Index
See article in Kent on Sunday, 27 May 2017
2017 has been a very good year for Primary school admissions in Kent with 97.4% of families being awarded a school place of their choice, up from 96.6% in 2016. This has been brought about by a combination of 267 extra places created since the 2016 allocations including 30 in one new school, together with a remarkable fall of 679 children or 3.8% in the total applying for places. Overall there are 11.1% vacant places in the Reception classes, rising sharply from 6.5% in 2016. This article follows on from my first look at the general data, here, and explores the pressure areas looking at oversubscription and vacancies across the county.
There are still local pressures focused on several towns including: Tonbridge with just one vacancy in one school but the new Bishop Chavasse Free School will ease matters; Ashford, two vacancies, apart from 14 in a school on the outskirts; Sevenoaks, full apart from 18 places in one school on the outskirts of town; and Tunbridge Wells just one school with 24 vacancies. However, overall there is a far better picture than last year. Contrast these with: Ashford Rural; Faversham; Maidstone Rural; Shepway Rural & Hythe; and Swanley & District; all with a fifth or more places empty in their schools.
Once again the most popular schools vary considerably from last year, with just Great Chart, Ashford (3rd in 2016) and Fleetdown in Dartford (first last year) occurring in top 10s for both years. Most popular school is Slade Primary in Tonbridge, turning away 43 first choices, followed by Great Chart with 41. You will find the full list of high preferences below.
At the other end of the scale, one unfortunate school with a Good OFSTED, and sound KS2 results had no first choices, and offered just one place (!), whilst another 17 schools have more than half of their places empty, a sharp rise on last year. As financial pressures mount in schools, such low numbers would become critical if repeated.
I look at each district in more detail below, with a brief note on admission to Junior Schools. The outcomes for Medway primary schools will follow shortly…...
There are many factors affecting a school’s popularity, alongside a Good OFSTED and Test performance. New housing development in many parts of the county can introduce pressures ahead of new school provision. One other factor that can produce a one off dramatic effect on demand is the number of siblings which can very sharply year on year, who have priority for admission in most schools, as discussed here. I have been very conscious this year of the increasingly high proportion of the parents who wish to discuss primary school admissions with me, citing OFSTED rating as their key criterion.
Where a child is offered none of their three chosen schools KCC offers a place in a school with vacancies and is counted as a Local Authority Allocated child (LAAC). As noted in my previous article: ‘Of those 444 children who were not offered one of their preferred schools, nearly half failed to make use of all available preferences, limiting Kent’s ability to offer them a preferred school’. So one must be careful not to read too much into this figure.
Please note that Reception Class Appeals will only succeed in exceptional cases; last year there were just 12 out of 248 upheld where Infant Class Legislation applied. I am aware of several of these and can confirm that the reasons will not apply to the vast majority of appellants. For the overwhelming majority of disappointed applicants the only chance of success, albeit usually a small one, is through the school waiting list.
At this time of exceedingly tough pressure on school budgets, failure to attract a good intake of pupils can be devastating as staff may have to be laid off or not replaced, if the money is not there to pay them. Seven Kent primary schools have had at least two years being half empty or more.
You will find further information on individual schools (mainly OFSTED) here, performance here, and general here.
I have tried to include as much detail as possible, but it is possible I have left out something of importance, or else made errors in such an extensive survey, in which case please feel free to contact me and if appropriate I will amend the article.
I have tried to include as much detail as possible, but it is possible I have left out something of importance, or else made errors in such an extensive survey, in which case please feel free to contact me.
| MOST OVERSUBSCRIBED KENT PRIMARY SCHOOLS, APRIL 2017 | ||||
|
School
|
District
|
Intake
Number
|
Oversubscribed
First Choices
|
Oversubscribed
2016
|
| Slade Primary | Tonbridge | 60 | 43 | 11 |
|
Great Chart Primary |
Ashford | 60 | 41 | 41 |
| Cobham Primary | Gravesham | 30 | 35 | 30 |
| Cecil Road Primary | Gravesham | 54 | 34 | 31 |
| East Borough Primary | Maidstone | 60 | 34 | 14 |
| St Mildred's Infant | Broadstairs | 90 | 34 | 30 |
| St John's CofE Primary | Maidstone | 60 | 32 | 16 |
|
St Mary's CofE Primary
Academy
|
Folkestone | 60 | 30 | 0 (6 vacancies) |
| Fleetdown Primary | Dartford | 90 | 29 | 53 |
| West Hill Primary | Dartford | 72 | 29 | 13 |
| Langton Green | Tunbridge W | 60 | 29 | 18 |
The Districts are:
Page 2 - Ashford; Canterbury (including Whitstable and Herne Bay); Cranbrook; Dartford;
Page 3 – Dover, Deal & Sandwich; Faversham; Gravesham; Maidstone; Malling (including Kings Hill)
Page 4 -Sevenoaks ; Shepway (including Folkestone and Hythe); Swale (including Sheppey); Swanley
Page 5 -Thanet; Tonbridge;Tunbridge Wells; Junior Schools
KCC carries out a rolling Commissioning Planthat looks at the whole of its school provision and plans for the future which is well worth a read if you have the patience to work through its 152 pages, but shows a far better sense of planning than the ad hoc methods of five or more years ago, with all the crises that accompanied it!
Please note that my division of the county into districts varies from KCC’s. The immense pressure on town school places in a KCC district, often difficult to resolve, is often hidden by vacancies in the more rural hinterland. KCC retains its policy that the optimum size of an all through primary school is two forms of admission, and to only expand OFSTED Good or Outstanding schools, an ambition that is not fulfilled but is becoming easier with the risein proportion of Good and Outstanding schools. However, most schools of all categories in areas under pressure have now been expanded where possible and it is often difficult to see where further increase can be made, except by Free Schools opening in unsuitable premises for a school. To expand a school permanently by one whole class of 30 requires there to be space for seven classrooms, as the increase works through the school, together with recreation land, a massive demand on an individual school in a limited boundary.
