The article was followed by a look back at the history of the site: KentAdvice: Review of Seventeen Years of Support for Families, which you will also find lower down the page.
I began the predecessor to this site in 2006, as an adjunct to my consultation service supporting families who needed advice and support to tackle school issues, with much of my work being carried out at no cost, where finances were tight. In 2010 I transferred it to the High Profile Marketing and Advertising Agency in Gravesend, with the key criteria being that it was to be very easy to manage and for browsers to navigate. As a result I accept it has not moved with the times, through no fault of the excellent High Profile Team who have patiently coped with my idiosyncracies and unscrambled my blunders and misunderstandings. I retired from my consultation service two years ago, still helping families from time to time where appropriate behind the scenes. I have written every word on the site apart from a few by young relatives transcribing data for me.
I plan to leave the site open for at least another year and, in the short term, I will publish relevant follow-ups to on-going stories (withdrawal symptoms?). I have already had one enquiry about continuing the website, so it may continue under other management. I hope so, for I consider it has throughout delivered on its main aim to provide information and advice for Kent and Medway families about schools and the education service. Many of these parents, along with others including a wide range of education professionals and journalists, may have valued some of the 600 plus news stories that I have published over this time. Some items have gone on to influence school, Academy Trust or local authority policies, a few making the national news, with at least one developing a momentum that persuaded government to act directly. There are also around 200 pages of information and advice, directly aimed at families, covering themes such as school admissions for primary and secondary schools including sixth form admissions, profiles of every secondary school in Kent and Medway, Ofsted outcomes for every school over at least the past six years, Special Education, and school appeals. In total, there have been some 20 million hits on pages of the site.
Whilst I still plan to update some of these information articles, many others will no longer be revised, although most carry the date of the latest version for guidance. I shall shortly publish a follow up article, exploring key parts of the website's publication history.
Can I recommend that subscribers still remain on the list as I can't at this stage be sure what if anything I shall be publishing over the next twelve months.
Peter Read
