Displaying items by tag: Primary Admissions

Medway Council is proposing a new three form entry primary school on the site of the old Chatham South secondary school, after the birth rate in Chatham shows a 21% increase since 2005, coupled with increasing migration into the area probably as a result of cheaper housing costs. This follows the proposal to close two primary schools in Chatham just two yeas ago because of falling numbers! One of those schools, Ridge Meadow, did in fact close but the other, St John's Infant School, was saved after a decision by the Schools Adjudicator overruled Medway Council's proposal. A further proposed closure of St Peter's Infant School in Rochester was dropped. For 2012 entry, St John's is full, St Peter's has just two empty spaces, and there are just 17 places vacant in the whole of Chatham, all at Luton Infants School. 

This all shows that school place forecasting is a difficult science, and Medway Council acknowledges it can do better...

Pressure continues to build over the shortage of reception class places in Bearsted, centred on Madginford Park Infants School, Thurnham CofE Infants School and St John's Primary School. At the recent meeting of Bearsted Parish Council,  Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council, listened to the concerns of many local parents whose children have no local school to go to, and has promised to do what he can to resolve the problem. One new issue is that at present, 43 of the 80 plus children without a school of their choice have been allocated places at  St Paul's Infant School over two miles away. KCC is responsible for providing transport for those unable to make other arrangements, likely to be a minibus, driver as the only adult present, no seat belts, cost estimated at .......

On the surface, Kent primary school infant class placements, which took place at the end of March look well with a healthy 95% of children in Kent being offered one of their three choices, similar to last year. However, looking beneath the surface, a much more worrying picture emerges because of increased numbers in some areas as the number of children being allocated a school they hadn’t chosen has risen from 564 to 818 in two years, a frightening rise of 45%.

Analysis of the figures shows a sharp contrast between most of West Kent and most of East Kent and between urban and rural areas. Maidstone town is the most difficult area, with over 100 children allocated to schools they did not apply for and NO places free in any school in the town. Other problem areas include Tunbridge Wells with just 16 places left free out of the 920 available, and 75 children having none of their choices. 15 of those 16 free places are in Pembury School (just outside the town), and only exist as its capacity was expanded by 30 at short notice last year, to cater for the difficulties. Sevenoaks has 94 children allocated, 7 places left free; urban Dartford, 71 children allocated and 7 places left free;  the Ramsgate area of Thanet, 65 children allocated, 8 places free, all in Bromstone Primary school in Broadstairs; Folkestone, 43 children allocated, 6 left free; and the area around Faversham with 37 children allocated.

Kent County Council, in a confidential analysis of issues produced in 2009, identified major problems for 2011 entry in Dartford, Gravesham, Thanet and Tunbridge Wells, some of these other issues being masked by rural parts of the districts having spare capacity. Sadly, little was done to alleviate the problems at a time when finances were easier. What is clear is that although Kent’s Primary Strategy of 2006 has a policy that there should be between 5-7% surplus capacity in an area, it has not planned to meet this policy. Where additional places have been added, too often these are last minute decisions and often in inappropriate schools. What we are seeing is an unwritten change of policy from trying to meet parental preferences, to a minimalist offering to children of a school somewhere, no matter how suitable.   

Riverhead Infant School in Sevenoaks has soared to the top of the oversubscription table, turning away 54 first choices with the neighbouring Sevenoaks Primary School turning away 44 children, in fourth place. In between come Madginford Park in Maidstone, and Priory Infants, Ramsgate. In fifth place comes St James CofE VA Infant School, in Tunbridge Wells, then: Slade Primary, Tonbridge; Sandgate Primary, Folkestone; West Hill Primary, Dartford; St John's Catholic Primaryl, Gravesend; Joyden's Wood Infants, Dartford; St Peter's Methodist, Canterbury; Holy Trinity & St John's CofE Primary, Margate; St John's CofE Primary, Tunbridge Wells; St Stephen's Infant, Canterbury; Ethelbert Road Primary, Faversham; and St Mildred's Infants, Broadstairs. All these schools turned away 30 or more first choices.

At the other end of the table, 14 schools, nearly all in East Kent, have over half their places left empty. Three of these have all admitted fewer than 50% of their capacity for each of the last three years. How on earth can they remain viable? However, the political controversy over closing such schools is always intense, even if this would release resources to provide extra provision in places of greatest need. Further information on all the key pressure points at www.kentadvice.co.uk.

I now have detailed information on Kent and Medway primary school admission offers for September 2012. On the surface, all looks well with a healthy 95% of children in Kent being offered one of their three choices, similar to last year. However, with rising rolls the number of children being allocated a school they hadn’t chosen has risen from 564 to 818 in two years, a worrying rise of 45%.

You will find more general information in a separate article below.  I have started to provide more detailed information on difficult areas, via the links below. 

Analysis of the figures shows a sharp contrast between most of West Kent and most of East Kent and between urban and rural areas. Maidstone town is the most difficult area, with over 100 children allocated to schools they did not apply for (you will find an earlier article on part of the problem here) and NO places free in any school in the town. Other problem areas include:........

INFANT CLASS LEGISLATION 

The previous Labour government honoured an election pledge to reduce all Infant classes to 30 children by introducing what is called Infant Class Legislation that banned any class of over 30, except in certain very specific circumstances. Although the most recent Codes of Practice removed the sanctions for schools to keep to this legal requirement, it is rare that they are broken except in certain very specific circumstances.  The rules are laid down in the School Admissions Code (SAC) and the School Admission Appeals Code (SAAC),  both of which carry the force of law. The rules also apply to Academies.

Parents often puzzle over why they are allowed to appeal and informed of their rights so to do, when they actually stand no chance of success. Sadly, that is the way it is. 

You will find a recent news item on this subject here. 

The rules for Admissions.

Neither the school nor the Local Authority can offer more places than allowed by the Planned Admission Number, which you will find in the school or Local Authority Prospectus, except in very limited circumstances. SAC states:

2.61    The law does not require a child to start school until the start of the term following their fifth birthday. The date compulsory school age is reached is determined by dates set by the Secretary of State for the autumn, spring and summer terms. These are 31 August, 31 December and 31 March.

2.62   Infant classes (i.e. those where the majority of children will reach the age of 5, 6, or 7 during the school year) must not contain more than 30 pupils with a single school teacher. While admission can be refused on normal prejudice grounds once an admission number of lower than 30 (or multiples of 30) has been reached, admission must be refused on “infant class-size prejudice” grounds where the published admission number allows for classes of 30, and the school would have to take ‘qualifying’ measures to keep to the statutory class size limit if more children were admitted, e.g. employ another teacher.

2.63   The class size legislation makes allowance for the entry of an additional child in very limited circumstances where not to admit the child would be prejudicial to his or her interests (‘excepted pupils’). However, every effort must be made to keep over large classes to a minimum. These circumstances are where:

a)  children with statements of special educational needs are admitted to the school outside the normal admissions round;

b)  children move into the area outside the normal admissions round for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance (admission authorities must check with local authorities before determining that a child falls into this category);

c)  children admitted, after initial allocation of places on the local offer date, because the person responsible for making the original decision recognises that an error was made in implementing the school’s admission arrangements and that a place ought to have been offered;

d)  children in care admitted outside the normal admissions round;

e)  children admitted where an independent appeal panel upholds an appeal on the grounds that the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented, and/or the admission authority’s decision to refuse a place was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case;

f)  children are registered pupils at special schools and by arrangement with another school which is not a special school, receive part of their education at that other school;

g)  children with special education needs who are registered pupils at a school which is not a special school and are normally educated in a special educational needs unit attached to that school, and attend, an infant class in the school (i.e. not in the unit), where this has been deemed as beneficial to the child.

2.64   Except in the case of f) and g), the child will remain an exception for any time they spend in an infant class at the mainstream school or outside the special educational needs unit. In all other circumstances the child will only remain an exception for the remainder of the school year in which they were admitted. Measures must be taken for the following year to ensure that the class falls within the infant class size limit.

Last updated July 2017

Fraudulent Admission applications occur for places in both Primary and secondary schools and in every Local Authority in the country, including both Kent and Medway. 

I believe this is a growing problem, and what is seen is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The reasons for this are often through desperation, as parents seek either to secure a place at the best school in the area, or a suitable school when faced with unpalatable alternatives. As such, one can understand their motives, but this is grossly unfair to those children and families who play by the rules.

There are now two sanctions which are applied for applicants who are caught out making a fraudulent application. The first is the simple one of cancelling the application which can cause the perpetrator significant problems in securing an alternative place, or else cancelling a place at the school even if the child has taken up a place there. The second is for the Local Authority, or presumably the school Governing Body for a Foundation school or Academy, to initiate a prosecution as happened in two alleged cases in Harrow and Poole.  Neither of these were successful for whatever reason, and may have inhibited other Authorities from taking similar action, but the problem remains.

I am regularly approached about this issue and will not advise on how to obtain a place at a school fraudulently. On the other hand, I have successfully supported clients who have found out about a fraudulent application, to see it cancelled to enhance the chances of honest families to secure a place at their chosen school. I am also happy to pass on information on this issue anonymously to the appropriate authorities.

Currently I am aware of only one Admission Authority, the Governing Body of Tunbridge Wells Girls Grammar School, which routinely carries out checks on applicants, an initiative I applaud for a massively popular school in an area where it is evident that some families do take out short term leases to attempt to secure school places. However, I anticipate that the practice of attempting to  obtain school places by fraudulent means will grow.

The Schools Adjudicator carried out an enquiry into the practice of Fraudulent Admission to schools in 2009. He found some small and medium sized Local Authorities considered they had more than 100 identified fraudulent applications, whilst others, including large LAs, had none. In the same period KCC had 13 reported cases, of which most were dismissed. My own observations in the intervening years, suggest the problem has ballooned.

I consider Kent has two weaknesses in its procedure. The first lies in its delegation of discovering fraud to individual schools (I believe most cases of attempted fraud occur in primary schools), most of which do not have the resources to investigate such issues. The second is Kent's loose definition of place of residence when compared with some other authorities, which I have taken up with the Council but to no avail. Update July 2017: After years of lobbying by me, Kent now has a much tighter definition of residence for its own primary schools. Other schools should take note, but don't, some because they simply don;t want to know. 

The most common method of fraud identified was the use of addresses of relatives, the next being the taking up of short term leases or rental agreements on houses with no intention of living there. Update July 2017: I believe the latter is now the most common although I only have circumstantial evidence for this through the examples I have come across.

  * Oasis Skinner Street, see article here.

    Hempstead Junior**  See articles here,

 * Oasis Skinner Street, see article here.

**Byron, see article here.

*** Twydall, most recent article here. 

**** Temple Mill, most recent mention here.

  You will find my views on Medway Council's oversight of its primary schools and their poor performance at OFSTED here. 

Sherwin Knight Junior School is about to close and be absorbed into the Infant School which is extending its age range. Medway Council was criticised in the latest OFSTED Inspection for not monitoring or challenging the school sufficiently through a period of change. For instance, it has not asked leaders how pupils’ learning is going to be protected while the process of improving teaching takes place (quite important I would have thought).

Saxon Way Primary School, Kingfisher Community Primary School and Lordswood School are all to be taken over by the Griffin Schools Trust as sponsored academies in September 2013. 

All Hallows Primary is becoming an academy as part of the Williamson Trust in September 2013, joining High Halstow and Elaine Primary Academy.  

Twydall Primary School has been the subject of controversy following a proposal for it to become a Sponsored Academy (July 14)

Pre September 2012 Reports

Admission Comments for September 2012 entry (Written March 2012)

The general Medway picture on Infant Class admissions for the last three years is as follows.

The number of Medway children offered a place at a non-Medway school is 73, with 42 non-Medway children offered places in Medway primary schools, all of these were a preference expressed by the parent/carer. Most of these will have been in the Walderslade area, where the county boundary crosses the M2.

The percentage of Medway reception aged children being offered one of their four named schools is 97.0% slightly down from 97.4% last year. These figures will always be higher than those of Kent, who only allow parents to name three schools. However, the number who were not offered their first choice has risen significantly from 7.3% in 2010, to 8.2% in 2011, to 11.1% this year. This year's increase will be down to the 5% rise in pupil numbers for 2012 Year R.

Pupil rolls at Year R in Medway have been falling for many years, bottoming out in 2011, and figures are reported to show increases each year from now on for the next three years (all years that children have been born and can be counted). In 2010, Ridge View Primary School in Chatham  was controversially closed and many parents have expressed unhappiness at the lack of provision this year, as revealed by the fall in proportion of first choices offered. As a result of the closure, the number of places has fallen by 60 to 3336, whilst the Medway Reception age group has risen by 154 children, an effective reduction in 217 places.

This still leaves just 3% of Medway children being allocated a school not of their choice,  33 of the 90 concerned being in Chatham, to Luton Infants School, the only school in Chatham left with any vacancies, and where the key pressure can be seen . This suggests that the closure of Ridge View was a mistake, with St John's Infants, which also came close to being closed, being full. No other school in Medway received more than 7 allocations. What is clear from the parental preferences  is their quite understandable wish to avoid their children attending the 30% of Medway primary schools that are, or have been, failed by OFSTED.

Most oversubscribed school was Balfour Infants, with 41 first choices turned away, followed by All Saints CofE Primary with 34, then: Fairview Community Primary; The Pilgrim; Miers Court Primary; and Twydall Primary, all with more than 15 first choices rejected.

The Hoo Peninsula primary schools have the highest vacancy rate between them, with 18% of places empty, compared with 3% in Chatham and 9% overall across Medway. Four schools, all with a Satisfactory OFSTED are at least half empty.

 There are various reasons parents want their children to change schools outside the normal transfer frameworks, both in the primary and secondary school sectors. The enormous scale of in-year admissions can be seen from KCC figures for applications between 1st September 2012 - 11 June 2013, when there were 9902 applications for primary aged children and 3020 for those of secondary age (these figures are not available for subsequent years as schools now handle their own in-year admissions - see below). 

The most common is moving house: expatriates moving back from foreign countries; children of UK service personnel or crown servants returning home; those moving into Kent or Medway from another county, or those moving within the area.

There are also parents unhappy with their child’s current school or those seeking a grammar school place post the 11 plus or currently attending a non-selective school, or those simply looking for what they perceive as a ‘better’ school.

Some parents are unhappy with the primary or secondary school allocated during the normal school admissions process and wish to apply for fresh schools additional to those on their application form. 

Finally (I think) those whose children have been home-schooled or attending a private school and, for a variety of reasons wish them to take up a place in a state school.

Moving House
        ·       Proof of residence is often the key sticking point for those moving house.

Procedure

The following are not in-year admissions and will require you to apply through the normal processes:

• entry to reception until the end of term 2
• transfer to a junior school until the end of term 2
• transfer to year 7 until the end of term 2

If you follow the link to 'transfer to Year 7', it takes you back to  Apply for a secondary school place, at the foot of which you will find:

If you apply for a school place after the closing date, your application will only be considered if you can provide a good reason, for example:

• serious illness
• bereavement
• late move to the Medway area

If you miss the closing date you can still submit an application up to 5pm on 4 December 2020 with a letter explaining why you missed the closing date. We'll decide if late applications received by 4 December 2020 can be accepted. Any applications not accepted as on-time or received after 4 December 2020 will be held pending until we process late applications from 19 April 2021.

If you follow the link provided, it takes you to a fairly random page including a section on