Displaying items by tag: Abbey

In 2015 Government introduced Phase Two of the Priority School Building Programme, to rebuild or refurbish individual blocks of accommodation at 277 schools using capital grant and are scheduled to hand over by the end of 2023. 13 of these are in Kent and a further two are in Medway. This article looks at progress of the project in the local schools to benefit, which were as follows. Kent Primary schools: Barton Junior; Benenden Church of England Primary; Colliers Green Church of England Primary; & Platt Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School. Kent secondary schools: The Abbey School; Dover Grammar Boys; The Folkestone School for Girls; Hartsdown Technology College; High Weald Academy; Mayfield Grammar; Pent Valley Technology College; Simon Langton Girls' Grammar; Swadelands. Medway secondary schools: St John Fisher Catholic Comprehensive and The Howard School.

Key words in the project are: ‘using capital grant’, as the previous programme of Building Schools for the Future relied heavily on commercial loans under the now largely discredited Private Finance Initiative. Whilst many schools benefited hugely from this project, the financial implications are crippling, as can be seen in several previous articles on this site, including here, with a full analysis by ShepwayVox here.  In this second phase more schools qualify under ‘a block replacement based on poor condition.  Only in exceptional circumstances will a whole school be replaced’ . At least three of the projects described below appear to come into the ‘exceptional circumstances’ category. At the foot of this article is a list of all the previous successful BSF Schools in Kent.

You will find an article on 2019 oversubscription data for grammar schools here, and for non-selective schools here. For Grammar School Preferences, only grammar qualified are counted. The PAN is the Published Admission Number and refers to the number of places available in the year group for each school. If additional places were offered, I have recorded this under PAN.  

A Report on 2018 Appeals Outcomes here. For Attainment 8 and Progress 8 and further information on the performance of all Kent schools with 2018 GCSE scores go to here for explanation. 

 The Abbey School, Faversham. OFSTED May 2017 - Good. Has been picking up in reputation over past five years, although performance in 2017 and 2018 has fallen.  

For 2017 entry, oversubscribed with first choices for the first time even after having expanded by 20 places. In recent years has been picking up pupils from Whitstable.

2014 - 2019 no appeals for school admission

Lowest A Level Progress Score in Kent for 2017

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Angley School, Cranbrook. Now closed and re-opened as High Weald Academy. 

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The Archbishop's School, Canterbury.  Was a very popular Canterbury school. The school has small classes but surprisingly did not attract a good OFSTED having been found to Require Improvement in both 2012 and October 2013. However most recent OFSTED in January 2016 found that the school is now Good.  Popularity is declining with a further sharp fall, the school offering places to 38 children who are Local Authority Allocations for 2019 admission. The headteacher left the school mid June 2019, deciding to 'step away', presumably paying the price for poor performance.

Popularity as been declining broadly since 2014, with 2018 picking up a large number of second choices and  2019 a disaster, the school having to admit 38 children who are Local Authority Allocations which has filled it up before grammar school appeals. 

With traditionally a high number of grammar school appeals successful, it is likely that nearly all who persevere will secure a  place, as can be seen by the absence of appeals in the past four years.

Surprisingly low GCSE performance for a church school that was oversubscribed for the relevant years.

Eighth lowest Progress 8 in Kent, 2019

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Astor College (A Specialist College for the Arts), Dover.  10% of places awarded on ability in the visual arts. The school is part of the Dover Federation of the Arts, in conjunction with Shatterlocks Infant School, Barton Junior School and White Cliffs Primary College of the Arts.  OFSTED March-July 2015, after a controversial series of events, when the school was initially placed in Special Measures, it was found to Require Improvement, down from Good.  Plenty of vacancies each year. See article. GCSE performance hovers around the government floor standard each year, falling below it to 35% A*-Cs for 2014 and 29% for 2015. Given full warning by government as to its performance in October 2015. Run by controversial Chief Executive Chris Russell, although he retired from his seconded position as Executive Principal of the Duke of York's Royal Military School, also an academy in Dover, in December 2016 and has now retired leaving the school in a difficult place.    

2018 58 LAAs; No admission appeals. 

You will find the coverage of previous controversy here. Suffers academically from additional pupils being selected locally for grammar school through the Dover Test. Progress 8 sixth lowest in Kent in 2017, Attainment 8 Sixth lowest. Similar in 2018. 

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Aylesford School - Sports College. Completely rebuilt around 2010 under a PFI scheme. OFSTED January 2014 - Good.  After a period when the school was not popular, it was oversubscribed for 2014 and 2015. Now on nosedive, with Ofsted Nov 2017 Requires Improvement and some of the lowest GCSEs in Kent. Now taken over as a sponsored academy by Wrotham School. 

Once above government floor standards for GCSE, the school slipped for 2014 and  2015. Progress 8 and Attainment 8 both third lowest in Kent in 2017, as popularity has slumped.  

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