As I have pointed out previously, the Council did not have the right to refuse places on the waiting list, as Holcombe Grammar School is the legal Admission Authority, and so able to make such decisions.  By delegating operation of the waiting list to Medway it temporarily gave up that power. According to the letter, when Holcombe learned only yesterday that Medway was intransigent it decided to take back control of its waiting list and place the boys on it.

I have long maintained that all Medway schools should do the same, with academies able to as a right, and I hope this lesson will be learned by others.

I must confess on what I had seen previously, my assumption was that the sticking point was Holcombe Grammar School, because of the sequence of apparent events outlined in my previous articles, together with the extended silence from the school (awful public relations again).

The good news for at least some of these families is that it is likely most, if not all, of the 28 London boys awarded places on allocation will be looking for appropriate schools nearer their home as a preference and there will inevitably be some movement as a result. I know from enquiries I have received, asking about the school, that some boys who were allocated to the school have never visited Holcombe or even Chatham, or knew anything about it when they applied!

One has to ask why Medway Council have refused to budge, against the school‘s wishes, when it did not even have the legal right to do so. It certainly was not in the interests of local children, as so often in issues about Medway Council, and as described previously on this website.

Too often since its take over by Thinking Schools Academy Trust I have been highly critical of decision making at Holcombe Grammar. However, in this case my criticism is just that they have left the matter so late in the school year, rather than forcing it earlier. As a result places falling vacant before now will also have been taken up by London families, rather than those local boys who are now qualified. 

Last year, Kent taxpayers paid for 15,937 children to take the Kent Test, from a total of 16,766 who registered. Of these, 4,832 were from outside the county (with some late applicants in addition). 2735 of these passed the Kent Test with just 456 being allocated places in a Kent grammar school, over half to the four Dartford schools, setting up waves that follow right through to Sittingbourne, as seen in my recent articles about Holcombe Grammar in Chatham. Contrary to some views expressed, grammar schools make no financial contribution to the Test, the cost of Test Centres,  or of administration. 

I applaud the four Kent grammar schools that have changed their admission criteria to give priority to local children in this selective authority, which broadly aims to provide grammar school places for 25% of its own school population, so that a large influx of oocs inevitably reduces opportunity in the affected areas. 

Some correspondents take exception to my usage of the term ‘11+ M25 tourists’ which aptly describes families who apply to grammar schools all round the M25 ring, from Sutton, up to Enfield and round to Kent, often 'just for practice'. For some reason they have been proud to post this on the Forum over the years. Pity the poor child who is heavily coached for multiple tests, and then transported long distances to places across South East England s/he has never visited to take tests for grammar schools s/he knows nothing about, often 'just for practice'.

The Kent contributor has made  17 postings on this one topic, mainly derogatory about KCC, and some very lengthy, also a common theme in her postings in other sections. None of these apply to her as, living on the edge of Kent on the border with Surrey, she will have a very limited perspective and a wider range of opportunities than most, so a mystery as to motive. 

The problem is actually worse in Buckinghamshire, with a posting noting: ‘In 2017, 1393 children from Greater London took the Bucks test, and precisely 13 of them went on to receive a place at a Bucks grammar, all siblings of existing pupils. 1380 children tested for absolutely no purpose or reward, but even when faced with these facts, parents don't withdraw their child from testing’. How ridiculous!

I have no problem with families seeking the best opportunity for their children, but they must appreciate that shouting about it can cause considerable grief to those whose children miss out on local grammar school places as a consequence, or else make wrong decisions on the basis of what they have read on this Forum (it happens!). 

I believe the term ‘collateral damage’ used by politicians to dehumanise war-time civilian casualties is entirely appropriate for such victims of schools without a proper moral compass.

Invicta Grammar, as an academy technically directly accountable to Department for Education through the SE Regional Schools Commissioner, should have been dealt with equally firmly. I challenged the DfE on the matter, but was told it would be up to case law to determine the matter, and there the matter rested until I was contacted by St Olave’s parents and advised them to take legal advice.

Since my exposure of the issue, numbers of students leaving after Year 12 in Kent and Medway grammar schools dropped sharply for 2017, the St Olave’s case showing it had not been widely accepted elsewhere. I am confident it was also happening in non-selective schools, although this is impossible to pin down using census data (my technique before students started contacting me individually), as many students would be leaving anyway at the end of Year 12, after following one-year courses.

 I have spoken and corresponded with many of the Invicta Grammar victims of the collateral damage as Invicta relentlessly pursued its target of excellence for its A Level grades, featured in all its literature. You will find some of their testimonies as comments at the foot of the original article. The fact that it has also has one of lowest staying on levels into the Sixth Form of any grammar school in Kent is another indicator that all is not well.

There is of course also a wider issue, the overall lack of accountability to the Regional Schools Commissioner and DfE. These argue that Ofsted and academic performance are sufficient to monitor most issues, but failures such as this and other exclusion and Home Education matters, financial irregularities, meltdown between Ofsted, or in the large gaps that exist between checks for new academies or change of ownership, the negative consequences of what I call Tough Love – with its own built in collateral damage, etc, etc, show they are not!

Try my articles on Lilac Sky, Turner Schools, Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy, SchoolsCompany, Holcombe Grammar School, the Williamson Trust, Invicta Grammar, Ebbsfleet Academy, Failure to provide appropriate non-selective provision in Tunbridge Wells, Medway UTC, Knole Academy, Swale Academies Trust, to see too many failures to take action. Please note that several of these items have links to multiple articles as stories unfold.

 My challenge was  reported as: 'The objection is that the school arrangements do not comply with the Code in respect of the oversubscription criteria that give priority to siblings or to children of staff in any school in the multi academy trust'.

Brompton Academy is the most oversubscribed non-selective school in Medway and second most popular school taking Kent into account, turning away 193 first choices this year, with very few children being awarded places on appeal, so there is a tight geographical ring of offers around the school. As a result, fairness in school admissions is critical. The school is in an Academy Trust with Chatham Grammar School for Girls, which is usually undersubscribed for its 142 places and as a result admits a large number of out of county girls annually. 

The proposal for school arrangements was that the Admission Criteria should include the two sections:

My objections were that this would allow siblings of girls and children of staff at Chatham Girls Grammar who may live miles away to have priority over local girls, both of which breached the Schools Admission Code. 

Whilst the Schools Adjudicator agreed with me on both parts, he did not need to rule as Brompton Academy withdrew both, returning to the previous lawful criteria allowing preference to siblings and children of staff at Brompton Academy only.  

As an addition, the Adjudicator recorded that 'The Code says in paragraph 1.39 that priority may be given to children of staff where “the member of staff has been employed at the school for two or more years', (not the Academy Trust), and the time limit in this was not mentioned by Brompton Academy. This will also need to be changed. I await decisions on the other three schools: Fort Pitt Grammar; Holcombe Grammar; and The Rochester Grammar. 

The school has recently taken over the Charles Dickens School in Broadstairs as a Sponsored Academy and is also sponsoring a new secondary Free School on the old Chaucer School site. It is also in the process of a major building scheme on the school site, to cater for its recent expansion to an intake of 150 pupils. It clearly feels capable of taking on new challenges, although it faces its own issues, including a surplus of girls’ grammar places in the town, losing a quarter of its Year 11 pupils before the Sixth Form on a regular basis, one of the highest grammar school drop out rates in Kent, with more going at the end of Year 12.

There is no doubt an annexe would be popular with families in Herne Bay and Whitstable, but the children would be mainly drawn from Barton Court main school itself, and Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar, Simon Langton Boys being heavily oversubscribed. This would weaken both schools as there is no overall shortage of grammar places in the District.  This is a very different picture from that at Weald of Kent Grammar, where there were always additional girls who would be able to fill up the new places created by the Annexe. The 2017 October census notes that both Weald of Kent main school and its annexe are full in Year Seven. 

I believe the term ‘collateral damage’ used by politicians to dehumanise war-time civilian casualties is entirely appropriate for such victims of schools without a proper moral compass.

Invicta Grammar, as an academy technically directly accountable to Department for Education through the SE Regional Schools Commissioner, should have been dealt with equally firmly. I challenged the DfE on the matter, but was told it would be up to case law to determine the matter, and there the matter rested until I was contacted by St Olave’s parents and advised them to take legal advice.

Since my exposure of the issue, numbers of students leaving after Year 12 in Kent and Medway grammar schools dropped sharply for 2017, the St Olave’s case showing it had not been widely accepted elsewhere. I am confident it was also happening in non-selective schools, although this is impossible to pin down using census data (my technique before students started contacting me individually), as many students would be leaving anyway at the end of Year 12, after following one-year courses.

 I have spoken and corresponded with many of the Invicta Grammar victims of the collateral damage as Invicta relentlessly pursued its target of excellence for its A Level grades, featured in all its literature. You will find some of their testimonies as comments at the foot of the original article. The fact that it has also has one of lowest staying on levels into the Sixth Form of any grammar school in Kent is another indicator that all is not well.

There is of course also a wider issue, the overall lack of accountability to the Regional Schools Commissioner and DfE. These argue that Ofsted and academic performance are sufficient to monitor most issues, but failures such as this and other exclusion and Home Education matters, financial irregularities, meltdown between Ofsted, or in the large gaps that exist between checks for new academies or change of ownership, the negative consequences of what I call Tough Love – with its own built in collateral damage, etc, etc, show they are not!

Try my articles on Lilac Sky, Turner Schools, Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy, SchoolsCompany, Holcombe Grammar School, the Williamson Trust, Invicta Grammar, Ebbsfleet Academy, Failure to provide appropriate non-selective provision in Tunbridge Wells, Medway UTC, Knole Academy, Swale Academies Trust, to see too many failures to take action. Please note that several of these items have links to multiple articles as stories unfold.

I also have reports of a fourth school in serious difficulties, in Medway, but need more information to go ahead with confidence that may be difficult over the summer holiday. 

The other I know of was appointed at Christmas to the well performing and happy Fairview Primary School. Mrs Faye Rider arrived in January from her post as Head of School at an Ofsted Outstanding school in Walthamstow, determined to make a difference. Sadly there were soon large and important staff resignations, and a change in culture including tough discipline and setting by ability that went down badly. It is reported that the headteacher had little understanding of how an LA school worked. Concerns were raised with me in April and, by the second week of the new term, letters home to parents were being signed by the Deputy Head. She became Acting Head at the start of Term 6, although no explanation appears to have been forthcoming but the school has confirmed to me that Mrs Rider left before the end of term.

Tunbury Primary School, Walderslade, Kent

Although this school is in Walderslade, Chatham, north of the M2, it is situated in Kent Local Authority rather than Medway. This is another school where I have received concerns from staff and parents over a period of time about the robust style of the headteacher since her appointment at the beginning of 2013. She took over from a highly respected headteacher, Mrs Heather Brown. Such an appointment is always difficult, and a high rate of staff turnover can be necessary to move a school on, but even Ofsted clearly had concerns by the end of the year, although still finding the school ‘Good’ on a short Inspection: ‘You have an unwavering commitment to making sure that the quality of teaching and learning is good despite the many changes of staff and difficulties in recruiting permanent teachers. Senior leaders closely monitor the quality of teaching and learning and offer support and guidance if your high expectations are not met. Rapid improvement is expected and rigorous performance management targets are set for staff’. Also:  ‘You are acutely aware, however, of the concerns about leadership and management expressed by a number of parents. You acknowledge that you have not yet secured the confidence of these parents. Parents also, understandably, have concerns about the number of different teachers some classes have had. Your high expectations for the quality of teaching are partly, but not exclusively, a reason for many of the changes in staffing’.

Both quotes are indicative of a style driven by pressure to deliver high performance. It is of course one of the reasons for high teacher turnover as teachers who see the profession as a vocation cease to feel valued. I do believe that such pressures, often leading to low morale in a school, play a greater factor than teacher pay in the high number of teachers walking away from the profession.

Miss McIntosh is clearly well regarded by those that matter, being a Kent Leader of Education supporting schools in difficulty, and an Ofsted Inspector. However, the summer term saw her absent from school for a considerable period, including a critical time when the school was flooded, and then returning for a short period in July before being suspended or sent on 'Gardening Leave', along with her Deputy. 

Not surprisingly the other local school, Walderslade Primary is the second most oversubscribed in Medway.

After a previous long period of stability and high standards, most recently under headteacher Llew Jones, who retired around 2001, the school was subject to repeated failure and a high turnover of headteachers, including seven in the past five years. The school rapidly fell into Serious Weaknesses (Ofsted 2003), the first of three failed Ofsteds, interspersed with several inadequate Monitoring Inspections., including one after the most recent ‘Requires Improvement’ last year. Twice there have been plans to expand this failing school to ease pressure on places in Northfleet, in spite of KCC principles that only Good or Outstanding schools should be enlarged. Both have been cancelled because of perceived but false insufficient demand, leaving Northfleet families struggling to find places, most recently this year. As a result some Northfleet families have been taxied across to East Gravesend schools as there were no vacancies locally. I have written up the problems a number of times over the past seven years, most recently here. In the meantime Ofsted has repeatedly highlighted a large turnover of teachers: 2016 ‘Each year, a large number of new teachers join the school but do not stay’; ‘Eleven new teachers took up post in September 2017’. The Ofsted Monitoring Inspection of October under most recent Head, Kevin Holmes, appointed May 2017 was critical of the leadership and oversight of Reach2, the Academy Trust which took over the school in 2013: ‘The school is not improving quickly enough. In a period of significant turbulence in staffing and leadership, standards have fallen further in all key stages since the previous inspection’; ‘’Now approaching four years since the school re-opened as an academy, by its own admission the trust has still not been successful in securing a good quality of education for pupils’.

Now Mr Holmes, who also recently had a spell running the disastrous Istead Rise Primary another school with an appalling record, and described as an experienced head by Ofsted, left suddenly without notice or explanation in June. The school is now run by Paul Voural, Associate School Leader for Reach2, whose own previous headship appears to have had its difficulties.

There were no reception class vacancies at all in Northfleet this year apart from a fruitless expansion of 30 places at Copperfield, with the school receiving 11 Local Authority Allocations to top its numbers up to 60, the only local school not full of children who had chosen it. In the meantime, nearby Cecil Road Primary, whose previous head was removed just over three years ago, has flourished to become one of the most oversubscribed schools in Kent as parents try and avoid Copperfield.

The £200,000 investment by the Goldsmiths Livery Company was featured in a previous article last year, and has already seen a boost in mathematics performance in the three schools. As part of the initiative they have to work on community engagement as well as inside the schools.

I talked with many of those who visited the exhibition, which included a mathematics trail, and displays of the work carried out over the previous week. The most common comment was along the lines of 'I didn't know they did that in primary schools' as visitors looked at problem solving and other more advanced concepts, also being entertained by singing and dance groups.    

I must declare my interest in that I was a previous governor at both Kings Farm and Whitehill Infant School, the latter before it joined with the Junior School. I remain active in support of Kings Farm, and celebrated with them, its recent Good Ofsted Inspection Report.

Photographs courtesy of Kent Messenger Group

firstly KCC’s setting up its own commercial business to provide services to academies and other schools. 

The second item was a story about Dane Court Grammar planning some classes of 60 pupils to meet financial pressures, and presumably teacher shortages. Hardly surprising in my view, schools are currently under immense pressure from both these issues and indeed many of the new build PFI schools were built to deliberately cater for this idea, using one teacher, supported by Teacher Assistants. Is it a good idea? Fortunately, I am not the one who has to balance the books at a time of dwindling funds.

A further, unsuccessful, complaint to the Ombudsman about the Kent policy was by a parent aggrieved at seeing her child moved down the waiting list as a result of this decision. The Ombudsman’s Report, published in July 2012 clarified the position. In summary:‘The Council was not at fault in adding to a grammar school waiting list a number of children whose appeals, on the grounds of academic ability, were upheld by the Independent Appeal Panel’.A key section is ‘It is for the Council to decide whether to place a child on the waiting list for the school. It has decided to place on the list all those children who have been found to be of the right level of academic ability, either because they passed the eleven plus test or on appeal. The Appeal Code requires the Panel to decide on academic ability when this is the reason for the appeal. So, in placing more children on the waiting list the Council is taking account of the Appeal Panel’s decisions. The Panel itself does not decide on the waiting list’. The regulations have not changed in principle since then, although they were ‘thinned out in 2012. Although this case was for a Local Authority School, one can replace the word ‘Council’ by ‘Academy’ where appropriate, as the latter becomes the lawful Admission Authority.

Current Situation

In summary, it is down to the Admission Authority as to whether the school will add pupils found selective by an Appeal Panel to the waiting list or not. In the case of Local Authority schools, the Council is the Admission Authority. In the case of Academy Trusts, Free Schools, Foundation Schools and Voluntary Aided Schools it is the school itself, or the Academy Trust. All Kent grammar schools that use a KCC Appeal Panel follow this principle, as do all other Kent grammar schools I am aware of. The situation in Medway is different, as explained below.

I have been delighted with the number of my Telephone Consultation clients and other families who have told me this year of their success via this route, following the recent re-allocation of places.

Please note that any decision by an Appeal Panel to find a child judged non-selective by the Kent selection process, as being of grammar school ability, is not transferable to any other school. Also, no child should be awarded a place via the waiting list until the number of places offered has fallen back to below the Planned Admission Number (the number of places offered on allocation in March). However, some schools will ignore this stricture and award additional places according to the waiting list criteria. They may not change the order when allocating places. 

Holcombe Grammar has been served well for a number of years by an Independent Appeal organisation that operates across a number of grammar and non-selective schools in Kent and Medway. However, for 2018 the organisation withdrew from the school in March, which then engaged another Panel operated by KCC. I have previously expressed my views on the operation of the 2018 appeals process, but this article takes the story on.

Warning: What follows is a long and unbelievably convoluted story. In summary, parents of boys who were found of grammar school ability by the Appeal Panel, but not offered places because the school was full, still do not know (29^th June) if they are to be allowed on the waiting list. This follows various differing messages from Medway Council (but nothing from the school which is the Admission Authority). The situation of London boys qualified through the Kent Test, who went to appeal for a place but were unsuccessful, is also unclear; both situations depending on alternative readings of the Council’s own Co-ordinated Scheme for Admissions which the council has misread. The article finishes with fresh information about the apparently misleading Case for the School submitted to the Appeal hearings.

The Admission process to Holcombe Grammar (and Chatham Grammar Girls) is complicated by an alternative qualification for admission is a pass in the Kent Test. The two are counted as of equal importance. Boys who took but have not passed the Kent Test are entitled to apply for admission and then go to appeal. 

To continue: 

The email records that 'In accordance to Medway Council’s Co-ordinated Scheme for Secondary Admissions, a child cannot be considered on the waiting list for a Medway grammar school if they have not been assessed as grammar through the Medway Test/Review process'. This is untrue and dishonest. The actual and authorised wording in the 2019 scheme (the one for 2018 appears to have been removed from the Medway Council website!) reads: 'The only exception is that a child cannot be considered on the waiting list for a Medway grammar school if they have not been assessed as selective (grammar)'. The Council appears to have deliberately added in the words 'through the Medway Test/Review process' in its letter to cut out children found of selective ability by an Appeal Panel and also those found selective via the Kent Test, and so such children are eligible to be added to the waiting list, which should be the end of the story. 

However, the reality of this response is that Mr Bassan wrote in the written Case for the School:  'Any score around the 100 mark, (50th percentile) indicates average'. I find it incredible (although this is Holcombe) that someone can prepare such a response without bothering to check what Mr Bassan actually wrote before denying it. Or was it simply they don't care? I think I understand the meaning of the final sentence. The fact that the question does not help to determine the ability of the child without an explanation of the standardisation process adds nothing.

As you might expect, I am taking this further.

Families who wish to complain about the school's actions need to prove both maladministration and injustice to the Education and Skills Funding Agency. However, whilst there are several examples here of possible grounds for complaint, I have to warn that it is very difficult to achieve success. 

firstly KCC’s setting up its own commercial business to provide services to academies and other schools. 

The second item was a story about Dane Court Grammar planning some classes of 60 pupils to meet financial pressures, and presumably teacher shortages. Hardly surprising in my view, schools are currently under immense pressure from both these issues and indeed many of the new build PFI schools were built to deliberately cater for this idea, using one teacher, supported by Teacher Assistants. Is it a good idea? Fortunately, I am not the one who has to balance the books at a time of dwindling funds.

Oddly under the new Principal's Welcome one could never guess the school had changed ownership from a troubled school just a few months ago, as he talks about its heavenly ethos where all is wonderful. It even contains positive quotes from the Ofsted of May 2016, selecting from a generally negative Report about Corelli College, but without acknowledging they are nothing to do with the new incarnation of Halley College or of Leigh Academy Trust. 

With the school being subsequently the second worst GCSE performer in Greenwich in 2017 in both Progress8 and Attainment8 and in financial difficulties, the Regional Schools Commissioner appears to have acted very quickly in re-brokering it, certainly compared for example to SchoolsCompany, Lilac Sky and more recently Future Schools Trust. The school is now overseen by David Millar, Executive Head, who is also responsible for Stationers' Crown Woods Academy which has been with Leigh Academy since 2013. Mr Millar moved suddenly from a short period in his previous post as Principal of the troubled Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey in 2016. 

Update: The comment below from a well informed source highlights the issue. The recent takeover of the Williamson Trust should cause the Trustees of the Sir Joseph Williamson's Charitable Trust to be cautious. Whilst independent of the Academy Trust, it is a wealthy charity and in 2017 donated £244,677 to The Math (and £200 to Rochester Grammar School), surely making it the wealthiest state school in Kent and Medway. There are of course many ways to shift funds around between an Academy Trust's schools!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

From Private Eye, June 2018

ACADEMY SCHOOLS

Greenwich lean time

The Department for Education repeatedly reassures opponents of academies that school land is not being given away on an enormous scale - yet a rebrokering deal in Greenwich has seen taxpayers shell out £1.5m this year to settle a "disputed interest" in school land.

The former Kidbrooke School became an academy in 2011, changing its name to Corelli College. It was run by Corelli College Co-operative Academy Trust (CCCAT), a standalone academy, with no sponsor. Christine Grice, one of Greenwich's ruling Labour councillors, was a governor of the trust.

Minutes from 2011 show that land and buildings were to be transferred to the school on a 125-year lease at a peppercorn rent and that "safeguards provide for the land to be returned to the local authority if the school is discontinued". The minutes also note that "matters to be resolved" include whether disused tennis courts, a plot of land next to the school entrance and a manager's house should be included in the lease or retained by the council.

Alas, these matters were not resolved. No formal lease was ever signed.

In 2016 Corelli College was given a "requires improvement" rating by Ofsted, and by 2017 it had a significant deficit. In May 2017 the regional schools commissioner brought in Leigh Academy Trust (LAT), a multi-academy trust running 16 other schools, to take over.LAT checked out the school and promptly asked for £500,000 from Greenwich for essential health and safety work. This was agreed in January as a grant "in recognition of ' the retention of land and premises manager's' house", which would definitely be excluded from the lease this time around.

In February, however, another report to the leader of Greenwich council sought agreement to pay LAT a further "£ 1m settlement in respect of a disputed interest in land". According to that report, the school will now get a five-year licence to use the house and land but they are not to be included in the long lease. The report says the house and the plot next to the entrance are valued at £lm for residential purposes (thanks to London housing prices) and that selling the sites is a possibility in future.

"Further negotiations will risk delay to the school receiving permanent leadership and could potentially lead to the school being without a sponsor, both of which could have a detrimental impact on children's learning," said the report.

When Cllr Spencer Drury queried why the land had not just reverted to the council when CCCAT was disbanded, he was told that a change in sponsor was not the same as a school being discontinued (Peter: although Ofsted describes the school as 'closed'). Nevertheless, it seems baffling that Greenwich is paying a trust a £500,000 grant and a £lm settlement over land it wasn't supposed to give away in the first place.

The school has now transferred to Leigh Academy Trust and been re-renamed the Halley Academy.

For the overwhelming majority of candidates who attend Kent schools, the Test is set in their own school, at no additional cost to the Authority.

This article is a continuation of a previous one entitled Kent Test: Out of County Applications looking at the more general issues.

I don’t have any data for the 1063 Medway Test out of county candidates, just 185 of whom were offered places, but it is reasonable to assume it is of the same order.

In my view this is an unfair charge on the home Local Authorities of Kent and Medway, but can see no way in which these costs can be recovered.

The interview took place, with permission, in the splendid grounds of the thriving and oversubscribed Malling School, much changed from the struggling institution of a few years ago and showing what can be done under strong leadership without academisation.

The core of the GCSE change is to focus on a single written examination at the end of Year Eleven, which is of greater difficulty than in previous years. In order to achieve the slightly higher pass rate this summer at 66.9% of entries at the new Grade 4 or above, of course the pass marks are lowered, making any claim for higher standards a logical nonsense.

The BBC sets out a clear description of the new grade structure here, the 6 pass grades instead of four introducing a false precision. However, more confusing is the splitting of the previous widely understood pass grade C into two, Levels 4 (standard pass) and 5 (strong pass). Not surprisingly, organisations: schools; colleges; training providers; and employers are split as to which of these to take as minimum level.

The so called ‘English Baccalaureate’ gives priority in league tables to pupils taking: English language and literature; maths; at least a double science; history or geography; and a language. This totals seven subjects and as a result there is a decline in subjects not in the lists such as technology, arts subjects, music, and languages. This seeks to take on the prestige of the term ‘Baccalaureate’ which generally refers to qualifications with a wide spread of subjects, especially at Sixth Form Level. However, the English Baccalaureate is actually the converse, forcing many English pupils to make unduly restrictive choices and by squeezing out vocational subjects is making the curriculum less palatable of the less academic pupil.

Sadly, academic opportunities at 16 plus are also shrinking as schools come under pressure to achieve higher A Level performance and so many grammar and non-selective schools are raising their entry requirements in terms of GCSE performance.

In addition, financial pressures are causing schools to cut down on the number of A Level options, or in the case of some non-selective schools scrapping them completely. Three of the four Kent FE Colleges have already abolished all A Level courses, the fourth, the Hadlow Group offering just 14 A Levels at its West Kent site in Tonbridge, although just half of these are mainstream academic subjects.

I could continue in this vein for much longer; but just a few points.

1. A government requirement is that all young people continue their education up to the age of 18, either full-time in schools and college, or through apprenticeships and other work and training options. Full details here. However, as noted above, opportunities are decreasing and the government's apprenticeship drive is failing to deliver numbers of placements.
2. The UK has possible the fiercest external examination scheme in Europe at the end of compulsory education at 16+, with many countries focusing their attention on performance at 18+.
3. For too many schools, the obsession with GCSE league table performance now means that pupils start their GCSE courses at the beginning of Year Nine for what is officially a two year course. This mean pupils have to cut out important aspects of their education, especially when combined with the Baccalaureate.
4. We won’t know the breakdown of GCSE performance for individual schools until publication of the Provisional Results on 31^st October, early individual press releases often presenting a distorted picture.
5. I don’t normally report on A Level outcomes, as these are so dependent upon the required starting point for A Level courses.

It is very common for admission to Sixth Form courses, especially for grammar schools, to consist of conditional offers based on projected GCSE scores from the current school. It is my opinion that this is an unlawful procedure as it does not follow the School Admissions Code, Section 2.6, page 22. It is certainly not objective as required by the Code.  However, challenging this is fraught with difficulties and any appeal is unlikely to be settled before the end of Term 1, by which time the student will be way behind on the curriculum even if the appeal is upheld.

Closing dates for applications are often set as early as January in Year Eleven, so that students with unexpectedly high or low GCSE scores may have limited if any opportunities to change their planned pathway.

One recent example of illegal manipulation of sixth form offers occurred at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls where I secured an Ombudsman ruling against the school last year. Amazingly, the proposed oversubscription criteria for 2019-20 remain illegal on a variety of fronts, primarily that there are different academic criteria for external and internal applicants, explicitly contrary to the School Admissions Code. Unfortunately, it is now too late to challenge this. The criteria for entrance to the Sixth Form this September are not published and so should be unchanged, following those of the flawed 2017-18 rules. Instead,  there is a wholly inadequate set of rules published on the school website that do not even cover oversubscription criteria.

Whilst MGGS is surely one of the worst culprits in using illegal admission criteria for its sixth form, sadly it is surely not alone.

For 2017, the grammar school losing most pupils was the Harvey Grammar with 6%, followed by Invicta Grammar with 3%. For 2018, Harvey was one of five with 2% of pupils lost.

The key date is the January census in Year 11, as pupils leaving after this time are still counted in the GCSE statistics, so there is not such a strong incentive for schools to see them leave. For 2017, I have both sets of data, showing that in some schools, another 2% of the pupil roll leaves in the run up to GCSE. 2018 GCSE results will enable me to update this figure. You will find the 2015-16 Kent figures here, looking in particular at High Weald Academy with its 19% figure, the highest in the county, and a special look at the tactics applied by Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey, which show no sign of weakening after yet another new Principal has been appointed, as identified here. 

Note: M = Medway school

I am unable at present to draw a firm conclusion as to why so many pupils leave as I am awaiting 2018 data from Kent and Medway. However, my previous article looks at the evidence for 2017, revealing very high figures for families ‘choosing’ Extended Home Education (EHE) for their children from certain schools, with oral evidence of some being encouraged to leave from OAIOS,  and very high permanent exclusion figures for Medway schools. There are also considerable numbers of children who simply disappear from schools without trace.

Medway UTCis clearly a disaster area as explained in an article I wrote in May which also looked at the failures of the UTC concept in general. With pupils only joining the school in Year 10,  they have found a very poor school as set out in great detail by Ofsted and so it appears that up to a quarter of pupils have clearly realised their mistakes, with many presumably returning to their previous schools.

I have also looked at Ebbsfleet, Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppeyand Hartsdown in an article called ‘Tough Love Academies’ and elsewhere, showing how they operate a pressured environment that sees pupils unable to cope being withdrawn, often with nowhere else to go, so they ‘opt’ for EHE, certainly in the case of Sheppey with active encouragement from the school. Another about the Brook Learning Trust also looks at Ebbsfleet, along with High Weald Academy.

Both New Line Learning and Cornwallis Academies have been struggling for some years, as I have also recorded, to the extent that the Academy Trust which ran them is being taken over next month by the Every Child, Every Day Academy Trust, which has recently been supporting both schools. It is fair to point out that both schools, along with Hartsdown, suffer from having part of their intake being somewhat mobile in the first place.

Orchards Academy with the highest losses leading up to the 2017 GCSEs, also features in an earlier article, which highlights that school as one of the top performers at Progress 8, the key GCSE measure, in 2017. Losing 17% of the cohort no doubt helped! Another top performer was the controversial Duke of York’s Royal Military Academy, which lost 10% in 2017. However, in its capacity as a Boarding School primarily for military families, this fall could either be for families moving on for service reasons, or else removing their children from the school because of the controversies. Surprisingly, the consistently highest non-selective GCSE performer, Bennett Diocesan Memorial School, had next highest losses at 6%.

St John Fisher Roman Catholic School in Medway is surely the least popular school in the Authority with 58 Local Authority Allocations this year. This means there are many families taking up places at the school who don’t want to be there, a factor also affecting Ebbsfleet (67), Hartsdown (85), OAIOS (70), and Victory (41, highest Non-Selective Progress 8 performance at GCSE in Medway).

Please note that I have limited data from Medway Council who have resisted providing the relevant information. They have recently been found guilty of refusing to provide data to me, by the Information Commissioner. In spite of instructions from the Commissioner, the Council has failed to provide the data I have provided.

Grammar schools in England's largest selective local authority have been accused by their own council leader of lowering entry standards to boost income.

Paul Carter, Conservative leader of Kent county council, said that some selective schools had dropped the test scores required by pupils to gain admis­sion after reforms enabled grammar schools to expand. This risks weaken­ing the specialist purpose of grammar schools and is damaging to non-select­ive schools near by, he said.

Mr Carter said that Kent had always intended that its grammar schools should provide specialist teaching for about 25 per cent of the brightest child­ren. This proportion stands at 31.8 per cent and has risen by 2.1 percentage points since 2012, when the govern­ment allowed popular schools to expand and encouraged schools to become academies, which control their own admissions.

"Many now set their own pass rate and will fill the school up no matter what," Mr Carter said. "If you were a "governor of a grammar school and every pupil that comes along is [worth] nearly £5,000 you want to try and fill the grammar school up and have full forms of entry. The tendency now is to set a pass rate that fills the grammar school. I think you have got to be careful that you don't dilute the specialism of grammar schools, which are there to provide a learning environment for the highly academic students."

He did not identify individual schools but said that the problem was more concentrated in the eastern half of Kent rather than in areas such as Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, where selective schools are in demand from families in Sussex and London boroughs.

Grammar schools in east Kent, which includes Canterbury, Thanet and Swale, have the lowest proportion of 11-year-old children attending but this has risen from 25.2 per cent in 2012 to 26.3 per cent last year, according to the authority's data. 

In May the government announced a £50 million fund to create more places at selective schools. An analysis by The Times of the proportion of pupils atten­ding grammar schools in all-selective counties found that this fell in areas with high population growth, such as Slough and Trafford, but has risen in Medway, Southend-on-Sea, Torbay, Sutton and Wirral, as well as Kent.

"Many now set their own pass rate and will fill the school up no matter what." I disagree with this statement. There is a standard pass rate, fixed so that with Head Teacher Assessment there is a target of 25% of the population passing, which has been maintained for many years. The seven oversubscribed super selective and partially super-selective grammar schools set a pass score to select their Planned Admission Number, which is invariably well above the county pass rate. The four grammar schools in Dover and Folkestone and two other girls grammars  all recruit to the county standard but also have an alternative test to enable pupils to qualify. In the case of the Dover and Folkestone schools, and indeed some others in East Kent where there is high social deprivation this enables more pupils on Pupil Premium to qualify in line with county policy. About a quarter of Kent's grammar schools have vacancies on allocation in March every year, all following Kent's pass policy scrupulously. Half of these were in Maidstone and Ashford. 

There is indeed a problem in the West of the county, where grammar schools are under siege from out of county families. My article identifies the three main reasons for more than 25% of places in Kent schools being taken up by grammar school pupils: school appeals (the largest factor); some grammar schools setting their own tests; and pressures from out of county pupils. The quoted proportional rise in East Kent is actually lower than that in the rest of the county.

The comment by Jim Skinner is  completely wrong, as he surely knows, being head of a grammar school near to Kent. As already noted, a quarter of Kent's grammar schools had vacancies for September 2018 after allocation in March. Another seven turned away fewer than 10 first choices. The 6.3% increase in official grammar school places has failed to keep pace with the overall rise in population of 12%. 

I cannot see the Kent Test changing in character unless legislation forces it to. The government proposal to limit future expansion of grammar schools to those offering increased opportunities for pupils receiving pupil premium would surely be wrong if it offered differential standard pass rates. I have no sense of further grammar schools seeking to set their own tests amongst those with vacancies. 

The number of pupils withdrawn from OAIS for Home Education hit a record number for schools across Kent for many years, of 44 in 2016-17, Mr Cavadino’s first year in post. This is more than double the 20 of the previous year in his less than illustrious predecessor’s also short term of office.

The school has made maximum use of the Swale Inclusion Centre, designed as a short term respite for pupils at risk of exclusion with 27 placements, second highest of any school in Kent (just below another Tough Love Academy), although some pupils are transferred there permanently, and as a consequence do not appear in the school GCSE statistics. Other Year 11 pupils were sent home early last summer for compulsory ‘study leave’ well before GCSE to enable the school to focus on those who can do well, which is effectively unlawful exclusion.

Reports of unchecked bullying continue to be rife, with the victims (not the bullies) sometimes being transferred between the two sites of the school in an attempt to resolve the issue.

Academically, the previous Principal forecast great things in the summer of 2016, as he was leaving, but which never came to fruition. In a letter to parents about Mr Cavadino’s sudden departure, the Oasis Trust praises the ‘climb’ in GCSE Progress 8 Grades, which is to ‘below average’. Oddly it doesn’t mention the parallel Attainment 8 Grades, also one of the lowest in Kent. Ironically, GCSE performance has been consistently worse than since the most recent pre-Oasis headteacher (David Day), who  achieved the best results ever, was sacked by Oasis in 2013, his reputation being trampled on by his successor.  

A letter to parents from the Oasis Regional Director sent on the first day of term explains how Mr Cavadino had a short illness but on his return to work had several meetings her. Then, and apparently at no notice, in the interests of the Academy and his family he decided to step down and take on a class teaching role in Oasis Academy Croydon, as his passion is to be in the classroom with his students. I am not sure how many families will agree with the Regional Director about his ‘characteristic care and compassion for all of our young people’, given the above, but no doubt this operates best at a classroom level. However, by coincidence this was the only virtue the Academy Trust could find about him in a press release that I had to fight for the following day, presumably prepared as a response to my question.  This rather suggests this was the agreed teerm in the confidentiality agreement that would have been signed on his departure. 

After his predecessor's sudden departure, local M.P. Gordon Henderson was quoted as having been ‘reassured the school would be able to find a good replacement and improve further in the future’.  In the end, the Oasis Trust could  apparently find no suitable external candidate and Mr Cavadino, then Vice-Principal of the already struggling and controversial OAIS, was appointed presumably as a new broom. What a pity. Sadly, Mr Henderson does not appear to be aware of the many issues that festered under Mr Cavadino's leadership being quoted as saying:'I was sorry to hear John has left the Oasis Academy because I had a lot of time for him. The school desperately needs stability and I had hoped he would provide it'. Has he really not been listening to his constituents who have complained bitterly to him about Mr Cavadino, but reportedly received little support. I accept that he did not need to take notice of my own letter to him outlining a catalogue of serious issues sent in June 2017, but it would be good for him to acknowledge publicly the damage inflicted on pupil's education and careers by the academy and its leaders.   

The Academy has now announced that 'We are delighted that Ms Lee (current Associate Principal) has accepted our offer to become Interim Principal of the Academy. Already an integral part of the senior leadership team....'. This may come as a reassurance to parents. However, the leadership of Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey has clearly become a poisoned chalice, as its seeks a sixth Principal since academisation in ten years. However the school's failures stretch back many years before this (I was headhunted in 1984, but wisely turned it down!).    

This short, brutal removal is characteristic for the departure of many Academy Principals and senior staff who have disappointed their leaders, whether rightly or wrongly, and appears to pay little attention to employment legislation, presumably being covered by pay-offs and confidentiality agreements.

This article looks primarily at the most recent very significant Ofsted Report, as I have commented extensively on aspects of the school before, most recently here.

It is frankly  impossible to reconcile the 2018 Report with the previous one in 2014, or indeed the one for 2011 before the school became an academy which was also ‘Good’.

There is no doubt the most recent Ofsted Report appears to set out to damn the previous leadership of the school, although exceptionally it makes no reference at all to the very positive 2014 Inspection. That described a school very different from the one now painted as existing before the current headteacher was appointed just two years later.

“From his first day of term in September 2016 the headteacher did not shy away from describing the school as it was. To pupils, staff and parents he laid bare its major educational weaknesses. These included well-below-average progress in all years, weak teaching, and GCSE results in the bottom 10% of all schools, along with poor attendance and behaviour. The headteacher has taken effective action to turn the school around. However, some parents and staff have found some of the changes he has made unpalatable and unsettling”. Coincidentally, this is an approach also used in the other two ‘Tough Love’ academies, which have seen a parallel sharp fall in parental choices. At Hartsdown, the number of first choices has almost exactly halved from 99 in 2014 to 51 in 2018.

There is little doubt that Hartsdown is the most socially disadvantaged school in Kent, and the Report does not mince its words about the problems.

‘In 2017, only 15% of all pupils attained a pass (grade 4) in English and mathematics. Pupils’ progress was well below the national average. There are many entwined reasons behind these very low GCSE results. The previous poor teaching, an unsuitable curriculum and other factors such as pupils’ low attendance contributed to this. Pupils’ standards on entry to Hartsdown are well below the national average. When the present Year 7 pupils arrived, the great majority of them had reading ages below those typical for their age, and poor skills in mathematics. A very high proportion of pupils are vulnerable and/or disadvantaged. An above-average number of them leave and enter the school after Year 7. All these factors inhibit progress and, in the past, have had a negative impact on the school’s GCSE results. In recent years the proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased to at least one-third of Year 11 in 2017. Often, these pupils do not speak English on arrival or have not experienced formal education. With very low starting points and poor attendance, these pupils’ progress is well below that of other pupils’. 

Amongst the current strengths relating primarily to academic progress, are that: ‘Pupils’ reading is improving rapidly as they now have regular, intensive practice sessions - Pupils in Years 7 and 8 are making increasingly good progress, having only experienced the school under its new good leadership. Progress overall is improving from a very low base -The headteacher has a demonstrable commitment to ensuring that all pupils, irrespective of their backgrounds, achieve as well as they can. He has the full support of the trust and its executive headteacher - Underpinning the headteacher’s drive to turn around the school is a loyal and hardworking senior leadership team whose members now know exactly what they are responsible for. Some are new to their roles but all enthusiastically promote the school’s values of ‘scholarship, teamwork, resilience, integrity, vision and excellence’; Teaching has improved. The majority of subject leaders and teachers are enthusiastic, and have welcomed training which has developed their teaching skills’. (selection of comments).

Leadership and Management are unsurprisingly found to be good. All the other four main aspects Require Improvement: Quality of Teaching, Learning and Assessment; Personal Development, Behaviour and Welfare; Outcomes for Pupils; and 16-19 Study Programmes.

With regard to the Sixth Form of just 39 pupils, all Year 12 were on a course during the Inspection, and few Year 13 lessons. The Report manages to be very positive, with no criticism at all, but the Sixth Form still Requires Improvement!

The Report reflects the enormous fund of goodwill for the school to improve, especially from the Coastal Academies Trust which sponsors the school. As for Governors: ‘Board members bring considerable wisdom and relevant experience, in finance, education and personnel, to their deliberations. They know very well how much further the school has to go to be valued and appreciated by the entire school community’.

There is still a massive task needed to win back that community with a lukewarm assessment of communications: Senior leaders take some steps to keep in touch with parents. They provide some information in the languages which some families speak at home. Parents are encouraged to attend meetings with the headteacher. Nevertheless, the very small number of responses and comments written by parents are very mixed. While some parents praise the headteacher’s good work, others have less confidence in the leadership of the school. Pupils’ responses were equally mixed.

An academic study from the University of Kent pays tribute to Hartsdown Academy's work with newly-arrived unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children at the school, which is to be applauded. Unfortunately, there is a downside to this in that publicly known expertise with children who have been disadvantaged in some way (a more common example is children with SEN)  can and has been accompanied by a fall in popularity amongst mainstream families and the school suffers  a cycle of decline in take up which Hartsdown is already experiencing. 

2018 GCSE results will be an important milestone for the school, especially Progress 8 which shows how far pupils have travelled. These children are amongst the most vulnerable children in the county; and if this approach works as Ofsted clearly thinks it will, then that will be wonderful news. However, sadly good works amongst those who have had the worst experiences imaginable do not work as a marketing tool, however much they impress Ofsted.  

I am clearly not qualified to make my own first hand assessment of the work of the academy, being neither Inspector, current educationalist, nor having any personal experience of such a situation. As such, I rely on the wide variety of data available together with valued opinions offered, to come to my personal conclusions. The people of Margate desperately and rightly need Hartsdown to become a good school by any measure. I sincerely hope this turns out to be the way to do it, even though it appears wrapped up in the personality of Matthew Tate, the Principal, and still sits very uncomfortably with me.

Given the nature of much of the good work now being carried out by Hartsdown is there a case for it receiving some sort of special status to protect this?

Mr Achilleos continues to run SchoolsCompany, ‘a specialist educational consultancy, training and school management company’ which helps ‘a wide range of schools and the education public sector to improve the quality of their services’, which will no doubt have provided services for the Trust schools. I first wrote about SchoolsCompany as long ago as April 2014, but looked at it in more detail the following month. This was after it helped take the school, then called Castle Community College, from Outstanding to Special Measures in less than three years. At that time SchoolsCompany was under a four year contract with KCC to deliver the Kent Challenge programme of helping underperforming schools, although it did precisely the reverse and was given the school as a Sponsored Academy for a reward.

An indication of the level of financial incompetence of the Trust can be seen in a Financial Notice to Improve issued last October. The next set of Company Accounts is due next month, and with new Chief Executive, Angela Barry, now in charge they should make interesting reading, given her track record of demolishing the now defunct Lilac Sky Academy Trust in a parallel Report in 2015, and exposing its profit taking.

I would anticipate that another Academy Trust will now take over Goodwin Academy, with its shiny new premises and plenty of potential, although crippling financial debts.

Meanwhile Mr Achilleos will no doubt carry on with other financial ventures, including his most recent, the Royal Academy for Construction and Fabrication in Nigeria.

 You will find the equivalent article and data for 2017 here; a preliminary article here; and the parallel Kent article here - which also records a second fall in pupil numbers.

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 2017 entry, of 66 registered Primary appeals organised by Medway Council where Infant Class Legislation applied (the overwhelming majority), just one was upheld. 

Note: the abbreviation LAAC refers to a child placed by Medway Council at a school they have not applied to, as all their own choices are full. PAN refers to the Planned Admission Number of the school.

You will find the equivalent article and data for 2017 here; a preliminary article here; and the parallel Kent article here - which also records a second fall in pupil numbers.

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 2017 entry, of 66 registered Primary appeals organised by Medway Council where Infant Class Legislation applied (the overwhelming majority), just one was upheld.

Nine of the 19 schools had vacancies. Highest figure at 42% empty spaces is Oaklands Primary, possibly still shrugging off a difficult history. This is more than double the percentage empty in 2017. However, the school’s recent Good Ofsted Report, too late in February to affect admissions is highly complimentary, including: ‘In 2017, the percentages of pupils attaining both expected and higher levels at the end of key stage 2 national assessments in reading, writing and mathematics were above those seen nationally. This represented strong progress from their starting points’ (as in 2016).Some of the 95 Chatham families who did not get their first choices elsewhere could do worse than look at this school. Altogether 33 children were awarded none of their choices and became LAACs.

Next comes Lordswood with 38% of its places empty, not having fared well under the Griffin Academy Trust since conversion (see also subsequent articles on this site). Then two schools on 37%. First is Luton Infants, Ofsted Requires Improvement, with 13 LAACs, but opens up to the Ofsted Outstanding Luton Juniors. Second, surprisingly is St Mary’s Island, CofE Aided that decided to increase its PAN to 90, above the published figure of 60, although it had only just filled in 2017, then only attracted 57 pupils. No other school had more than nine empty spaces.

Seven of the 12 schools have vacancies, most at Twydall with 40% of places empty, still scarred by its failed Ofsted four years ago, and a subsequent controversial headship (now departed)- one of the few from the Medway Council initiative to bring successful London teachers into the Authority as heads. Three of the other four schools with over 20% empty spaces suffer from a difficult Ofsted history, Napier with repeated ‘Requires Improvement’, and Oasis Skinner Street and Saxon Way, both Special Measures under Medway Council control but now ‘Good’ as academies. The fourth, Featherby Infant probably suffers from having its partner Junior School in Special Measures.

The most oversubscribed school is the Ofsted Outstanding Cliffe Woods Primary with 12 first choices turned away for its 60 places.

Six of the nine schools have vacancies, most at Deanwood and Meirs Court, both with a third of their places empty, both with Good Ofsteds.

Riverside Primary was expanded by 30 places to 60 in total, all but six having been taken up.

One oddity is the situation at the former Delce Infant and Junior schools. Delce Juniors was an Ofsted Good School, until it became an academy but was found to Require Improvement last year, with particular criticism being made of the Trust governance. For some reason the school chose to admit children at Reception age in 2017, putting an extra 30 places into the system, in competition with the Infant School and presumably to undermine it. Currently, this strategy is proving a failure with just 9 children choosing the school; another 3 being made up by LAACs (out of a total of 5 LAACs) resulting in 60% vacancies. Meanwhile the Crest Infant School (presumably it had to change its name to avoid confusion) admitted 54 children, there not being enough across the two schools to fill the original PAN of 90 in Delce Infants.

The only significantly oversubscribed school is St William of Perth Catholic, turning away 16 first choices. Last years second most popular school in Medway has seen its oversubscription level fall from 29 to 8 disappointed first choices.

Not surprisingly, Elaine Primary School, taken away from the Williamson Trust after poor performance, has the highest proportion of vacancies, with 42% of its 50 places unfilled. Next, with 27% empty spaces come Cedar Children’s Academy, with a difficult history, and Halling Primary, the vacancies in this popular school created after it raised its PAN from 40 to 60, attracting 44 pupils.