Update 16th November: Article Re Mrs Aquina's dismissal. 

Update 1st September: Article on Further Trauma at St Thomas

Update 25th July: I have now been sent a copy of a letter sent to parents and carers at the school informing them that Mrs Aquina is to return to her post in September. See below.  

Last month (14^th June), all I knew about St Thomas’ Catholic Primary School in Sevenoaks, was that it had an Outstanding Ofsted Report dating back to 2014, was an averagely performing school in terms of Progress levels, usually had one of the highest proportion of pupils in the county passing the Kent Test (dipping in 2019), and just about filled in most years. I then published an article about the travails of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership (KCSP) and the ‘unexpected absence’ of its Chief Executive. Leading on from this I was informed about the crisis at the school, a member of the Partnership. The headteacher, Mrs Aquilina, had been placed on Special Leave until the end of the academic year as the Partnership’s ‘Immediate priority as a Trust must be the children and staff of St Thomas’. This is now a major revision of the article I wrote to follow up the Pandora’s Box of outcomes that emerged followed this revelation, including the ‘voluntary absence’ of her husband, Father Aquilina, from his parish. 

Between them, the two articles have now clocked up over  22,000 visitors in less than a month, an unprecedented number over the 15 years this site has been in existence. The host of comments at the foot amplify a number of the issues. I have reorganised the comments posted after the two articles to the one most appropriate for the content and have indicated where this has happened, although they are no longer in full date order. Items specific to the Partnership are now being transferred to the original article for clarity.

The St Thomas’ story continues below. I also look at the intriguing story of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, which appears to have played a significant part in the background, although not of direct relevance to the absence of Mrs Aquilina.

If you have safeguarding concerns affecting a child at any school, contact Social Services here. 

Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education has said:  "We’re going to be looking at working with local authorities who have grammar school systems in their area as to how best we can ensure that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are not disadvantaged as they look at taking the 11-plus in the future.” There is no sign whatever of any intervention or even awareness of this pledge in the Kent consultation or Medway decision. This is an abject failure by both Authorities to honour this pledge. 

 

With over 9,000 visitors in the three weeks since this article has been published, it is by some way the most popular article on this site this year.

 

The controversial Chief Executive of the Kent Catholic Schools Partnership (KCSP) is 'unexpectedly away for his duties at present' and is reported to have been removed from his post. Whilst the Trust states that he remains an employee the discrepancy could well be explained by his being on gardening leave whilst arrangements are made. The KCSP is an Academy Trust that runs 19 Catholic primaries  and five secondaries out of a total of 26 primary and six secondary Catholic schools in the county. Clive Webster, the CEO, was paid an annual salary of £155-160,000 in 2018-19, above the level where the Department for Education warns Academy Trusts about high pay . 

A letter from the Partnership to me (4^th June) states: ‘Thank you for contacting Kent Catholic Schools' Partnership.  I am able to confirm that Mr Webster is unexpectedly away from his duties at present but has not left KCSP and remains an employee of the Trust’. School governors are unable to get any further information and some are naturally very unhappy about this, approaching me on the subject of his departure. This is very surprising as KCSP is normally a highly disciplined organisation. Secrecy about the matter is unlikely to be helpful to anyone, unless discussions about Mr Webster's future are taking place.  

Clive Webster created a national controversy and unhappiness amongst many of the Trust’s primary schools last October when he instructed them not to host the Kent Test for grammar school entrance from this year onward. This decision appears to have been his own initiative and a subsequent letter from the then Archbishop of Southwark publicly reversed it, following an unholy row in the Trust. The depth of the public row over the decision to ban Trust schools from hosting the Kent Test cannot be understated. The Archbishop’s predecessor had earlier publicly blocked another unpopular policy personally championed by Mr Webster, reorganising the Trust structure, including leadership of the individual schools.

Dr Saxton has now moved on to advise Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education in March this year (see below) and Seamus Murphy, her successor as CEO, is wasting no time in making his mark on Turner Schools. Having arrived in April 2019, he is now on his fourth role in the Trust.

One of his early actions on taking on full responsibility has continued the Turner Schools tradition of creating a high turnover of senior staff, with the Executive Principal of the two Trust primary schools departing at very short notice on Friday last, after just one week of Term Six. Monday’s letter informing parents of the decision can be found by a link on Facebook but is well hidden. It is also very short on detail about Mrs Sowden-Mehta who has been at the school for three years, having been promoted twice. In spite of this success, she has very suddenly ‘decided to leave Turner Schools to pursue new opportunities’, a time-honoured phrase used to cover leaders who have been forced out of their schools. The previous Principal of Folkestone Academy has also recently vanished after first being demoted. 

Update July: Jo Swash, Vice Principal has left Folkestone Academy suddenly, my correspondent says'mysteriously'. When I checked this recently here, he was present in the photographs but has now gone, but is still present on the list of all staff, below. 

The government began an enquiry into financial malpractice at Lilac Sky Schools Academy Trust (LSSAT) in 2016 which it closed down the same year, transferring its  its five Kent primary schools to other Trusts. The enquiry was  completed in 2019, but is still not published eight months later. A troubling Liquidator’s Report into Henriette Le Forestier Schools, a direct successor company to Lilac Sky, has now been published, as reported in SchoolsWeek, after it ran up £928,000 in debts in less than a year.  

I first came across the Lilac Sky profit making empire in 2012, when I discovered the large sums of money it was extracting from Kent County Council through its management of the struggling Furness Special School, using expensive consultants brought in for brief periods, along with other profit making wheezes, eventually leaving this small school with a deficit of £1.63 million. It set up LSSAT in the same year, having been a ‘school improvement’ firm since 2009. The organisation then proceeded to cream off considerable funds from the Trust. By the time LSSAT was closed down by government in 2016 with debts of nearly £2 million, it was running nine primary schools in Kent and Sussex and still being strongly championed by KCC in the face of my exposure of extensive malpractice. Lilac Sky morphed through nine different limited companies and finally vanished after the final four of these were eventually declared insolvent, as explained here. 

I have reported on as much of this disturbing and complex story as is appropriate through a series of articles listed below (necessarily omitting some of the spicier parts), revealing multiple and apparently highly successful money making schemes, and looking at some of the schools whose children were failed on the way.  

There has been a small increase for the third year running in the number of pupils being allocated places in Kent Primary Reception Classes . Places for the additional 163 children were met by three new schools opening in September along with creating 67 more permanent and temporary places in current schools. Two of the new schools are in the Ebbsfleet area of North Kent: Ebbsfleet Green Primary opening for 30 pupils in each of Years R, One and Two; and Springhead Park Primary, in Northfleet, admitting 60 pupils in Year R, and unusually also accepting pupils for Years One to Four (see below for possible reason).   Bearsted Primary Academy in Maidstone is opening for 60 Year R children. None of these schools are currently part of the Kent Coordinated Admission Procedure, as all three accept applications directly, as is usual with new schools.

The tightest part of the county is again West Dartford with just nine spaces in two of its 12 schools, closely followed by urban Sevenoaks, with eight spaces in one school out of six. The most oversubscribed primary school is St John’s CofE in Maidstone, turning away 55 first choices (up from 37 in 2019); The Brent, Dartford, 44 (last year’s most popular school,  disappointing 86 families); followed by: Riverhead Infants, Sevenoaks (40);  Great Chart, Ashford (39); Sussex Road, Tonbridge (37) and Wentworth, also West Dartford (33). The last three named are newcomers to the most oversubscribed list along with Chilton, Ramsgate,all having leapt in popularity this year.

Special mention must go to two schools that have both travelled from high vacancy rates to being full, following Ofsted Special Measures to being Good. Brenzett CofE Primary, Ashford,  has shot from having the highest percentage vacancy rate in Kent of 75% in 2019, to being full for its 21 places in 2020. Kings Farm Primary, Gravesend is oversubscribed for the first time ever after gaining the sixth best KS2 progress grades in the county.                                                                        

Eight schools have 60% or more of their places empty. One school accounted for 10% of the 457 Local Authority Allocations in Kent, up by 10 on 2019. 

I look at the issues in more detail below, including a survey of each separate District and also allocations for Junior Schools. You will find advice on what to do if you do not have the school or your choice below, here, and the reality of primary school appeals here. 

Regular updates in progress. Most recent 8 p.m. 5th June. 

The government encouraged all primary schools to re-open on 1st June for Nursery, Reception, Year One and Year Six pupils. I sent a survey to Kent and Medway primary schools on Sunday asking their plans and have now (Tuesday 2nd) had responses from more than 15% of  schools surveyed, as set out in the table below. 

This has now been partially overtaken by data from the 360 primary schools that have responded to KCC's own enquiry. This reports 118 primaries opening to all three school years on Monday 1st June, and 58 more opening to one or two of the year groups. Another 78 are opening Tuesday or Wednesday, the delay being due to an Inset Day, Deep Cleaning or other reason. Eight are on a second week of half term, leaving 98 who are not open (possibly doing so later on, some next week, or else unable to, or unwilling). That is a figure much larger than I was expecting. Of the 95 schools that have chosen not to reply, some may be from large uncooperative Academy Trusts. This is not incompatible with my own findings, although these expand the information, and it would be good to receive further results directly. KCC has now issued a general statement about re-opening. 

I look below at some of the key elements that have emerged, although it is important to recognise that the schools which have replied are self-selecting and so may not be typical.

• The date for the Kent Test is still currently set for September. To change it would require government approval. KCC is in discussion with government about an aspect of the Kent Test, presumably about a possible postponement.
• There is no guarantee that any change of date would see the county free of Coronavirus, or schools operating normally.
• There are no arrangements in place for children who are: unable to take the Kent Test because their schools are not open, or cannot provide facilities; or whose parents or schools judge it is unsafe to participate; or who are ill in large numbers. 
• The School Admissions Code of Practice requires Admission Authorities to ‘take all reasonable steps to inform parents of the outcome of selection tests before the closing date for secondary applications on 2^nd November so as to allow parents time to make an informed choice of school’.
• The five thousand out of county children who normally take the Kent Test each year still need somewhere to sit it where it can be independently invigilated. In the past this has taken place in obliging Kent schools.   

 This article looks at Kent and Medway primary school Ofsted outcomes for the current school year. The headline news is the strong improvement in Academy levels in the past few years, both in Kent and Medway, whereas at best Kent County Council Local Authority (KCC) schools are standing still, with 22% of those inspected seeing a drop in level since September.

Just one local school, Ightham Primary in Sevenoaks District, has been classified as Outstanding since September and none found Inadequate. 

I look at all the changes in primary school Ofsted assessments across Kent and Medway below, along with the performance of The Education People, responsible for performance in Kent Local Authority schools. .

Update on Kent Appeals 13th May, here.

Letter from Kent Primary Head on Consequences of Schools Re-Opening here

Some issues relating to the Emergency Regulations for School Appeals are now resolving, but the large majority of Local Authorities appear still to be struggling to come to a view. My previous article concluded that these proposals are unworkable in most cases, especially where there are large numbers of appeals or grammar school appeals. This is now the fifth article exploring the situation as it has developed, looking at how it has been interpreted, the previous four all containing considerable detail, along with advice for appellants. I propose to update it as I receive more information, the dates of the latest update being recorded at the top of the article. 

I continue with my view that the Government emergency regulations appear to be solely for the benefit of bureaucrats and show little interest in the challenges faced by families, panellists, clerks or schools. A parallel set of rules published by the Welsh Office was in complete contrast to this and placed families first, but the relevant section appears to have mysteriously vanished, see below!  

There are three approaches allowed for hearing remote appeals. These are: video conference, telephone conference, and written submission of cases and evidence. There is no indication that these different types of hearing can be mixed for a single school’s appeals, but no specific ban, and I have already been told of several schools that are planning to go this way.

In my previous article, written nearly two weeks ago, I described a ‘chink of light’ in an omission by the regulations to be prescriptive about the written submission process. I was delighted to learn yesterday that KCC has just sent out appeal invitations to grammar school appellants using this to the full. I don't know yet if it will be applied to non-selective schools, but anticipate this. Some Kent appeals for other types of school are being heard by audio-conferencing, with clerks establishing whether appellants can manage this. If not there is a fall back to a written submission hearing. 

Further details on all these matters below, including some Local Authorities which have now made decisions (please feel free to add to these).

Overall, there has been little change in Medway primary school admission data since my 2019 article, with an extra 94 children offered local schools bringing the total to 3447, and 45 additional places created.  The proportion of Medway children offered one of their choices in a Medway primary school has remained at 97.4%, coincidentally the same percentage as two out of the last three years. Overall, 12% of places are unfilled, down from 13% in 2019.  

Cliffe Woods Primary has shot up in popularity to become the most oversubscribed school, turning away 50 first choices, edging out last year's leader Barnsole Primary with 49 disappointed first choices. They are followed at some distance by the Academy of Woodlands and All Saints CofE. Barnsole, along with Swingate are the only two of the ten most oversubscribed schools to feature in each of the past three years.  There are eight schools with 15 or more first choices turned away (down from 10 last year), spread across the Authority, and listed in the table below. The most remarkable difference is for St Margaret's Infant School in Rainham, which has turned away 24 first choices for this September, but did not quite fill in 2019.

 I have explored the changes at Greenvale Infant School and Phoenix Junior Academy below , as they have both become all through primary schools, giving an increase between them of 15 places for September. In Chatham, Walderslade and Wayfield primaries have seen their intake double from 30 to 60 places, Two other schools have minor changes in their intakes.  

I look more closely at each Medway area separately, below, links as follows: Chatham; Gillingham; Hoo Peninsula; Rainham; Rochester; Strood, together with the situation for Junior Schools, here.  

If there are sections or individual school details that need amplification, please let me know…….

This article looks at three communications from Kent County Council to headteachers, addressing issues about  grammar school admissions and appeals at this time of Coronavirus.

The first is a letter sent to schools regarding the timing of the 2020 Kent Test for grammar school suitability in 2021, currently planned for September. 

I also look at two separate items relating to grammar school places for this September for some children. The first of these is about problems at appeal regarding unsuccessful Headteacher Assessments caused through the crisis; the second looks at late applications and testing.

Update 7th September: I have now posted a new article looking at considerable problems with the site of the new school. 

Rather belatedly, this article looks at the government decision to overturn Paul Carter’s veto on a new secondary school in Thanet, originally explored here. This decision was received by KCC in a letter on February 13^th.

As a result, the new school, provisionally called Thanet Skies Academy, will built on the somewhat restricted site of the old Royal School for the Deaf in East Margate. It is planned to open in September 2022 as a six form entry 11-16 Free School, sponsored by the Howard Trust based in Medway.

There is good news for most Kent families applying for reception class places in primary schools this year although, with 88.3% of families offered their first choice school, this is the lowest proportion since 2016.  However, 97.4% of families have been offered one of their three choices, coincidentally the same percentage as in 2019 and 2017. Sadly, that still leaves 457 children with no school of their choice. Altogether, the number of Kent pupils offered places through the scheme is 17,411, up by 125, but less than 1% on the 2019 figure. These details are contained in the Press Release. 

In Medway, more than 88% of children have again been offered their first choice school, with 97.9% being offered a school on their application form, both figures similar to 2019. 74 children were offered no school of their choice, again, almost the same as in 2019, when there were 75. In total there was an increase of 78 pupils offered places from 2019,   with a total of 3491. Most of these details are contained in the Press Release. 

This year is of course very different from any other because of Coronavirus, with all schools currently closed.  As a result you will probably not be able to contact them directly to raise concerns over admissions. Nevertheless,  you should still accept the school you have been offered. It can do you no damage if you then pursue places elsewhere. Then follow as normal the advice below on what to do if you have not received a school or any school of your choice and wish to be reconsidered at one or more of these. 

You will also find information and advice on appeals below and  here. In summary, if your school is one of the overwhelming majority where Infant Class Legislation applies, I am afraid that chances of success are negligible. 

Note on Coronavirus: There are various references to school admission appeals in this article, based on normal expectations . At the time of writing there is no information about  the procedure to be adopted this year, except that it has to be very different from normal, as explained here. 

The number of Kent grammar school places available for Year Seven pupils has risen by 70 places overall since last year, to 5,540, with a total increase of 610 over the past five years.  The main changes are 30 additional places at each of three North West Kent grammars, Gravesend and Wilmington Boys & Girls grammars, together with a reduction of 30 places at Tunbridge Wells Boys (but may well be reversed at appeal time). The number of places offered before appeals is 5,417, up by 195 from 5,212 in 2019. A major cause for this is an increase in the total pass rate for grammar selection from 25.7% in 2019 to 26.6% for 2020 entry. 

Around 400 of the Kent grammar school places offered, or 7% (down from 8% in 2019) of the total, went to pupils from outside of the county (ooc), with 154 Kent pupils (down from 223) going to out of county grammars, mainly in Medway. 150 ooc pupils coming in were offered places at the two Dartford Grammar schools with the pressure on places at these two schools continuing to rise inexorably.  Dartford Grammar School had an astonishing 409 grammar qualified first choices turned down for its 180 places, up from 336 in 2019.  The next most popular schools were unsurprisingly Dartford Girls, The Judd School, Skinners, Tonbridge Grammar, and Wilmington Boys, in the same order as 2019. The number of vacancies has fallen sharply from 217 in 2019 to 123 this year across six schools.     

Thanet is a surprising black spot for grammar school applications, with Dane Court and Chatham & Clarendon turning down 79 grammar qualified first choices between them. At least 47 of these had no alternative local grammar school to meet their needs. This follows a sharp raise in the proportion of Thanet children being assessed selective from 19% in 2018, to 23% this year. 

I look below at the outcomes by area in more detail, including levels of oversubscription and vacancies. you will find full details of the 2019 Kent selection process here. 

This article looks in some detail at the allocation of secondary school places in Kent for September 2020. Particular themes are: the pressure on places in Ashford, Canterbury, Gravesham, Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells; the increased polarisation of choices, especially in Dover, Sittingbourne and Thanet; and the provision or otherwise of new schools to meet rising pupil numbers. For unexplained reasons, Kent County Council is no longer taking planned housing into account when considering future provision. This decision will inevitably create further pressures in years to come. 

The four most oversubscribed schools are the same as in the two previous years, again led by Valley Park, Maidstone, which turned down 172 first choices. It is followed by King Ethelbert and St George’s CofE in Thanet, then Fulston Manor in Sittingbourne.  There are 494 vacancies across 17 schools, over half of which are in just four, headed up by Folkestone Academy with 86, way ahead of Oasis Isle of Sheppey (66); Astor College (63); and High Weald Academy (54). There were 938 Local Authority Allocations (LAA) which refer to Kent children offered schools they did not apply for. Royal Harbour and Oasis Isle of Sheppey academies each had over a hundred LAAs. Three schools have seen their number of first choices increase by more than 50, headed by two Swale Academy Trust Schools: Whitstable with 86 & Sittingbourne 55, followed by Knole Academy with 51. Going the other way were: St George's Broadstairs losing 62 first choices (but still third most oversubscribed school in Kent); Mascalls (59) and Trinity (50)  

I look more closely below at the situation in each District, along with the most oversubscribed schools and those with most vacancies, together with the impact of out of county offers. 

The major news is that Medway non-selective schools have rallied round to support local children by offering an additional 135 places for September, for one year only, to meet exceptional demand. This was needed because the opening of two new schools, originally planned to come on stream for September 2020, have both been delayed until 2021. As a result 2527 places have been offered in total, 122 more than the 2019 figure.  There were just 36 places left vacant at one school. The background is explained in more detail in my introductory article on secondary allocations, which should be read in conjunction with this one.  Because of the additional places, 83% of pupils placing a non-selective school first on their admission application form were awarded their first choice. This is up from 80% in 2019. Sadly, another 6.1% of pupils were offered none of their choices, although this is down from 9.3% in 2019. You will find a table  showing the allocation details for each school below.

The most oversubscribed school is once again Brompton Academy, setting a record for any non-selective school in Kent or Medway by turning away 249 first choices, over half of those who put the school in first place. It is followed by Thomas Aveling with 56 children disappointed. 

Kent County Council has recently carried out an external led inquiry into events at and around Holmesdale School in 2018, which I have written about in two previous articles. The first of my articles was in March 2018 after the school had plunged from Ofsted Good to Special Measures in four years under KCC control, although I produced evidence throughout this period that it was going downhill rapidly. The second was in January 2019 based on a series of email exchanges that had been sent me under FOI. These contained serious allegations about KCC actions that amongst other matters left the school without support for much of the previous year, and also attempted to block the appointment of a new headteacher and staff.

Swale Academies Trust has now been running the school since November 2018 and it is greatly improved as a consequence, as explained below, offering a decent education to its children. Those whose education and life chances suffered under KCC control will not be compensated in any way.

KCC has proposed an organisational restructure in the Children, Young People and Education Directorate, following its failures in SEND provision as identified in a highly critical Ofsted Report in January 2019. The post of KCC Director of Director of Education Planning and Access will be deleted, and replaced by two new Directorships. As a result Keith Abbott, the current Director, is being made redundant and leaving his post at Easter. Although Mr Abbott was heavily involved in the Holmesdale debacle, I have been asked by a KCC spokesman to make clear that there is no connection between the two events described in this article. In practice there looks to be no real change in structure, with the new Director - Education taking over Mr Abbott's role and the Assistant Director Disabled Children & Young People Services role being simply upgraded to full Director, in spite of the damning failures in Kent services for children with special needs and disabilities fo which he presumably took some responsibility. 

Update 11 April: If you wish to apply for the vacant post of Head of School at Folkestone Academy, you will find details here. The 84 point Job Description defining the post-holder's responsibilities shows that Turner Schools has not lost its touch for covering all the bases.    

Update: To add to Dr Saxton's Achievements, below, the number of families putting Folkestone Academy as their first choice school for 2020 has fallen yet again, from 153 in 2019 to 127 in 2020. 23 children, probably all from Folkestone, were allocated to the school, refusing to put it on their application form.

Dr Jo Saxton is leaving her post as co- founder and Chief Executive of Turner Schools, the small Academy Trust in Folkestone, but being paid one of the largest salaries in the country for a Trust of this size. Her departure comes after just three tumultuous and underachieving years and a big vision, along with a huge number of unfulfilled promises including for the two Folkestone secondary schools the fantasy claim: ‘both schools will outperform all schools in the south of England – excluding grammars - and provide “success without selection’.

She had already effectively thrown in the towel a year ago, when she appointed a new Deputy Chief Executive, now her successor, so that 'she could focus on curriculum matters, being the original reason she took on the Turner Schools post’, although I can find no other mention of this focus anywhere else.

The news of Dr Saxton's departure was contained in Kent Live published earlier today, 11^th March. I have never before received so many emails in half a day informing me of a news item in such a small time. None of them regret her departure.

Only one grammar school has vacancies on allocation - Chatham Grammar (previously Chatham Grammar School for Girls). 206 children living outside Medway have been offered local grammar school places out of 1071 in total. This amounts to 19%, or nearly a fifth of all the places offered. An additional 60 new places have been created, all at The Rochester Grammar School.

There were an additional 44 grammar qualified Medway children after the Medway selection process this year: boys up from 374 to 381; girls up from 405 to 438, continuing the annual bias towards girls being found selective. In total there are 585 places for girls but only 355 for boys available in the five single sex schools. This is on top of the 235 at Rainham Mark Grammar, a co-educational school. There are places for every Medway grammar qualified pupil who applied to appropriate grammar schools, but, as last year, chances at appeal for boys are  likely to be very low.

The Rochester Grammar School’s transformation from super-selective to a school giving local children priority, is looked at in more detail below.  The combination of this change and the increase in the grammar cohort size has resulted in another 68 Medway first preferences being accommodated in local grammar schools. It leaves Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School (The Math) by a long way the most oversubscribed grammar school in Medway, with 105 grammar qualified first choice boys turned away. 

I look in more detail at the outcomes, including problems with grammar school process and applications, together with  the situation for each grammar school individually, below.

Update: You will find up to date articles on Medway non-selective schools here and grammar schools here. The Individual Schools section provides much data on each Medway secondary school, although the commentary for each school is in the progress of updating. 

Medway Council has invested an additional £3 million this year to meet a potential shortage of secondary school places for September. This was caused by an increase in numbers, combined with a delay in the building of a new school - opening delayed until 2021. The investment, along with the support of local schools, has created an additional 185 new non-selective places on top of those available in 2019. The Rochester Grammar School intake has increased by 60 places since 2019, thanks to funding from the Grammar School Expansion Fund. The school’s new commitment to local girls has also reduced the number of London pupils it has offered places to, down by 55 since last year. Overall, there was a fall in offers of Medway school places to out of county children from 287 to 262.

The excellent news is that the extra places have enabled more of the 3480 Medway children to secure schools of their choice, with 91.1% being offered their first or second preference. The proportion offered no school of their choice has more than halved, down to 154, or 4.4% of the total.

Families will also find initial advice below on what to do next if you don’t have the school of your choice. I shall publish two further articles shortly looking at the outcomes for individual grammar and non-selective schools

The annual increase in out of county applications to Kent schools over years has thankfully come to a halt this year, at 3,517 up just three on last year, but a third more than in 2016.  The number of OOC offers at 817, is one fewer than in 2019 and little different from 2016 when there were 803. As always this  will have been partially balanced by around 500 children offered places at schools outside Kent.

You will find more information below, including a look at some of the likely pressure points updated as they become apparent. These will inevitably include North West Kent for both selective and non-selective places, and non-selective Swale, Thanet and Tunbridge Wells.  You will also find required scores for super-selective schools inserted as I receive them (all information on both situations welcomed). 

There is initial advice at the foot of this article on what to do if you have not been offered the school of your choice. This begins as always with my Corporal Jones mantra, do NOTHING in panic! You may regret it. There is no quick fix. I regret that I no longer offer individual advice, although there is plenty below in this article, with links to multiple relevant articles.  

Later in the month I will provide more specific information and advice as KCC comes through with further details. 

58 out of 140 complaints to The Office of the Schools Adjudicator for the School Year 2018-19 related to the Admission Procedures of 36 grammar schools across the country.

Seven were about local grammar schools. Decisions in six complaints against the Kent grammar schools that offer Local  Selection Tests for Admission were carried over into the current  school year, being published in December. These are: Dover Boys & Girls; Folkestone School for Girls; Harvey, also in Folkestone; Highsted, Sittingbourne; and Mayfield, Gravesend. All six complaints were made by the same person, strongly opposed to selection. However, the complaints backfired as all six were completely rejected, with long term consequences of principle which could encourage other local grammars to set Local Tests, and which also yet again established the legitimacy of the Kent Head Teacher Assessment. The seventh, yet another complaint about Holcombe Grammar, amounted to minor faults which were required to be corrected, but then went on to challenge the school's failure to implement required changes from a previous complaint of mine which was upheld. 

Also, and perhaps more significantly, the Adjudicator chose to look at the arrangements for the Local Tests (not part of the complaints) and ruled that they should not just be held on a single Saturday, but more opportunities to sit the Test are required to be made available, enabling more candidates to take part in the process, surely directly opposite to the intentions of the complainant(s).

You will find the School Adjudicators Annual Report here, with a summary of grammar school issues below.  

I regret to confirm that I have retired completely from my individual advisory service for Kent and Medway families after sixteen years. I continue to be asked if I can make an exception by previous clients, professionals, friends and others across Kent and Medway and further afield, but I am afraid my decision is final. 

Please note that much of my work depends on information sent in by parents and professionals who also highlight areas where website pages need updating,. Please keep this coming. 

Over that time I have supported over a thousand clients on a professional basis in various ways, who are seeking individual advice and support on school admissions and appeals, along with Special Education Needs, school exclusions, complaints and other matters. In addition, I have provided a large number of free services of the same nature for families without the resources to engage me on a paid basis, and also worked with governors, teachers and parents with problems at individual schools, many of which have eventually featured on these pages.   

I will continue to run the nationally unique www.kentadvice.co.uk website, currently with over a thousand pages of advice and information for Kent and Medway families, along with news and comment on matters of relevant concern and interest,as I believe it meets an important need. As you can imagine, this takes a vast amount of time to keep up to date, my most recent offering being a unique analysis of the recent Kent Test.  I am currently preparing for the what will still be the busiest time of the year, publishing outcomes and analysis of the secondary transfer decisions due out on 1st March. 

The most time consuming section of the website is the Individual Schools Section, including a profile of each individual secondary school in Kent and Medway, along with a variety of data which is up to date at the time of writing. I expect to post details here of individual secondary school allocations for September 2020, around the middle of March. The Website Panel on the right hand side of this article will lead you to a host of information and advice articles on matters such as school admissions, grammar school admissions, school appeals, Special Education (needs considerable re-writing and updating), academies and academy groups, etc. 

Please continue to assist by highlighting areas where information needs updating, and by feeding me information about matters of concern.

Apart from several advertisements that subsidise the cost of running the website, it produces no other income. Can I therefore encourage you to make a small donation of £15 towards the running costs, payable here.  Also, feel free to contact me if you would like to advertise your school, tutoring or other educational service on a site that has some 200,000 visitors annually, with presumably the overwhelming majority having an interest in Kent and Medway education matters on every one of those 1,000 pages. The cost is surprisingly low. 

You will find the parallel Medway Test article here. 

This article follows on from my previous: Kent Test 2019; Initial Results and Comment, published in October. The main change since last year is that that the marks required for a pass in the Test have been raised, requiring candidates to score 110 marks on each of the three sections - English, mathematics, and reasoning – along with an aggregate score across the three sections of at least 330 . Please note that the change remains as always to simply aim for 21% of the age cohort in Kent schools to be successful. In no way does it suggest the Test was more difficult so any attempt to argue this at an appeal for a grammar school place will be unsuccessful.