Over half of the Thanet primary schools have vacancies. Drapers Mill (A), Margate, TKAT Academy has 57% of its places unfilled in spite of its Good Ofsted Report and above average KS2 Progress performance, followed by Dame Janet (A), Ramsgate, 54%, TKAT Academy, Good Ofsted but below average Progress; Salmestone (A), Margate 53%, TKAT, Good Ofsted but very low KS2 Progress results last summer; St Joseph’s Catholic (A), 50%; Northdown (A), Margate 42% also run by TKAT, but Requires Improvement; Ellington Infant, 32%, Ramsgate. Whatever TKAT is doing to improve standards it doesn’t appear to ride well with parents.   

Three schools normally top the vacancy list, one of which was Royal Rise (A), now a Cygnus Trust Academy (previously St Stephen’s when it failed its Ofsted as a KCC school ). The other two are Longmead, with 63% of its Reception places empty for September, and in Federation with the nearby Hugh Christie secondary school, Good Ofsted in September 2019 up from RI,  and Cage Green, taken over as an academy last July, by Connect Schools, having failed its Ofsted shortly before. Five other schools also have vacancies.

Temple Grove (A) appears to be improving in popularity year on year from being the least popular in TW in years past, and is full again for 2020, without the large number of LAAs which propped it up in 2019.

Rusthall St Paul’s CofE again has the highest proportion of vacancies at 30% of its total of 30 available, but this is a significant improvement on 2019. Going the other way is Pembury, full last year with 22% of its 60 places empty. St Augustine’s Catholic (A) also has 22% vacant spaces.   

This year all but one of the 1934 children applying for places at one or more of these schools was offered their first choice, a remarkable statistic, given that there were 34 in 2019.

Two schools have 20% or more vacancies (down from five in 2019) which may depend on other factors than their own reputation such as the number coming through from the linked Infant school, or other opportunities in the area. The dip in Tenterden Junior School numbers with 38% vacancies appears to reflect a parallel fall in Year Two at the linked Infant School. Christ Church CofE Juniors in Thanet has 25% vacancies but no specific linked Infant school. North Borough Junior, Maidstone with 22% vacancies, but none in 2019, appears to have lost some who would normally transfer from the linked St Paul’s Infant.

You have the right to go on the waiting list for, and appeal for any school on your application form, where you have not been offered a place. You also have the right to make a late application in Kent to any school that was not on your original list, on or after 15th June, when the first reallocation of vacant places takes place to children already on the waiting list. You should use the KCC In Year Application Form and send it directly to all schools you are interested in as you choose, that were not on your application list. You are not restricted to just one school at a time. KCC will tell you which local schools still have vacancies on the day you enquire. This will not damage your chances at any school for which you are on the waiting list. If you are appealing and are offered a place at one of these schools in advance it may be taken into account. However, with the very low chances of success at appeal (see below), this is a risk worth taking.  

A large  number of children are offered places off waiting lists, most setting off a ‘churning process’ freeing up other places. You have nothing to lose from going on the waiting list for as many schools as you  wish. Sadly, chances of success at appeal are negligible in nearly all cases, as explained below.