Index
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.
This annual survey of Kent non-selective places is the second largest article I produce each year (the largest is the parallel survey of primary school allocations). I am happy to accept there may be corrections or expansions needed, together with helpful comments, which I will incorporate if these are pointed out.
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This article follows on from my initial survey of 2020 allocations, containing further data at Kent Secondary allocations.You will find the equivalent article here for 2019 allocations. Please note that it is written for and read by a number of different audiences, so not all may be of interest or relevance for families.
You will find my initial and more general thoughts here, with the parallel article on grammar schools for 2019 here (2020 to follow) and 2020 Medway schools grammar and non-selective. A net total of 162 additional places have been created to meet a rise of 149 in the number of pupils offered Kent schools. This leaves 494 vacancies, or 3.5% of the total.
The new Maidstone School of Science and Technology, opening in September, has offered 180 further places (together with holding a waiting list) which are not included in these figures as the school is not yet part of the Kent admissions scheme. This may pose an existential threat to two other Maidstone schools.
I look at individual Districts further down the article, with direct links at:
Page 2: Ashford; Canterbury; Dartford;
Page 3: Dover, Deal & Sandwich; Folkestone and Hythe; Gravesham;
Page 4: Maidstone; Sevenoaks; Swale;
Page 5: Thanet; Tonbridge & Malling; Tunbridge Wells
Last year there was just one new arrival in the list of schools oversubscribed by more than fifty places, this year there are four: Wye and John Wallis, reflecting the major development of Ashford, Stone Lodge, the new school in Dartford, and Hillview Girls in Tonbridge. Two have gone, Charles Dickens in Thanet, and St Anselm’s in Canterbury. In one sense I am describing a misleading picture as, for some of these schools their popularity is increased by a desire to avoid another school with perceived difficulties, as explained below. Some commentators seek to criticise such parents for chasing popular schools, but the reality is often very different.
The picture will change from now until September, successful grammar school appeals taking children out of the sector and creating a ripple effect as children move up to preferred schools through re-allocation where places have been freed. In addition, some of these schools also admit significant numbers of additional children on appeal (but see below), those at the other end of the scale suffering even further.The Individual School section contains relevant detail here.
Most Oversubscribed Kent Non Selective Schools 2020 | |||||
2020
Places
|
1st
Choices
|
1st Choices
Turned Down
|
Appeals
2019
|
Appeals
Upheld
|
|
Valley Park | 270 | 418 | 172 | 59 | 5 |
King Ethelbert | 158* | 279 | 144 | 37 | 5 |
St George's CofE
(Broadstairs)
|
217 | 328 | 129 | 65 | 2 |
Fulston Manor | 210 | 320 | 121 | 76 | 6 |
Knole | 255* | 287 | 100 | 2 | 0 |
Westlands | 330 | 369 | 96 | 52 | 51 |
Maplesden Noakes | 210 | 253 | 88 | 45 | 6 |
Bennett Memorial | 300 | 350 | 85 | 39 | 3 |
Saint George's CofE
(Gravesend)
|
210* | 268 | 83 | 31 | 22 |
Wye | 96** | 165 | 82 | 10 | 5 |
Meopham | 170 | 233 | 76 | 39 | 29 |
Herne Bay | 272* | 329 | 68 | 19 | 14 |
Hillview | 240* | 263 | 64 | 0 | 0 |
John Wallis | 240* | 279 | 59 | 6 | 5 |
St John's Catholic | 195 | 222 | 59 | 18 | 2 |
Stone Lodge | 120 | 172 | 59 | 0 | 0 |
Trinity Free | 181 | 207 | 56 | 22 | 7 |
Brockhill Park | 256 | 276 | 54 | 19 | 1 |
The polarisation referred to in my introduction continues apace, as can be seen by comparison of the table below with the equivalent 2018 article, and the District surveys below. The latter article listed just seven schools with a vacancy rate of more than a third before LAAs are added in. Now there are eleven with 40% or more vacancies. I have chosen the 40% cut off this time round because the next school in the 2020 list was a long way down from this level, with just 23% empty spaces before LAAs were taken into account. All the seven schools in the 2018 list are also in the current one.
The final column, '% Loss 2019’' looks back to 2019 data. Here I have compared the March allocation figure with the number of Year Seven children who actually turned up, according to the October 2019 school census. It is no coincidence that the six schools with the highest percentage losses are all in that 2018 table of vacancies. The losses will have come from children taking up places at preferred schools where vacancies have developed (or in some cases private schools) together with an indeterminate number leaving for Home Education, rather than send their children to these schools.
A school’s finances are based primarily on the number of pupils in the school and my articles through the years have identified half a dozen secondary schools that have been forced to close through lack of numbers, most recently Pent Valley School, Hextable Academy and Chaucer Technology School. I can see two further schools that I consider are at risk.
MOST VACANCIES IN KENT NON-SELECTIVE
SCHOOLS ON ALLOCATION 2020
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SCHOOL
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PLACES
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PLACES
OFFERED
|
FIRST
CHOICES
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% VACS
PRE LAAs
|
LAAs
|
% LOSS
2019*
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High Weald | 150 | 96 | 55 | 57% | 32 | 42% |
Royal Harbour | 300 | 251 | 106 | 53% | 70 | 18% |
Holmesdale | 180 | 155 | 73 | 53% | 70 | 37% |
Hayesbrook | 151 | 133 | 54 | 49% | 56 | 45% |
NLL | 180 | 180 | 84 | 47% | 84 | 33% |
Astor | 210 | 147 | 90 | 46% | 34 | -10% |
Hartsdown | 180 | 179 | 65 | 44% | 78 | 18% |
Oasis Sheppey | 390 | 324 | 161 | 43% | 101 | 17% |
Archbishop's | 170 | 166 | 71 | 41% | 66 | 33% |
Folkestone | 270 | 184 | 127 | 40% | 23 | 4% |
Ebbsfleet | 150 | 121 | 67 | 40% | 31 | 41% |
Brook Learning Trust Schools | ||||
1st Prefs* | LAAs |
Vacancy Rate
on Allocation
|
Fallout rate:
Allocation to
Census 2019
|
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Hayesbrook | 54 | 56 | 12% | 45% |
High Weald | 55 | 32 | 19% | 42% |
Ebbsfleet | 67 | 31 | 36% | 41% |
* Hartsdown Academy came third in this list separating the Brook schools, with just 65 first choices.
I have written critically about the Brook Trust before, it is clearly still in considerable trouble and is the subject of a further article in progress.
KENT NON-SELECTIVE SCHOOLS ON ALLOCATION 2020: DISTRICT OUTCOMES | |||||
DISTRICT |
PLACES
AVAILABLE
|
INCREASE
IN PLACES
SINCE 2019
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SCHOOLS
WITH
VACANCIES
|
VACANCIES
|
LAA* |
Ashford | 1301 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 62 |
Canterbury | 1222 | 57 | 1 | 4 | 84 |
Dartford | 1235 | 15 | 2 | 32 | 83 |
Dover** | 958 | 43 | 1 | 63 | 34 |
Folkestone & Hythe | 886 | 0 | 1 | 86 | 23 |
Gravesham | 1129 | 29 | 2 | 21 | 59 |
Maidstone | 1405 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 132 |
Sevenoaks | 565 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
Swale | 1410 | 45 | 1 | 66 | 116 |
Thanet | 1237 | 79 | 2 | 50 | 187 |
Tunbridge & Malling | 1325 | -11 | 3 | 46 | 143 |
Tunbridge Wells | 1140 | -30 | 2 | 55 | 32 |
** Excluding Duke of York's Royal Military School (Boarding only)
Kent children having been offered Out of County Non-Selective Places (around 280 in 2019): Bexley 69 (St Catherine's Catholic 19, Haberdasher's Aske's Crayford Academy 15, St Columba's Catholic Boys' 10, Blackfen Girls, 6, 2019 - 53); Bromley 14 (2019-21); East Sussex 61 (Uplands 44, Beacon 7, Robertsbridge 6, 2019 -68); Medway 59 (Greenacre 16, Rainham Girls 9, Howard 7, 2019 -41); Surrey 37 (Oxted 35, 2019 -62).
The Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent is a 5 year rolling plan which we update annually. The 2020 to 2024 version shows how we will make sure there are:
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Unfortunately, whilst the three points above may well be aims for KCC, my District Survey below shows that there is considerable shortfall in the first two of these. I appreciate this section may not be of interest to most of my readers, so please follow the link to read on.
You will find full data for each school in the Individual Schools Section of this website. Currently, the large data bank is up to date, although commentary is lagging behind in a few cases where indicated (update in progress, or on request).