Kent on Sunday has published my personal Review of the Year, reproduced in full here. It will come as no surprise that it is introduced as: "As pressure grows on teachers, is 2016 going to provide any relief? - Probably not according to former headteacher and education adviser Peter Read in his end of year report", and concludes with "What is certain is that the education map is changing faster than at any time I can remember in my forty years of working in the county, with government more firmly in the driving seat than ever before. I see no sign of relaxation of this centralised and politicised grip in the near future, so hang on for another bumpy ride in 2016".  

I have decided to limit my secondary transfer appeals service in 2016 to the following geographical areas at most, together with support for previous clients in the rest of Kent, along with in-year admissions and appeals as they arise. The reasons for this decision are set out at the foot of this article. I am afraid I have no capacity to go outside this range.....

I shall be happy to support appeals to grammar and non-selective schools in Mid and East Kent (bounded by Maidstone and Ashford), along with Gravesham and Medway only, together with support for previous clients in the rest of Kent, where I consider there is a realistic chance of success.

If you wish to engage my services to appeal to a grammar school in these areas, please use my “contact me” link to send in as many relevant details as possible. Up until the beginning of February, I will send an acknowledgement and indication of my provisional willingness to support you. At the beginning of February, when I have finally determined my intentions, I will contact you again to arrange a consultation from mid-February on if you wish to proceed. I will in any case, keep back some capacity for non-selective and grammar school oversubscription appeals until March when the need for these becomes apparent.

The problem with the consultancy quite simply is that whilst I gain great satisfaction from my appeals work, it is a nationally unique service that I offer and demand for my support appears limitless. In 2015 I estimate that I was asked to prepare around 5% of all secondary admission appeals in Kent and Medway, although I turned down a number of these requests as unrealistic and others after I reached my limit, along with declining the overwhelming number of requests for support with primary school appeals. You will find details of the outcomes of Kent and Medway appeals here. Even with the satisfaction of seeing over 90% of appeals successful, this proved a heavy workload which I am not prepared to repeat, even armed with my new hip!

The issues surrounding Chatham Grammar School for Boys’ proposals to go co-educational and also to redefine the way “grammar school ability” is determined are obviously of considerable importance to all secondary schools and the families affected in Medway. You will find my most recent article on the controversy here.

Medway Council’s view is clearly central to the situation as they have legal responsibility for the provision of education, if not the power since the introduction of academies.

According to the Thinking Schools Academy Trust, owners of Chatham Grammar, Medway Council is supportive of the proposal to go co-educational: “In Medway the Council can see the benefit of a co-educational school to absorb both boys and girls” and “Medway LEA were happy for the school to increase its published admission number to accommodate all those that applied for a place”.

Unfortunately, whether this is true or not is currently a secret, as Medway Council is refusing to make its representations to the consultation public at this time……

Given the alleged support by the Council of what is certainly a controversial proposal in view of the damage it will inflict on other local schools, I wrongly supposed that Medway Council would be open in its views on the proposals, which should surely have been discussed in Council Committee, given their significance.

However, in reply to a Freedom of Information request I submitted to the Council, I received the following: “Medway Council are of the opinion that it is not in the public interest to release its comments ahead of the schools own release of data, as the consultation is the schools’ not Medway Council’s”.  This is of course yet another nonsense by the Council, for it is surely in the public interest to know what the Council’s view is, who on the Council framed that view, and who was consulted before it was drawn up. This is a document that belongs to the Council, not to the school, and they have every right, and I would say duty, to declare their point of view.

I can see no public interest whatever in keeping this secret until such time as a decision is made, when the Council can then complacently plead that it is all history.

The extent of the impact on other schools was widened at the final meeting for parents on 3rd December, when the notes record: “Mr Gardner said that only in exceptional circumstances would Governors consider any application (from girls in other Year Groups) but it would not be the norm. Ms Shepherd stated that under the Equalities Act then an application can be pursued but for a small number and if it was considered the best option for the child.” If this is the case, then I cannot see that the school would have the power to limit applications from girls  to any Year Group if there is space, as they would need to be considered on the same basis as boys, perhaps by the same Committee of Governors set up to look at late Year 7 applications (see my article).  Presumably Medway Council’s response then would be “Oh, we didn’t understand what was being proposed. We didn’t realise the damage it would do to other schools!”.

I am surely not alone in waiting sight of the Medway Council secret representation with interest, when it finally emerges in the public gaze. 

In its time Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy has been the most troubled school in Kent, my previous article also providing links to earlier references.

That article, entitled “Problems in Secondary Schools in Kent's Coastal Towns“, looks at the high casualty rate amongst headteachers of non-selective schools around the Kent coast. With Sheppey’s sharp fall in GCSE performance since the current Principal, David Millar, took over in 2013, from 41% and 37% before he arrived, to his 19% then 25% in 2015, he was surely a candidate to be next for the chop, especially with discontent amongst the staff and the continuing cry of ‘anywhere but Sheppey’ from any aspiring parent.

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However, remarkably, although he is leaving the school this summer before his public commitment to serve at least three years at the school was fulfilled, he has been given a ‘great opportunity’, a further promotion with another multi-academy trust, presumably therefore a school even larger than Sheppey, the second biggest in Kent.....

Controversial from the start, Mr Millar triggered an article in The Times in which he was reported as alleging at a Conference that Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy had been described by a DfE official as the “worst school in England” before he took over. This was a description that quite rightly had to be withdrawn, as the school was already improving rapidly before he took over, having seen improved GCSE results and being taken out of Special Measures a few months earlier by the previous Principal, but who had been removed following the arrival of Oasis in September 2013. Clearly the Academy Trust priority to improve the Academy was not that great as Mr Millar only needed to work part-time in Sheppey until the summer of 2014, dividing his time with his previous school, which he is also reported to have described with similar comments on his arrival there. As a result he has given less than two years full time service to Sheppey.

Fortunately, under the previous Principal, key decisions such as the removal of TWO Executive Headteacher posts (!) working under him, a staff restructuring, the improvement of standards to deliver a much improved GCSE performance and the way the new buildings were brought into being had all been carried out. 

The Kent Messenger article describing the announcement of his departure comes with a number of parental and staff comments describing reaction to his management style and departure, but also quotes local M.P. Gordon Henderson as having been ‘reassured the school would be able to find a good replacement and improve further in the future’. Given the poor standards, the reported problems in the school, and the difficulties with attracting good leaders in other schools around Kent’s coast, one can only hope this confident reassurance is correct with Oasis this time round recognising that a full-time Principal is an absolute necessity from the start. He or she would be the fifth Principal since the Academy opened in 2011, following a tumultuous time under previous leaderships as a Local Authority school. Sheppey children deserve much better than the education they have been provided under KCC and two sets of Academy sponsors.  

Sadly, Oasis’s record locally is not one to inspire faith in the reassurance, given the precipitous way they closed down Oasis Hextable Academy last year without warning, the disaster of Oasis Academy Skinner Street in Gillingham, served with a notice of closure if the school failed to improve and the aborted sponsorship of the new primary academy on Sheppey, perhaps because of the risk of the failure of Isle of Sheppey sticking to it.  

Ironically, David Day, the previous Principal who was subsequently appointed headteacher of Hayesbrook School in Tonbridge, has led this school to its best GCSE results ever at 61% 5 A-Cs, the highest performance of a non-selective school in the county, apart from three highly selective church schools, but this has not saved his job. Reaching the end of his contract, this has not been renewed and a new headteacher has been brought in to replace him by the Brook Academy Trust.  

The headteacher of Hempstead Junior School in Gillingham has been suspended after an extraordinary series of recent events, as described below, following a controversial time as headteacher since her appointment in September 2013, including conflict with staff and governors that resulted in a high turnover of both, together with difficult relations with many parents. However, she enjoyed the support of Medway Council and its Cabinet Member, Mike O'Brien throughout, even after a previous Chairman of Governors, the Vice Chairman, Chairman of Finance and two other governors resigned over their inability to work with the headteacher, the reason quoted in a letter to the Council as: "Despite our considerable efforts over the course of many months, we no longer believe we can work with the current head teacher to deliver sustainable progress for the school in general and, most importantly, for the children”, which was a clear cry for help for the school. However, this was dismissed out of hand by Mr O'Brien who considered: "The decision by some of the governors is entirely a matter for them” – Obviously no concerns there then! 

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Sadly, the Council has now chosen to dig itself in a deeper hole by belatedly sending out a letter to parents, stating: "The Headteacher is unwell and will be absent from the school for the time being",although there is now a wide awareness of the true facts in the school. The headteacher is pictured above with Mr O'Brien. 

The issues are exemplified by the extraordinary Minutes of an Extraordinary Governing Body meeting, which took place on 16^th December 2015. These feature the proposal to remove Mr John Colam, vice chair and then Acting Chair of Governors at the time of the Meeting, from the Board. Oddly, neither the headteacher (who had submitted 50 pages of evidence against Mr Colam after the closing date for providing evidence to the meeting), nor the proposer of the motion chose to attend the meeting. The proposal was rejected, and then Mr Colam was elected Joint Chairman of the Governing Body! The motion proposer resigned from the GB next day. You can catch a flavour of the issues with parents in the passionate comments below, although I have tried mainly to keep the focus of this article and a previous one on the factual evidence. 

The letter explaining the absence of the headteacher was sent above the signatures of the two co-chairs of governors  and begins: "We have been asked by Medway Local Authority to provide you with their statement concerning the Headteacher Mrs Smith". In other words the school and governors had nothing to do with preparing the statement  that follows! The letter took two school days to prepare amidst rumour swirling around over the weekend, the headteacher having reportedly being seen being escorted off the premises by a Medway Council officer. Of course it would have been a good opportunity to deny the facts in this article, which are increasingly widely known in the school community and beyond, but naturally I am being asked why the Council version differs from my version of events. Clearly governors and the school do not wish to deny my story, which is why they have placed responsibility on the Council.

I am afraid browsers will have to come to your own view on which version is true but clearly, either I am mistaken or Medway Council is not telling the truth unless the suspension has made the headteacher unwell, in which case both can be valid! Personally, I would have thought that if I was genuinely mistaken although I am confident of my information from a variety of sources now,  that Medway Council or the Governing Body should have contacted me to tell me so, given the importance of the matter! Interestingly, the letter, re-produced in full in one of the comments below, also  contains the statement: "Hempstead Junior School has always been a great team and ‘family’ and we all need to pull together".  We have been told this is a council statement, but whilst it appears to be pretending to be from the HJS 'family', shows a familiar lack of understanding of what has been going on in the school. The Medway Messenger has yet a different response from Medway Council: "A Council spokesman said "The head teacher has been away from the school for a few days, and the day to day running of the school continues as normal". So in fact, no problems at all worth mentioning!  The Council letter appears to have created a new policy, but will Medway Council now notify parents as a norm in other schools when headteachers are unwell?

But even this appears to have raised no alarm bells at Medway Council, about the leadership of the school which then took another turn for the worse, as the headteacher tried to remove the Acting Chairman of Governors three months ago. Following the public information about governor turnover is difficult, but five resigned last summer, and others have gone since, many evidently unable to tolerate the headteacher’s style of management and leadership. I have looked at the Minutes of all the relevant GB Meetings and have to say, I see only a very professional group of people concerned for the future of this very troubled school trying to carry out governance properly, but lacking Local Authority support. 

OFSTED intervened with a Special one day Inspection of the school in January, although whilst this is full of praise for the teaching taking place, it clearly agrees with the Local Authority assessment that the school is ‘causing concern’. This was broadly neutral in allocating blame between head and governors, apparently influenced by Medway Council which, along with Cabinet Member Mike O'Brien, has been very supportive of the headteacher at the expense of governors until now. Recommendations of the Inspection Report include restoring good communication and trust between governors and the headteacher, and redoubling efforts to ensure the widespread trust and confidence of staff and parents in the school’s leadership, including governance. Sadly these recommendations sounded unduly optimistic given the current meltdown (sentence written before latest news). It was pleasing to see the co-chairmen writing a very positive letter to staff after the inspection to congratulate them on the quality of teaching identified in the school, as academically Hempstead Juniors continues to enjoy success although staff turnover could affect this in the future. However, a letter sent out by Mrs Smith to staff shortly after this shows an astonishing lack of awareness of the issues, as it appears to lay the blame at everyone else's feet, with no hint of recognition of any personal fault. Amongst those at fault for the situation apparently are: the governance of the school; long term staff having left and some current staff who complained to OFSTED; staff failing to follow proper procedures for complaint; failure by staff to keep an eye on each other and take action if they are being negative or unprofessional; and a minority of parents who are negative in the playground and on social media. Apparently all that was needed was some tweaking and all would be well. Sadly, this last sentiment appears a gross misjudgment, perhaps one amongst many. 

Below you will find amongst the 25 comments, sixteen powerful testimonies (and one contrary view). At an earlier stage I chose to remove some of the most passionate phrases, but these are to the best of my knowledge all genuine postings, and there is nothing offensive about any of them; I was just concerned about unproven allegations (the anonymous postings have generally identified themselves to me!). 

Update: Medway Council's objections published in full here. 

Chatham Grammar School for Boys is to admit a co-educational intake for September 2017, subject to approval from the Regional Schools Commissioner (advised by the Regional Headteacher Board of six headteachers, of which Ms Shepherd is a member, but who would not be involved in the decision), following a decision by the Directors of the Thinking School Academy Trust. This decision represents a reduction in opportunity for boys, leaving Medway with one very oversubscribed boys’ grammar, inaccessible to those in most of the Council’s area, as opposed to three girls’ grammars.

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The school is to change its name to Holcombe Grammar School.

The Trust has scrapped its controversial proposal to admit children through a decision of the Admission Committee without testing, following my previous article pointing out that it was illegal. This article also covers some of the main issues and provides links to other items.

Medway Council refused my FOI Request for their response to the Consultation “in the public interest!” leaving one to wonder yet again, which public's interests they serve. 

The Local Governing Body of Chatham Grammar was disbanded at the end of 2015, although parents do not appear to have been informed of this removal of an important local voice, so that “Powers for moving the proposal forward have therefore reverted to the Board of Directors”....

The school has published information on the consultation and the decision process here, including Consultation Feedback for Parents and Minutes of the Board of Directors of the Trust that made the decision. These Minutes provide interesting insights into the Consultation process.

A Trust response to a question stated: “We agree that there is no ‘right’ answer to the question of whether single sex or mixed education is best. What is clear is that for some students a single sex environment is best and for others a mixed environment is best, therefore, parents and students should have the opportunity to attend the school which best meets their personal needs.”  It is therefore unfortunate that this action removes that opportunity for many boys to attend a boys’ grammar as has existed for many years. Again: “We agree that at the moment the local selective education offer is essentially restricted to single sex education and that parents and students will appreciate the opportunity to have an alternative choice of educational setting in a mixed Grammar school”. This is actually not true, as most families have the alternative choice of Rainham Mark Grammar (just a few missing out because RMGS operates a scores cut off a few marks above the pass). At present, a number of Chatham children attend the mixed RMGS already, so the opportunity does exist and is exercised.

There is considerable calculation about Council forecasts showing they are inaccurate, although this is mainly because the three popular and oversubscribed grammars have regularly taken additional children by increasing their admission number at the last moment or through appeal, out of Council control. Of course there are two other reasons: the Medway Test has in recent years for some reason of its own consistently fixed a pass mark that sees fewer than the planned 23% of children through, and it is also heavily biased towards girls, as explained here, which has kept the imbalance of boys and girls sufficient to keep three girls’ grammars afloat, as distinct from two boys’ now to reduce to one. Oddly, the Consultation document acknowledges this, but then puts in place a change that exacerbates the problem, unless this is a strategy to deliberately close a girls’ grammar outside the Trust: “The system has existing and much greater inequities that we are not aware of being addressed or raised as concerns: 1. Every year significantly more Girls than Boys are deemed selective by the current 11+. For September 2015 entry 338 Boys were deemed selective compared to 416 Girls. The provisional preferences for September 2016 entry suggests that once again there are significantly more Girls being deemed selective than Boys, approximately five Girls are deemed selective for every four Boys. 2. Girls already have more choice of Grammar Schools to attend than Boys in the local area – 3 single sex Girls Schools and only two single sex Boys Schools”.

The Trust “made contact with Chatham Grammar School for Girls in December 2014 to discuss possible proposals for closer collaboration between the two schools. The Chair of Governors of Chatham Grammar School for Girls, Dr C Johnson, confirmed in April 2015 that after consideration “The clear outcome for our governing body was an emphasis on retaining the current status of Chatham grammar School for Girls as a single-sex grammar school”. “Chatham Grammar School for Girls will only be impacted if prospective parents choose to send their daughter to the new mixed Grammar School rather than a single-sex Girls Grammar School. This would be a consequence of parental choice”.  I have to say, I find it difficult to imagine the nature of such ‘collaboration’ other than a takeover, given the Trust’s agenda to provide “additional co-educational provision”. 

The sense of the Consultation Report is that there is little or no objection to the proposal, although the Minutes of the Director’s Meeting suggest otherwise: “The “disagree” responses received from Medway Secondary Schools was (sic) discussed”, although no detail is provided and, apart from a brief comment on Chatham Girls’ Grammar. are ignored.

It won’t be the last.  

As I was preparing to publish this article, local academy news is overtaken by the ideological decision to force all schools in England to have converted or started on the route to become academies by 2020.  Whilst I normally confined myself to matters relating only to Kent and Medway on this website, the impact of this appalling decision on local schools is such that I have added a couple of paragraphs at the foot of the page.

As the conversion rate to academise has reduced to a trickle before this news, there are just two new Academies for February, Manor Community Primary School, Dartford, and Twydall Primary School in Gillingham, the latter having finally seen its future settled as it has been sponsored by Rainham Mark Grammar School after a very difficult failed take-over attempt by the Learning Schools Academy Trust.

There are several new converter applications: Simon Langton Girls Grammar; Upton Junior, Broadstairs; Temple Hill and Oakfield Primaries, Dartford.

News below about: two new build primary academies; Maidstone School of Science and Technology (or rather lack of news!); Castle Community College; Cranbrook School; Chatham Grammar School for Boys; Royal Harbour Academy (not an academy) and the Coastal Academies Trust; and a new 11-14 extension (or is it?) to Leigh University Technical College.  

This article looks across Kent to the key oversubscription and vacancy situations in grammar schools. Main pressure points are in West and North West Kent, led by Dartford Grammar, 226 first choice applications oversubscribed,  followed by the three West Kent super selectives and Dartford Grammar School for Girls. There is then a sharp fall to the next most popular school, Wilmington Grammar School for Boys but still at 49 first choices rejected. At the other end of the scale, ten grammar schools have vacancies on allocation. Medway schools here. 

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Kent has seen an extra 91 net places put into its grammar schools, above the numbers planned for admission this year, and 244 more than in 2015, to meet rising rolls in several areas.

I look at individual schools below, and you will find my previous article on allocations published at the beginning of March here, and for 2015 here. Non-selective schools here.

Note: the initial allocation figures for all Kent secondary schools reports that 3013 children, 18.6% of the total, did not get their first choice school on allocation. This figure is misleading as 1037 of these were children who put grammar schools in first place but had not been found selective and so were ineligible, this becoming an irrelevant choice. They should therefore be deducted from the figures, reducing the figure to some 15% of children overall in Kent who did not get their first legitimate choice, a much lower figure than in many parts of the country. 

Second most popular grammar school was Tonbridge Grammar with 142 first choices turned away, up from 77 in 2015, followed by Dartford Girls’ Grammar with 119, up from 95, again unfortunately with a number of local girls turned away but letting in 65 ooc girls, having increased its capacity by an extra 20 girls, but a much higher proportion of offers made to first choices at 89%. 

The other two grammar schools in Dartford were also both well oversubscribed, although both changed their admission rules last year to give priority to Kent children for most of their places, with Wilmington Grammar Boys turning away 49 first choices and the Girls Grammar 34. The number of out county boys to Wilmington fell sharply from 91 to 32 as a result of the changes, with Wilmington Girls’ fall from 105 to 91. 

It was very pleasing to see that The Judd School in Tonbridge, 97 first choices oversubscribed, has also changed its admission rules to give priority to those living in the locality for all but 20 boys. As a result, the number of Kent children to be admitted is rising to 141 out of 155, up from 114 in 2015. However, the pressure on The Skinners' School in Tunbridge Wells which has no such rules, increased to compensate, with 113 first choices oversubscribed, fourth most popular in Kent and the ooc offers rising to 45 out of county boys from 26 in 2015. Still in West Kent, Weald of Kent Grammar was oversubscribed by 33 grammar qualified first choices, even though it has increased its number of places by 55 to 230 girls, a massive vote of confidence in the school, in preparation for its expansion into the Sevenoaks Annexe next year. The surge in applications to the two Tonbridge girls’ grammars has been very much at the expense of Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Girls, although the latter is still oversubscribed. Tunbridge Wells boys’ is oversubscribed by 12 first choices.

However, one consequence of all this is that I have been contacted by some families in the North Sevenoaks district whose children, although qualified, have no grammar school place allocated, and I am not confident this year they will secure one. 

The myth that all Kent grammar schools are always oversubscribed, regularly quoted to me is definitely not true, with nine of the 32 having vacancies at this time, although many of the empty desks will fill through appeals. The schools with more than 10 spaces are: Maidstone Grammar for Girls (34); Chatham & Clarendon (26); Dover Boys (following a late increase in admission number of 30) (23); Barton Court (19); and Borden (15).

This article looks across Kent to the key oversubscription and vacancy situations in non-selective schools District by District. Thanet with its six schools (after Marlowe Academy was closed last year) is probably the area under most pressure, containing the most oversubscribed school in the county, St George’s CofE Foundation School in Broadstairs, turning away 161 first choices, just 14 spaces in one school, and 113 children allocated to a school not on their list, nearly a quarter of the total Local Authority allocations in Kent. St George’s CofE school in Gravesham comes second being 123 first choices oversubscribed in another pressure District along with Dartford, although successful Grammar school appeals will ease the pressures over the next few months.

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At the other end of the scale, Dover District has a quarter of its spaces vacant and five schools in the county have over a third of their places vacant.

Kent has seen an extra 627 net places put into its non-selective schools, above the numbers planned for admission this year, and 460 more than the final figure in 2015, to meet rising rolls in several areas, biggest expansion being in Tunbridge Wells with an additional 121 places being pumped in.

As a result, the number of pupils offered their first choice rose by 363, and the number being offered none of their four choices fell by 213 children to just 428, the lowest figure for some years. However, this made little difference to the pressure on popular schools which has never been greater.

I look at individual schools below, mixed in with various news items, and you will find my previous article on allocations published at the beginning of March here. You will find an article describing the grammar school situation below, with Medway here. You will find 2015 non-selective data here.

The District sections below describe the picture on allocation day March 1^st. Between now and September, many more places will become available after successful grammar school appeals.

The Leigh Academy Trust is proposing to extend the age range of the Leigh UTC (University Technical College) to cover the age range of 11-14 with the support of KCC, to increase the number of secondary school places available in Dartford. One must applaud any sensible opportunity to ease the pressure on Dartford places, however the proposal raises a number of important questions.

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The plan is to build an 11-14 ‘school’ on vacant land opposite the current premises, called ‘The Inspiration Centre’ to cater for an intake of 120 children from September 2017, also working with Dartford Council to create an adjacent outdoor sports complex for all students (it is not clear if this is exclusively for Leigh Trust students).  The students will follow a normal curriculum before going on the UTC offering with its increased focus on engineering and computer science from Year 10 onward, being joined by up to 30 students from other schools. 

At present the UTC has only attracted just over 50 students for each of its four Year groups, 10-13, with an intake figure of 150, just over one third of capacity, so must be extremely worried about its current viability, given the enormous capital expenditure on the College, supported by industry. It is difficult therefore to accept the Leigh Academy claim that “Plans to expand The Leigh UTC are tremendously exciting. They represent a serious vote of confidence by KCC and DfE in the early success of The UTC”.This proposal of course will resolve the issue in the long term, which must be a great relief to all concerned. The Leigh UTC is not alone in struggling for numbers - see article here. 

However, it destroys the whole point of the concept of UTCs which “are government-funded schools that offer 14–18 year olds a great deal more than traditional schools. They teach students technical and scientific subjects in a whole new way and are educating the inventors, engineers, scientists and technicians of tomorrow”. We now have a traditional school admitting children without any particular aptitudes, at the age of 11, but who at the age of 14 change to a curriculum which “dedicates at least 40% of time to the technical specialism including design and building, working in teams and problem solving”. Gone therefore is the underpinning principle  that students at the age of 14 will be able to choose an education to match their developing aptitudes, as they will find it difficult to opt out of the school given the pressure on places elsewhere. Conversely, whilst the UTC concept is based on that decision making, there will only be 30 places available at that time for students from other schools, which surely must be a matter of dismay for the sponsors: King’s College Hospital NHS Trust; Eurostar; Beck and Politzer; BAE Systems; Dartford BC; and Bluewater. Surely this amounts to a reduction in opportunity, not an expansion.

It is not yet clear how government is going to fund the concept of the Inspiration Centre, even though there is a growing multitude of new options to choose from, as ideas turn into individual initiatives without any consideration as to planning an appropriate range of provision to cater for all in an area. Current newer models include: academies; all through schools (4-19); Free Schools of many different varieties and philosophies; Studio Schools (“pioneering a bold new approach to learning which includes teaching through enterprise projects and real work.”), and UTCs. All these operate alongside the current Community Schools, Foundation Schools, Voluntary Aided Schools and Voluntary Controlled Schools, although of course all these latter categories will be swept away by 2022 as they are academised. The proposed Inspiration Centre is neither school nor UTC, hence perhaps its ambiguous title, so one must assume that government is launching yet another new concept, the slot on Lego model.

The Leigh Academy Trust notes that: “All LAT academies in North West Kent are heavily over-subscribed and have been for many years. It is quite clear that far more parents and children wish to access a ‘Leigh-style’ education than we have places for each year”, and I am one who has applauded their successes. However, it is a fact that Leigh Academy GCSE A-C performance has fallen from 63% to 43% in two years, Longfield Academy from 66% to 52%, and Wilmington Academy from 71% to 46%, surely a matter of great concern. Not surprisingly, in parallel with this the popularity of the three academies has also fallen sharply, so "heavily oversubscribed" is now coming into question. Leigh Academy has slipped every year over the past four years from its heyday of 193 first choices oversubscribed, via 125 in 2015, to just 49 for 2016, and Longfield is down from 91 to 15. Wilmington, which the Leigh Trust rescued from failure a few years ago, peaked last year at 94 first choices oversubscribed following its outstanding GCSE performance in 2013, which encouraged the Trust to put on an extra form of entry this year, is still down to 27. The proposed Inspiration Centre would be able to absorb all those turned away and, assuming it proves popular to fill up from Dartford’s other two schools, Dartford Science and Technology College (girls only), and the controversial Ebbsfleet Academy (but GCSE performance improving rapidly), with just two spare places between them, even though between them they have 40 children allocated by KCC who did not apply to them.

If the Inspiration Centre goes ahead, as surely it will, for it is probably the best chance of easing the pressure on secondary places in Dartford, then nearly three quarters of Dartford secondary places will be run by the Leigh Academy Trust. Whether or not this is a good thing, and in spite of all the questions raised above, the pressing imperative remains that more places need to be provided in North West Kent (with some Gravesham children being redirected to Ebbsfleet because of pressures in that District with just 5 empty spaces), and there may be no other way now, given current government policies.

As always, Dartford Council with its commitment to education in the Borough, as distinct from Gravesham which appears to have no interest in its schools, a pattern I have seen repeated over the past thirty years, is taking yet another positive initiative, in spite of its flaws, to improve the quality of education in the Borough.   

You will find more details of this year’s secondary school allocations here. 

I have covered the unstoppable move by the Thinking Schools Academy Trust (TSAT) to turn Chatham Grammar School for Boys into a co-educational school in previous articles. One thing above many others puzzled me; the decision by Medway Council (Slogan: "Serving You") not to disclose to the people of Medway if it had made objections to a proposal which inevitably will have a serious negative impact on grammar school provision and admissions in Medway. Indeed, the Council turned down my Freedom of Information request on the amazing grounds that  it was not in the Public Interest to disclose their objections. 

Following an Internal Review (complaint) I have now obtained the Medway Council submission, which turns out to be a strong, if overly polite, attack on the proposal. This begs the question of why were they ashamed of critical arguments revealing the problems this proposal will now cause, that should have influenced other respondents to the ‘Consultation'?  Given the strength of these objections was there not a case for marshalling the opposition? You can still only read the full objections here at present, although Medway Council may wish to explain why they are not otherwise available.

I have covered most of the following issues in previous places, but not being aware of other proposals by the Sir Joseph Williamson’s Trust, had not realised full the impact of giving priority for grammar school places to children in primary schools of the two Trusts, which is likely to deprive children in some other Medway primary schools, especially in the Hoo Peninsula and Rainham, of grammar school places in the future. Surely this aspect must now be halted somehow for both Trusts. Medway Council has once again let its residents down appallingly in failing to raise this issue publicly at the right time.

Although I am not aware of it, the question also needs to be asked whether Medway Council itself was informed of the objections, or were Councillors treated with the same contempt as the people of Medway? This is surely another example of the reality that, as a comment below suggests, political power in Medway education lies in the Maidstone Road, where the two Multi-Academy Trusts, TSAT (headed  up by The Rochester Grammar School) and the Williamson Trust, lie.

TSAT's response to the Consultation criticises Medway Council's statistics, but does not actually indicate that they objected to the proposal or provide any further details, choosing to ignore most of the following arguments. Indeed, during a parental consultation meeting they suggest the Council was in favour of the proposal: “In Medway the Council can see the benefit of a co-educational school to absorb both boys and girls”, which may of course have led Medway residents and Councillors to draw a false conclusion. Likewise in the response to the Consultation, there is no reference to what are likely to have been far more strident objections from Medway's secondary schools and others, which include the local Member of Parliament. Unfortunately, any mention of the consultation, apart from the TSAT response, appear to have now been withdrawn from the school website, presumably as it is regarded as historical. You will find the new Admission Policy for September 2017 entrance, here.  

The Council objections in summary are:

You will find the initial Medway Secondary school allocation figures here, showing that 84.3% of Medway children were offered places at their first choice school, with just 2.6%, or 77 children, offered none of their six choices, these being allocated a local school by Medway Council. I have also prepared parallel articles on oversubscription and vacancies for Kent grammar and non-selective schools.  I now have more detailed information showing that the most popular school in Medway by far was Brompton Academy, which turned away 108 first preferences, followed by Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School with 42.

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 The Victory Academy has most vacancies, 110 on allocation, twice as many as the next school, Chatham Grammar Girls’ with 55.

158 of the 197 children from outside Medway taking up places in local schools at this stage come from Kent, with 113 of these taking up places in Medway Grammar schools, 48 at The Rochester Grammar School. 140 of the 142 Medway children going out county are taking up places at Kent schools, mainly non-selective. 

As well as further details below, I look at the implications of these figures on the decision to turn Chatham Grammar School for Boys into a co-educational school from September 2017.

The above figures still understate the pressures on the oversubscribed schools, as a further 190 families put a grammar school in first choice although their children had not passed the Medway Test. Many of these would otherwise have put one of these five schools first on their list. There is of course no advantage in putting a grammar school first in this case, as it makes no difference to a subsequent appeal panel, but neither is there a disadvantage (apart of course from muddying my figures!) as it doesn’t give you any advantage (or disadvantage) when making allocations to non-selective schools.

The Victory Academy (run by TSAT, see below) does not appear to have thrown off the difficult reputation of its predecessor Bishop of Rochester Academy yet, with 110 vacancies which, if one adds in the 6 children allocated by Medway Council who did not apply to the school, adds up to nearly half the total places available. This must be a really worrying figure as at this level financial pressures really bite, money being closely connected to the number of students on roll. When waiting lists and appeals for other more popular schools and grammar schools take their toll, the final intake figure is likely to be even less than last year's 123 children which had seen 46 gain places lost to other more popular schools between allocation and admission in September. Most of the remaining 61 Medway Allocations go to The Robert Napier School and St John Fisher Catholic School, which would otherwise have had 55 and 53 vacancies respectively for their 180 places. The decision not to place more allocations at Victory Academy is an interesting one, especially as two years ago Medway Council was criticised for allocating children to the faith St John Fisher Catholic School, which then sent parents a questionnaire asking them to declare their commitment to the Catholic church!

Non-selective schools across the border into Kent draw 124 Medway children away from local schools,most for geographical reasons, with 39 heading for Holmesdale Technology College, 24 to The Malling School, 22 to Aylesford School or, presumably for religious reasons, 11 to St Simon Stock Catholic School. Just 53 are coming the other way, not surprisingly mainly to the five schools around the Kent/Medway border, the deficit increasing the pressure on the more vulnerable schools.

The Rochester Grammar School is 18 first choices oversubscribed, having increased its PAN by 5 girls to 180. Even so, this is quite a fall in popularity from 2015, when it increased the PAN to 205, and was still 22 girls oversubscribed. However, the cut-off of this super selective school has risen to 18 points above the Medway pass mark of 521. Unless the school is able to increase to seven forms of entry this year which looks unlikely on these numbers, then appeal prospects look low – last year there were just 6 successes, all of whom had passed the Medway Test (another 12 who had passed were turned down).

Fort Pitt Grammar School is well oversubscribed this year, by 17 first choices, having had vacancies for the past two years, but in recent years, appeal chances have been very low, for 2015 entry it was three upheld out of 39. Rainham Mark’s PAN has now settled at 205, 30 places up on a few years ago, leaving it just oversubscribed, but still with a cut-off of 528. Last year there were seven successful appeals.

The increased numbers at The Math, Rainham Mark and Rochester Grammar, have taken a heavy toll on the two Chatham Grammar Schools. Chatham Boys reduced its Pan a few years ago to 120, but has still only recruited 91 boys at this stage, although this is 10 up on the disastrous 2015. If the Math admits an extra form on appeal again most of whom had already passed last year, it will be badly hit again. Chatham Girls has kept its PAN at an unrealistic 142, in spite of a decision last year to restrict final numbers after appeal to three forms of entry. Even so, it has increased its allocation figure by 21 girls to 87, most of whom will stick, so may well encourage appeals for 2016 and go for four forms of entry.

The first of these factors ensures there are 81 vacancies in Medway Grammar schools, all at the two Chathams’, but the true figure is hidden by the large number of Kent children, 113 coming over the border, taking up 13% of the total grammar school places allocated. Another 33 come from elsewhere, mainly the London Boroughs, but I suspect very few of these actually arrive.

Rochester Grammar is taking 48 Kent children and 11 from London. Sir Joseph Williamson’s is taking 20 from Kent, some of whom will be siblings, the rest mainly from the villages bordering the West of Medway. Most of the remainder are going to the two Chatham Grammars, who both accept a Kent Test pass as an alternative means of entry, and Rainham Mark Grammar.

Updated with Government Press Statement

Inspire Special Free School, the only Free School in Medway, based in Chatham, has been placed in Special Measures by OFSTED following an Inspection in January, less than two years after opening. You will find the full headlines of the Report later on in this article. Image may be NSFW.
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 The then struggling Silverbanks Centre, a Pupil Referral Unit, was broken up into two parts in September 2014, following an OFSTED Inspection that failed the Unit, judging it to have Serious Weaknesses. Inspire, which was set up as a Free School strongly supported by Medway Council, and currently catering for 37 children with social, emotional or mental health needs has failed spectacularly, with leadership and management at all levels judged inadequate and a highly qualified governing body not fully understanding the issues faced by these same leaders, nor recognising that the quality of teaching and learning has declined.

Meanwhile, the other half of the erstwhile Centre, The Rowans, which caters for students who have been permanently excluded from school or who are at risk of permanent exclusion, has made a powerful recovery and was judged to be Outstanding by OFSTED last month, in one of the most astounding turn-arounds I can recall. The Rowans remains a Pupil Referral Unit under the control of Medway Council, one of their few institutional successes.

The Inspire Special Free School was set up with every promise of success by: the CEO of the Williamson Trust, a Multi-academy Trust of six schools headed up by Sir Joseph Williamson’s Mathematical School; the CEO of Greenacre Academy Trust, a three school Trust; the Principal of Bradfields School, a local 4-19 Special School; and by Medway Council. The first three of these are appointed governors although their schools do not appear to be formally involved, along with the Secretary of the Council of the University of Kent, and a Parent Governor; a very small governing body of people all with other major responsibilities for a school which promised to be problematic from the start.

At the time, Mike O’Brien, Cabinet Member for Education on Medway Council said: “We submitted an innovative and strong bid – thanks to the work of the three headteachers involved, who all have significant authority in Medway, many years experience in education, and are committed to improving learning for our children. This school will provide a high quality provision for statemented children with emotional and behavioural concerns. A innovation feature (sic) of this proposal is that the Inspire school will work closely in partnership with Medway Council when generally free schools work independently of the local authority. The free school will give some of our most vulnerable children the best start in life.”

Sadly, but not for the first time, he was wrong in nearly every respect, the Report revealing some puzzling anomalies about the running of the school: “Since the school’s formation as a free school, there has been no access for leaders to any external support, other than the visits from the Education Funding Agency adviser. This lack has proved a key element in the school’s declining effectiveness, following an initial period of improvement”.  In other words, the commitment to work closely in partnership with Medway Council, did not happen at all, and leaders had no access to Council support, or indeed to anyone else with expertise in SEN, surely almost criminal neglect, or was it a deliberate policy?

This is a clear warning about the lack of accountability of Free Schools, as has been seen in other parts of the country. Whilst Kent has so far been fortunate in the leadership of its four first Free Schools which have now been inspected and confirmed as Good schools, the only route to resolving problems appears to be direct government intervention - if problems are drawn to their attention. Academisation, otherwise nationalisation of all other state funded schools will bring similar problems in abundance, with as yet no structure to manage what will inevitably be a considerable headache for a new bureaucracy and damage to more children's life chances. 

You will find the school website here, full of platitudes about the high standards you will find in the school, but missing various legal requirements, and very out of date. Sadly the “Principals Welcome” to introduce the school is even grammatically incorrect, and no-one has pointed it out! Not surprisingly, the OFSTED Report has not yet been published on this site. 

 It is difficult to know what to say about this release except it is good to know that the staff care about the children! The school has now passed into the sponsorship of the Parallel Learning Trust, which has renamed it Inspire Academy. The Trust is a new small untested academy Trust currently comprising two London Units for excluded children and is also about to acquire a small Residential Special School in Essex as an academy. A rather bland and uninspiring letter from the new sponsors is included here, introducing a new logo and promising a new uniform, the usual makeover in such cases.  

Meanwhile, the Department for Education is amazingly using this disaster for the children as an opportunity to promote the Free School model

This Press Statement merely confuses the issue, pointing out that the Inspection was a no-notice one, which is usually triggered by a reported emergency Safeguarding issue, rather than initially intended to be a full inspection which is dealt with under the normal Type 5 Inspection process. It is therefore NOT the Department of Education identifying and dealing with failure quickly. Indeed there are far too many other examples already of government failing to identify or to deal with failure in Free Schools and academies until far too late, so to claim the moral high ground in this case is absolutely breathtaking. As a matter of fact, Local Councils DO have the power to identify and deal with failure quickly in Council-run schools; the fact that don't always do so is no different from government inaction. The school statement claims that governors took the initiative to find sponsors, government that it was they! I am delighted to learn that government regards Parallel Learning Trust as a strong new sponsor on the strength of its running two small academy units for less than two years, neither of which has been inspected yet. Faith is touching, but these vulnerable children need more than this.

I completely agree with the government view that  "no parent should have to be content with their child spending a single day in a failing school". So why does government allow so many children to spend too many days in failing academies, many in Kent and Medway, and failing Free Schools? Indeed if the government knew that Inspire was failing why did it leave it until a no-notice inspection reported, having been called for a different reason? No one emerges from this debacle with credit, including government. 

OFSTED has the good teaching policy of highlighting the good points about any school inspected. In the case of Inspire, the only virtue it is able to commend is: "The use of additional adults is a relative strength and helps to improve pupils’ attitudes to learning". Congratulations to the volunteers. 

WHAT A DISGRACE IN PROVISION FOR SOME OF MEDWAY’S MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN.

I think my views on compulsory academisation are clear from comments in articles I have written recently on a variety of topics, as this is a proposal that now appears to pervade everything to do with education in schools. However, I have not yet had opportunity to write at greater length on the issues and consequences for children in Kent and Medway because of other pressures on my time. I did have time to contribute an interview to the new 'Paul on Politics' show on KMTV, which you will find here, including a quite mild excerpt from my views. The Academies Section starts 9 minutes and 15 seconds into the programme........

I have rightly been taken to task by two academy principals who rightly make the point that many academies are doing an excellent job and, I concede that although I don't express a view on the rights and wrongs of academisation as such and I think have not done on this site, I am mostly caught up with schools that do not serve families or their local communities. As a result, I deplore this proposal as an expensive diversion to set up a new centralised bureaucracy with no objective evidence of value in doing so, with too many poor examples of academies in existence, at a time when there are far more pressing issues in schools. One wrote:   

I applaud the sentiment and in fact made this precise point in my interview, arguing that the mixed economy works where it adapts to local needs. I think it is fair to say that the advance of academisation by choice has forced Kent to improve its act considerably, although the fate of Community College Whitstable, Charles Dickens School, Chaucer Technology College, Pent Valley College and The North shows it still does not understand how to deliver for secondary schools. These failures are well documented in this website, along sadly with an equivalent proportion of failing academies. Medway of course, having lost its secondary schools, continues not to have noticed it is also failing in the primary sector and was one of two Local Authorities used by the Secretary for Education to make the case for forced academisation.  You will find an article setting out a personal view of the pros and cons of enforced academisation from a Kent perspective here.   

However, this article was purely about the rush to enforcement and amongst the parts of my interview not seen are my references to the much more pressing problems in state education that urgently need resolving, including: 

1) The teacher and headteacher recruitment and retention crisis that is now on us, with government in denial ("we refuse to be complacent"!). Any number of media stories, including a number on the BBC website confirm the dire situation, especially with retention, with almost four in ten trainee teachers quitting after less than a year in the profession. It has come up with a number of failed schemes such as the Teach First programme - way below its recruitment target, with in any case a high proportion of those joining up leaving the profession as soon as their training is finished. The armed forces into PE teaching initiative with a target of 1000 teachers by 2015, saw just 28 complete their target. The National Teaching Service pilot scheme, planned to recruit a hit squad of top teachers with a target of 1500 teachers by 2020, to deal with pressure points by removing them from other schools, has now closed applications for its first allocation of 100 teachers. We wait to see if the scheme works, but the lack of information for potential candidates suggest another ill thought out half baked idea. Government argues that academisation allows academies to set their own teacher salaries, but as everyone in the profession knows, with the pressures on finances, see below, many schools including academies are laying off expensive staff and employing cheaper teachers or unqualified staff, some using them as cannon fodder on a survive or sink model rather than focus on developing the experienced teachers of the future. There is a similar crisis with headteacher recruitment, with more and more schools coming under the control of fewer and fewer 'superheads', not to improve standards but to disguise the crisis. A recent article in The Times, headed  "Superheads boost results but leave schools in chaos" highlights the failure of the concept, examples of which can be found locally. The Secretary of State, in her wisdom has now announced a scheme to raise standards for teacher qualification through a more challenging process. 

One of government's strongest arguments in favour of enforced academisation is that academies can attract the best teachers by increased pay rates and and improved working conditions outside regulations for maintained schools. If these are such powerful incentives for teachers, why not allow them for all schools, but then of course academies lose part of their attraction! Actually, the freedom is not that at all for most teachers, as the freedom can work both ways, paying less to unqualified teachers and expecting even longer hours and more onerous conditions for teachers. It is true that top teachers can demand higher pay rates, so that many academies see huge salaries for their leaders, which have to paid fro by cuts elsewhere. However, the main argument, which appears rarely used is that this process attracts NO new teachers, just steals them from other schools where there is greater need, lowering standards in these schools!

2) The financial crisis affecting both maintained schools and academies alike, partially brought about by the unfunded National Insurance  and Pensions increases, partly by the reduction in funding for sixth forms, to achieve 'parity' with FE Colleges that have less demands on their curriculum offering and in any case have their own financial difficulties. Redundancy of expensive staff, reduction in the number of courses offered are both commonplace across maintained schools and academies and will only get worse  as the funding cuts bite harder.

3) The primary school assessment chaos, directly caused by the government scrapping National Curriculum Levels and replacing them by an incomprehensible 'scheme' to measure progress and achievement. I am supporting a number of grammar school appeals for parents and am amazed at the variety of data being provided, much of it wildly inconsistent from school to school. I hear of headteachers, Local Authority advisers, even OFSTED  Inspectors professing a lack of understanding and an inability to explain what is going on. I have seen a six point scheme, a 36 point scheme, a colour coded scheme, schemes that have no measures, schemes I cannot make sense of, and school reports and headteacher recommendations that bear little relation to each other, as heads try and put some meaning to an unworkable system. Whilst just a minor part of the fog for most families, those going to grammar school appeals will be assessed by Independent Panels who have to try and make sense of the nonsensical, with no objective measures to work to. I am sure however they will do their best to be fair to the children when making decisions about their futures. With this issue one could link the government claim that academies have the advantage they have more curriculum freedom than maintained schools.Well that is true, but only because government took away that freedom from state schools some years ago when it passed an Act imposing the National curriculum, that has been through far too much radical change reflecting different government takes. I see nothing to stop government reversing this process and giving the same freedom to maintained schools as it does to academies.

4) The scandal of profit making service companies often run by associates of an academy chain leaders, who cream off academy funds intended for the education of children, along with inflated salaries of the bureaucratic leaderships of too many underperforming academy chains. This can also apply to parts of the mushrooming army of consultants employed by academy chains and Local Authorities, drawn out of teaching by the profits to be made elsewhere.  

None of this appears to be important to a government bent on an ideological crusade to convert all schools to a model for which there  is no objective evidence that it will make any conceivable improvement to standards, as reported by the government's own Select Committee for Education.  Kent County Council's political leaders, like many other leading politicians from across the spectrum of the parties are just a part of the national outcry against this foolish dictat.

Not from Kent, but an impassioned plea from a successful primary school headteacher, who has resigned his post unable to continue in an education system he does not believe in. 

Seven new primary school academy proposals; compulsory academisation; two new secondary Free Schools announced on site of Chaucer Technology College and in Thanet; academy takeovers of Community College Whitstable and the Charles Dickens School, Broadstairs; plans unveiled for mixed Sixth Form at Sevenoaks Annex; Hoo Peninsula to become first local area to become academies only, creating a squeeze on secondary school options; failure of Medway’s first Free School - Inspire Special Free School, and other sponsors; proposed new primary academy or free school in Paddock Wood; update on Whitehill Primary School – it has been a busy period…..

Kent County Council will rightly celebrate the primary school allocation figures below, sent out today. For even with an additional 591 Kent children in the system above 2015’s figure, the number of children being offered their first choice school has leapt up by 762 to 87.2% of the total number of applications , a record over at least the past six years. In addition, whilst the number of children offered no school of their choice fell to 606, down by 118, also down for the second consecutive year, to 3.4%, again the lowest figure for at least six years.

Medway Council (Serving You) as usual has sent out an opaque press release on allocation and I have had to best guess the figures in the table below. Although the number of Medway resident applications has increased by just 10 children to 3533, the percentage being offered one of their choices has fallen from 96.4% to less than 96% (historically this suggests 95.75% or lower), whilst the percentage of first choices has remained around the same at around 87.1%, with a slight increase in numbers also around 10 children. However, approximately 150 children with none of their six choices looks to be the highest for many years.

I will publish further details on oversubscription and vacancies at Reception Level and at Junior schools when I receive them in the next few weeks, but you can see a flavour of the situation from my 2015 article on Kent oversubscription and vacancies here, and for Medway here.

The continuation below begins with some advice on next steps if you have not received the school of your choice....

A large number of children are offered places off waiting lists, each 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.

I don’t yet know the details of any temporary enlargements of schools to cater for pressure points in 2016, and there is just one new ‘school’, with the extension of St George’s CofE Foundation School in Broadstairs to take in a primary intake from September (See below). Four other schools are being provided with premises for permanent enlargement: Hextable Primary (Admission Number up from 60 to 90 children); Hoath Primary, Canterbury (up from 9 to 15); Seal Primary (up from 30 to 60), although the school has already had a temporary number of sixty for several years, soaking up the surplus from Sevenoaks; and  Singlewell Primary, Gravesham (up from 30 to 60), the Kent primary with the smallest ‘catchment’ in the county at 322 yards. A permanent expansion includes permanent buildings and will take 7 years to work through.

Unfortunately, I can see little there at present to ease the pressure on those Kent urban areas with most problems last year. As I wrote then: “There appears to be a crisis in provision of primary school places in a number of Kent towns, with Dartford, Folkestone, and Sevenoaks each with NO vacancies in any school on primary school Reception age allocation last month. Ashford, Gravesend/Northfleet, Maidstone, and Tunbridge Wells have 2% vacancies, with Broadstairs/Ramsgate 3%. In addition, rural Sevenoaks also has just 2% vacancies”. 

I am not aware at this stage of any changes in provision in Medway, although with an increase of just 10 children over 2015, the Council may not consider there is a need at present.   

*This also includes what will be a negligible number of 5th and 6th preferences. 

 This table is for appeal Panels organised by KCC. A small number of primary appeals are managed by other organisations. Commentary here. You will find further information here.

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This retirement follows the recent departure of the equally controversial headteacher of Whitehill Primary in Gravesend, and it is reported that both schools have now returned to their previous positive and happy states.......

 The headteacher has been strongly supported by Medway Council throughout the period up until the suspension by governors, even after a cry for help for the school from a group of senior governors to the Council: "Despite our considerable efforts over the course of many months, we no longer believe we can work with the current head teacher to deliver sustainable progress for the school in general and, most importantly, for the children”. However, this was dismissed out of hand by the Cabinet Member, Mr O'Brien, who considered after their subsequent resignation: "The decision by some of the governors is entirely a matter for them”. This was a direct slap in the face for all responsible Medway governors which must have caused many to wonder why they were offering their services - answer, to the children certainly, but not to the unsupportive  Medway Council which to date has not uttered a word of concern about events in the school, even at one stage trying to suggest the resignation was in fact just a matter of short term illness.   

The wording of the letter announcing the "retirement from headship" suggests that the headteacher's departure was agreed,so that no disciplinary action would have followed the suspension. It is usual in such cases, that a settlement will have been agreed, fortunately to fall on Medway Council after its inept handling of the case but then to be shared across all remaining Medway council run schools, so not another burden on the long-suffering Hempstead Junior School. The large number of copies of the retirement letter sent to me pay tribute to the relief felt by so many people concerned. 

This is possibly the last word to be said on the subject, except all that remains is for Mr O'Brien to apologise to the good governors he happily saw the back of as they threatened to rock the boat, and to the school for his failure to look out for its best interests. 

Meanwhile, in Kent, the headteacher of Community College Whitstable is suing KCC in the High Court following claims that the Authority breached her terms of employment after it suspended her!  The problem is in such cases is that from the outside it is not always easy to see where the fault lies when relationships break down irretrievably between some of the various parties responsible for running a school, be it: headteacher, governors, teachers, parents, Local Authority, or Academy Trust. In different cases I have been asked my advice by members of each of the first four groups, happy to provide it if I am able, but learning afresh the complexities of school operation with its multiplicity of stake-holders many with their own agendas.  

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It was only when I alerted parents on this website in January that the school had applied for academy status that many people learned what was going on and I was contacted by concerned staff to ask if it were true......

Opposition to the proposal is now growing rapidly and has clearly been fuelled by the failures of the school to keep parents and staff informed of the decision and its progress, of their handling of the situation, and also of multiple failures to follow procedures. A parental petition against the proposal has attracted over 1000 signatures.   

I have now been sent a comprehensive and convincing document that exposes what appears to be a cover up by the Governing Body to avoid public debate on the issue and numerous examples of malpractice and serious conflict of interest. The sad thing is that reading the Context section of Spires Academy's Response to the Pre-Warning Notice, one can see why Simon Langton has set out to support Spires Academy  for wholly laudable reasons as part of its Community mission, but has gone about it in entirely the wrong way, perhaps driven by government pressure which is ever-present in such situations.   

There has been just one consultation event, on 14^th April, at which the school claimed that that Parents had been informed of the decision in a Newsletter of November 2015, and the information had been on the website. In response to concerns raised at that meeting: “The governors believe that the consultation was well publicised as the newsletters are on the website, as are the letters to parents. An Academy Status section was added to the website for further information at the end of term 4 as well”. As it happens, there is no newsletter for November 2015 published, nor was the email received by some parents, and there was no other mention at all of any discussion about academies in Newsletters or elsewhere when I published my article in January, until it was reported in a consultation document sent out on 15^th March. It was subsequently referred to in the end of term newsletter at Easter, which also referred to the new academies section published on the website at the end of that term. To be fair, there is a full Report of what is clearly a contentious Consultation Meeting now published on the website, including a note that there were only three governors attending (apart from the Head and Chair who presented the case), although this is itself a worrying statement of governor priorities. The Principal of Spires Academy was present as a guest speaker to promote the proposal, although I fail to see the relevance of her attendance or contribution as the two schools are not formally connected.  

Since then there have been three further letters from the headteacher to parents, perhaps attempting to conciliate, but I suspect likely to inflame the protagonists further. The consultation period has now been extended to the 16^th May, and the latest news is that governors have themselves requested a review of procedures by KCC, suggesting they are losing their nerve.

Whilst I only comment on local issues on this website, it is clear that Kent will have played its part in the change of policy, and so I reproduce an excerpt from the article, which provides valuable insight into the working of politics and addresses a number of related matters, below.

The thrust of the white paper is to compel all schools to become Academies by 2022 and diminish the role for local government in the educational world. In establishing whether this policy is a step in the right direction or not, one must look at the evidence and track record of local government’s current significant role in education, supporting and in partnership with all schools up and down this country, raising standards and improving the life outcomes for all our young people.

I say partnership with all schools deliberately because councils have not run schools for many years, a common misconception. Schools of all types have substantial autonomy.  Communities are served by a mixture of different types of schools; Academies, Free schools, Church-Aided and local government Community schools.  

County Councils support 50% of the population in England and have a proud and strong track record in education, delivering an ever increasing number of good and outstanding schools of all shapes, sizes and types. It is worth noting that there is no substantive evidence to suggest that academies out-perform community schools, or vice versa. However, it is essential that all schools work together to support all young people in their communities.

Good councils have a strong track record of delivery in essential support services to pupils, parents and schools. Such as, providing greater choice to parents in selecting a school place, reducing truancy, providing school nurses, safeguarding children, providing special education for special needs children, providing excellent value in the provision and building of new schools and classrooms and finally and most importantly, school improvement services that raise standards and attainment.

The government is suggesting that many of these statutory responsibilities will remain with local government, however it is clear some will be removed. We know school improvement being one of these and there is uncertainty over others, particularly who will be responsible for delivering the building programme of new schools and classrooms?

The billion dollar question is, if not local government, who else? Will it be a step forward? Will it be better, more effective and efficient? 

The government appears to be moving in the direction of empowered Regional Schools Commissioners, covering large geographical areas and by so doing, adding another tier of regional bureaucracy. In my view this will be a massive step backwards. Regional Commissioners cannot possibly have the intimate knowledge and understanding of individual schools so essential in building a strong working relationship.  To date, the centralist tendencies of Whitehall, through their Regional teams in the delivery of new free schools on time and on budget does not make good reading.

High-performing county councils are the friends, not enemies, of Government in achieving their aims of better education for all. The Prime Minister this week was right to praise Conservative council leaders and the quality services that they provide to local residents. This is a record we want to continue to build in the world of education.

I hope that the proposals in the White Paper represent the beginning of a discussion about an evolving set of proposals to improve the education system; one that ruthlessly roots out poor performance, but builds on high performance already within the sector. 

It was therefore encouraging to hear last week Nicky Morgan stating that government is in listening mode and wanting to work closely with local authorities. Alongside a suggestion that schools not currently academies could potentially become a new category of "local authority academy trusts". This is worthy of serious consideration (PETER: and could fit well into KCC policy).

Let us hope that we can find an intelligent way forward that "goes with the grain", plays to local government’s strengths, makes effective and efficient use of public money, delivers change for the better and above all else delivers an improved education system that provides all young people with the very best education and skills to succeed in life.

Six Kent and Medway schools have now been issued with Notices about standards in the year to 25^th March 2016, a disturbing proportion of the 48 Notices issued nationally in that year – hardly an indication of rising standards in Academies. The total number of academies currently stands at 5272. Since my last article in July, which looked at a similarly alarming number of Notices for Kent and Medway schools, four new Notices have been issued. The Gravesend Grammar Schools Academy Trust was issued with a pre-termination notice in November by the Regional Schools Commissioner, in relation to Whitehill Primary School in Gravesham, the second school in the Trust. If it fails to improve or respond appropriately to some tough demands, as set out below, the school will be issued with a Termination Notice, which could lead to the closure of the school. Astor College, Dover, was issued with a Full Warning in December 2015, following its failure to respond properly to a pre-warning the previous year and again has had to answer some tough questioning. Spires Academy in Canterbury was issued with a Pre-Warning Notice in September, especially significant in connection with its relationship with Simon Langton Grammar School. The Future Schools Trust was issued with a pre-warning Notice relating to Cornwallis Academy and New Line Learning Academy, in Maidstone, in November....

Whilst he is in no doubt that academic outcomes are very poor, exacerbated by having Key Stage 2 results annulled for 2014 because of cheating, a pattern that may date back for years, and KS1 results under similar scrutiny, it is evident that he is well aware of the other scandals that have dragged the school down. “The matters on which our conclusions are based are that: 1. The Academy’s provisional results in 2015 show that attainment for pupils is well below expected standards, with just 46% of pupils achieving level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths combined; 2. The Academy’s provisional results in 2015 show that not enough pupils make enough progress in reading with 78% making expected progress; 3. The Academy’s provisional results in 2015 show that not enough pupils make enough progress in writing with just 71% making expected progress; 4. The Academy’s provisional results in 2015 show that not enough pupils make enough progress in maths with just 71% making expected progress. The Secretary of State and I are therefore satisfied that the standards of performance at Whitehill Primary School are unacceptably low. Please respond to me within fifteen working days from the date of this letter, outlining the actions that you will be taking to remedy the matters identified above”.

However, the crunch comes in the final two sentences: “I would also like to receive a report from the Company which outlines your analysis of how standards at the Academy were allowed to fall to an unacceptably low standard and a prevention plan to ensure that the standards of performance will never fall to this level in the future.”

Up until that point, the Trust was apparently supportive of the Executive Headteacher, in spite of overwhelming evidence of the problems, but shortly before receipt of this letter she took leave of absence and has since left the school. No doubt the Trust is truly sorry about all the children, families and teachers that have suffered at the school in recent years.

New Line Learning Academy opened in 2007, replacing two persistently failing schools, and  moved into new premises in 2010, has never taken off and has intermittently been the least popular and lowest performing Maidstone secondary school through its whole existence, being once again nearly half empty on secondary school allocation in March 2015, and likely to lose still more students after grammar school appeals take place. 

I have now received a school by school breakdown of Reception and Junior school allocations for Kent for September 2016. As last year, these show a sharp contrast between pressure on spaces in urban districts and those in more rural areas. The multitude of local pressures focused on the towns see the biggest problems this year coming in Sevenoaks, no empty spaces, Maidstone, one space, Gravesham, three, and Tunbridge Wells seven, each in just one school.  Then come Ashford, Faversham and Tonbridge, each with two per cent of their places empty. Contrast this with Ashford’s rural areas, with 16% of empty spaces, and Shepway with 15%.

The most popular schools vary considerably year on year, 2016 being no exception, the top ten being: Fleetdown Primary, Dartford, and Loose Primary, Maidstone both turning away 53 first choices; Great Chart, Ashford, 41; Holy Trinity and St John’s CofE, Margate, 38; St Joseph’s RC in Northfleet, Sandgate in Folkestone (last year’s most oversubscribed school) and  Claremont in Tunbridge Wells all on 37; St Michael’s CofE Infant in Maidstone, 35, St Crispin’s Infant on 34; and Herne Infant on 33. Just five of these schools were in the top ten last year, with Loose more than doubling the number of disappointed families as it recovers from several difficult years.

You will find more information and a fuller District breakdown below, along with a section on Junior Schools at the foot of the article. I will as usual publish a similar article on Medway Primary schools as soon as possible but am still waiting for some data.....

You will find further information on individual schools (mainly OFSTED) here, performance here, and general here. 

There is an increase of 472 in the number of places available in Kent Reception Classes from 2015 including, as with last year, a large number of temporary places created to ease pressure points. The overall effect has been to retain the county vacancy rate at 6%, just inside KCC’s target of 5-10%, but with a welcome increased proportion of children gaining their choice of school, as explained here  and performance here. 

At the other end of the scale to the pressures described above, the new Ramsgate Free School has 75% of its 60 places empty, half of the fourteen schools with 50% or more vacancies being academies or Free Schools, several of these being recently opened in areas where new housing will soon ensure they are filled. KCC carries out a rolling Commissioning Plan that 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!  

I would encourage parents to apply to go on the waiting list for any of their preferences that have not been offered, as there will be movement over the next four months. This is your best chance of getting a school of your choice, as chances at appeal are generally very low because of Infant Class Legislation. For 2015 entry, of 426 primary appeals registered where Infant Class Legislation applied (the overwhelming majority), just 2 were upheld.

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 rise in 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.

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.

The Districts are:

Page 2 - Ashford; Canterbury (including Whitstable and Herne Bay); Cranbrook; Dartford; 

Page 3 – Dover, Deal & Sandwich; Gravesham; Maidstone; Malling (including Kings Hill)

Page 4 -Sevenoaks; Shepway (including Folkestone and Hythe); Swale (including Favesham and Sheppey); Swanley

Page 5 -Thanet; Tonbridge;Tunbridge Wells; Junior Schools

In rural areas, the two most popular schools are the highly successful Challock Primary and Lady Joanna Thornhill, in Wye, with 13 and 12 first choices turned away respectively, as families are happy to travel distances to what they perceive as the best schools. Otherwise there are no problems in the rural hinterland, with the highest proportion of empty spaces in the county at 16%.

Along the coast, there are increasing problems in Herne Bay as a result of new building development, with Hampton Primary having soared in popularity since becoming an academy, turning away 30 first choices for its 120 places, even though an additional 30 were added in 2014. Herne CofE Infants turned away 33 first choices for its 90 places, some of the surplus being picked up by Herne Bay Infants which is now full, so there are no vacancies in the town.  The only two schools along the coastline with empty spaces are Reculver, which appears to have some Herne Bay children allocated, and St Mary’s Catholic in Whitstable.

Every child in Deal and Sandwich’s 19 schools was offered one of their choices, with no significant oversubscription in any school, 13% vacancies overall.

Each year I am contacted by parents offered absurd alternatives as they have no school of their choice, often from Northfleet, given schools the other side of the Borough at Tymberwood or Whitehill, or else over the A2 and into the countryside at Istead Rise. Such a pity that KCC refused to put in a new school in Northfleet when it had the funding opportunity a few years back. Gravesham is an area attracting incomers and they often have a torrid time getting a manageable school, last year including one moving into Higham offered Istead Rise, a journey by road of 8 miles, not possible by public transport, so a taxi was to be provided. There will be further grief ahead for 2016 as more families move into the area.

The Gravesham villages are a little better, with two of the seven schools having vacancies, Istead Rise, which has had a terrible history in recent years, and Vigo in the far south tip of the Borough. Cobham, Outstanding OFSTED, is the only seriously oversubscribed school rejecting 30 first choices.

Jubilee Primary Free School appears to be struggling, having been allowed to admit 60 pupils in 2015 when Planning permission did not apply, but has been reduced to 30 by the Council this year, although just 7 first choices were turned away. Clearly it is not going to take off until it has good permanent premises which at present do not appear to be on the horizon.

Just outside the town, Loose is one of the two most oversubscribed primary schools in the County, with 53 first choices turned down, many being attracted from South Maidstone. The school has clearly having recovered from a difficult time a few years ago when some parents were removing their children from the school. Boughton Monchelsea turning away 21 first choices and East Farleigh 12 are the other seriously oversubscribed schools, with seven of the 20 schools having vacancies. The new Langley Park Primary currently has 22 offers for its 60 places in its first year of operation, but this state will not last as the building development it is built to serve grows. The pressure on places can be seen from the 13 Local Authority allocations made to the school, with some children who will need to be bussed or taxied from the other side of town.

Out in the country, which stretches to the north and West of Sevenoaks town, there is still considerable pressure with just 5 of the 23 schools having vacancies, most at Seal (recently doubled in size to an intake of 60, to pick up the overspill from Sevenoaks), half empty for 2016, and Edenbridge, 27 empty places. However, there are just two schools with rejected first choices in double figures, Fawkham – 18, and Chiddingstone – 17.

Plenty of places across Hythe, Romney Marsh and  the rest of the District, a total of 15%, second highest in the County, most at Brenzett (Special Measures), with 70% of its spaces vacant. The only significantly oversubscribed school is St Augustine’s RC, Hythe, turning away 10 first choices.

In Faversham, just five places left in Bysing Wood Primary out of the eight primary schools, which also had four of the five children allocated by KCC. Pressure on places is such that KCC considered expanding the school earlier in the year, but decided against it, possibly because of its lack of popularity. However, Ethelbert Road, OFSTED Outstanding, was the only school heavily oversubscribed turning away 27 disappointed first choices.