Over the years, Medway Council school allocation statistics regularly quote the most generous interpretation of any number (‘over’ and ‘nearly’ being words to maximise a variation of less than 0.5), so it would be remarkable if they had changed practice for 2019.

Up to 2017 the proportion of successful first and second preference applications were quoted separately, but for my 2018 Medway article I had to obtain the full information  via a subsequent FOI. The skimpy 2019 data still shows there is an apparent surge in unhappiness from 4.4% of families receiving no school of their choice to a percentage more than twice as large, at some 9.5%. As a result, I am already receiving a larger than usual number of enquiries from some of these families. 

I will be publishing a detailed analysis of the data when I receive further details, but you may wish to look at the detailed Kent release to see the stark contrast in attitude of the two Councils towards the release of data.  

This rise in ability level is surely going to exacerbate the difficulties in changing the admission criteria completely for 2020 admission, when the school eliminates any high scoring requirement. I have written a previous article explaining the changes, which have now been finalised, the new (ridiculously overcomplicated and badly set out) oversubscription rules being here.   

So what next? If you are not awarded the school of your choice, then certainly go on the waiting list for every school you have applied for and still wish to consider. You have the right to appeal to any and every school for which you have been turned down. My article on 2018 appeals should be taken as guidance only, with a breakdown of each individual Medway school here. You will also find plenty of free advice in the appeals sections of this website at: Medway Grammar Appeals;  Kent Grammar Appeals; and Oversubscription Appeals. There is also copious grammar school appeal advice on the 11 plus Exams website, although it is not Medway specific and in any case often written for out of county candidates who have different expectations and perceptions, so be careful. 

Obviously, you should talk to your primary school who should be able to offer advice and, if you are not sure of the school to which you have been allocated, ask for another visit, which is likely to be as an individual rather than with the crowd who were there on Open Day. 

 You also have the option of making a late application for a fresh school. Unfortunately, Medway operates a very centralised convoluted process in contrast to Kent's simple system. As a result, parents and I often find it difficult to pin down a shifting procedure especially with late grammar school applications, the Admission Booklet being of limited assistance. The phrase ‘at the discretion of the Student Services Management Team’ is used too often in discussion.However, every year we see a considerable ‘churning’ effect as children take up places off the waiting lists, as children win appeals at higher preferences, and some unhappy families remove themselves from the state system, so don't lose hope! 

I regret I have retired from my Personal Appeals Service, having been the only Kent and Medway appeals specialist  operating I am afraid. I still offer a Telephone Advisory Service which provides an initial hard-nosed information and advisory assessment and advice. 

The Trust's closure was forced in 2016, when government tired of its activities, having provided it with extensive additional funding including £122,414 from the ESFA to stabilise its finances, with one of its nine primary schools in Kent and Sussex, being awarded a grant of an additional £507,546 in financial support.  None of this helped, and the verdict from the Trust's own August 2016  Annual Report and Financial Statements was that: 'The Lilac Sky Schools Trust is carrying a net deficit of £1,329,631 on these funds because: The Trust incurred extortionate and expensive Founder/ substantive CEO consultancy  costs for 232 days at a net cost of £217,500 along with other high cost support services, central  Trust  staffing  costs that  were far higher than average,  the cost of  settlement  agreements  (contractual  and non-contractual) paid to staff who were immediately appointed as consultants by the company and recharged to the Trust, minimal value for money procedures and a lack of competitive tendering'. Now look back at the justification by Mr Beeson (the Averre comes and goes) of those actions in the light of these facts and those below. Mr Beeson's explanation suggests he is not aware of the condemnation of financial activity produced by the new management of the Trust after he left/was forced out. 

You will find my analysis below of the 'progress' of the four companies at the heart of the Lilac Sky empire. 

My recording of the sins of LSSAT began when it came apparent that  with the open support of KCC it was financially ripping off a troubled school sending it spiralling further downwards. One of the key articles was here, which provided powerful evidence that LSSAT was failing its schools, financially benefitting to a  gross extent, all being championed by KCC and its Head of Education, who accused me of making false allegations, but although when challenged for evidence never replied or withdrew the false accusations. 

I can find nowhere any acknowledgement by KCC or LSSAT of their failures to show due care for the children under their care, who are always the victims of such abuse of power. For those who think the failures are now dead and buried, look at the subsequent fates of some of these schools, such as Knockhall Academy, Martello Primary and  Morehall Primary!  The Lilac Sky Companies appear to have hoovered up money from LSSAT and other sources, so it should be a surprise to learn that they have all financially failed, unless the money has somehow been extracted from them. LSSAT was uniquely identified in the Department for Education Annual Report  for 2016-17 as accounting for nearly half of the cash losses to schools nationally at £537,000. Mr Averre Beeson is quoted in the TES some years ago, as being in favour of 'run for profit' schools. 

I do not propose to reiterate my exposé of the sins of Lilac Sky further as they are covered in great detail elsewhere (follow the links), except to mention the sad story of Virgo Fidelis Preparatory School, a small flourishing private girls primary school which had the misfortune to come into contact with Lilac Sky who bought it out. Needing to get way from the by then toxic Lilac Sky brand, its name and the that of the company were changed to trade on the virtues of Henriette Le Forestier, a Frenchwoman who founded a Catholic movement dedicated to the shelter and education of orphan girls, some way removed from the aims of Lilac Sky! You will find details of the the Employment Tribunal that awarded large sums  to employees of the school after it went bust seven months following its take over by Lilac Sky here.  Presumably as the company had been dissolved, the taxpayer became responsible for their losses.   

LS is short for Lilac Sky throughout

* but also traded as Education 101 Outstanding Services from 1st September 2016, not a registered company, and whose website has now disappeared. 

Most recent Abbreviated Unaudited Accounts for Lilac Sky Schools Ltd, August 2015 show dividends of £76,500 paid to Mr Averre Beeson (£200,430 in 2014), and the company was owed £150,740 by Mr Averre-Beeeson (£148, 531 in 2014). No subsequent accounts were lodged.  

Liquidators of Henriette Le Forestiere Statement of Affairs to April 2017 shows unpaid creditors totalling £917,000, including back pay for employees.

Most recent Abbreviated Unaudited Accounts  for Lilac Sky Outstanding Services in 2015 show a loan to Mr Averre-Beeson of £180,521.  No subsequent accounts were lodged. 

 *Most recent Unaudited Financial Statements August 2016  show an advance to Mr Averre-Beeson of £245,438 sole director, which was more than the total assets at that time, but there is no record of them being repaid.. 

 Education 101 Ltd, set up in November 2017, and dissolved in February this year never filed accounts, although very active. Its website has now been taken over by the Trevor Beeson site, with much of the same outdated information and news, together with linked email addresses. 

Turner Schools has already been awarded a previous £100,000 sum from the same source in 2016-17, on the basis that it was taking on two new schools (Folkestone academy and Turner Free School) in the following year, even though Shepway does not appear in the list of priority areas for funding at that time. Although there appear to be no fresh published rules for 2019 starts, the original criteria would suggest that Turner Schools is being considered for further expansion, in spite of its appalling record! The current DfE view is that: “Applications for the Multi Academy Trust Development and Improvement Fund were considered through a robust process and funding and was awarded to trusts that provided sufficient evidence in relation to the assessment criteria.The Multi Academy Trust Development and Improvement Funding has enabled the Turner Schools Trust to accelerate the pace of school improvements ."(Schoolsweek). It is obviously unfortunate that all the assessment measures, such as the falling GCSE performance, soaring exclusion levels, sharply declining pupil rolls (notably Year  7 and Year 12) show school decline rather than improvement. 

It would appear that Turner Schools has the clout to attract largesse out of all proportion to performance, ahead of so many worthy and financally struggling establishments without such influence. Presumably in time this disproportionate investment will see the tide turn and signs of improvement appear, which will indeed show that with much greater resources any school can flourish.  As observed by Professor Lygo, Chairman of Turner Schools: 'Jo Saxton and her team have also worked extremely hard to bring in additional funding to Turner Schools with the explicit aim of this funding supporting all four schools. The additional funding Jo personally applied for amounts to over half a million pounds, and comes from a combination of government grants as well as charitable donations'  

Jo Saxton, who has considerable high level experience in curriculum matters, now plans to focus on it, being the original reason she took on the Turner Schools post (we learn for the first time), being freed up from other strategic responsibilities by Mr Murphy. She wants Turner Schools to be known for its expertise in what is frequently posited as an academic subject based curriculum, although there is little mention of this aim in the numerous previous extravagant claims and quotes cited by the Trust. It is surely questionable that a highly paid CEO technically responsible for strategic oversight now has such a narrow focus.

The letter defines the Turner Schools latest mission, it being difficult to keep up with the number of versions. The previous version was: The Trust’s mission, ‘sea-change’, envisages contributing to the next phase of the regeneration of the area and overcoming disadvantage by running schools where children thrive and knowledge matters. The change of direction follows the poor recent performance of the Trust’s schools since it took on responsibility, especially at Folkestone Academy which appears to have declined on all measures. The Trust’s solution since September has been to blame everything on the previous management. A classic example was when I recently exposed the exclusion record of Folkestone Academy (1211 fixed term exclusions in 2017-18, 400 more than any other school in Kent), and Martello Primary (second highest in Kent) on new ‘high expectations for behaviour’, completely contradicting previous assertions such as that exclusion indicates 'Behaviours that lead to exclusions happen when students perceive there to be no limits and no expectations and no rules.'

It actually sounds peripheral to the running of a small well ordered Trust, which causes one to wonder what the Regional Schools Commissioner saw in the appointment when he approved it, unless either there are new schools in the pipeline  or else Turner Schools is well connected.

Perhaps surprisingly, when one opens the Home page of the Turner Schools website, there is just one article on show, a TES profile dating back to November 2018, of Dr Saxton, mainly her life and career and philosophy. Surely the introduction to Turner Schools should be about those schools, not just one person!

I make no claims to have inspectorial skills and so rarely visit schools, but to my eye this is a school to be proud of. I began my morning joining a routine Assembly, led by a Deputy Headteacher who appeared to know and have an excellent relationship with every child present. The Assembly was on the school’s values, in this case ‘Responsibility’ and he soon had small groups of children enthusiastically talking about what this meant in school terms. No, nothing special you may think, but I couldn’t help contrasting it with the atmosphere of a few years back. I was especially alert to children not being involved but failed to find any; self-discipline was outstanding.

Later, I had doors opened for me by ever courteous pupils, and dipped into a number of classes, without spotting signs of loss of attention from any child because of interesting lessons being taught by good professionals from a stable staff (high retention being another sign of a well run and happy school). I saw not a single case of indiscipline or a child being reprimanded as there was no need, although in discussion I learned how wisely the school handles such matters (of course they exist).

The nursery has now grown to fill expanded premises because of demand and although I profess no experience to make professional judgements in this area, all seemed happy in informal learning and play. King’s Farm benefits by being the lead school of three in a project by The Goldsmiths Company which has invested £200,000 to improve maths standards over four years by innovative means. The school has a strong musical tradition which was also evident.

There is not a sign of complacency, but a shared determination to do the best for every child whatever their abilities. This is a reminder that primary education is the groundwork to every child’s future, and this is where investment needs to be at its greatest. This is one of the areas where I am approached most often by parents seeking advice on what to do about poor primary provision, although it is usually very difficult to help in such cases.

As I have consistently maintained, the key to a good school almost invariably lies with the leadership, and this website is littered with examples of previously good schools crashing as a result of bad changes at the top, and vice versa. With good leadership comes respect for one’s teaching staff who will be nurtured through positive professional development, rather than bullied on a principle of ‘survival of the fittest’. The latter is a major cause of the current teacher recruitment and retention crisis, brought about primarily by the excessive targets of government forcing many headteachers, often fearful for their jobs, to make unreasonable demands of their staff.  

After Kings Farm was placed in Special Measures it fell under an Academy Order to become a sponsored academy, initially under the very Trust that had brought it to its knees. However, the leaders of the Cedar Federation of Ifield and Kings Farm Schools showed a powerful determination to resolve the school’s problems within house. I well remember arguing with an HMI in the middle of this process, in my role as governor representative, at our round up meeting after the Ofsted Inspection that took the school out of Special Measures. My case was that the evidence showed it should be placed in a ‘Good’ category. She agreed with us wholeheartedly in principle but pointed out that ‘the bean counters’ at the DfE would not allow this through, because the school’s rapidly improving assessment outcomes had not yet reached the attainment levels of most schools. The Ofsted Report shows that ambivalence, and the school got there with a rousing ‘Good’ assessment last year: ‘The executive headteacher and the head of school model the high standards expected. An exceedingly positive and respectful ethos permeates the school’.

During this rapid rise and after I retired from the Governing Body,  the school was one of just eight nationally in the past four years to have its Academy Order rescinded after it saw a rise to Requires Improvement. This was brought about using a government power that ‘will only be used in very exceptional circumstances’.  It is now a shining example of what a Local Authority school can achieve with the right leadership and support. Chris Jackson, Head of School, and the leaders of the Cedar Federation have much to be proud of. 

This year has been the worst I have seen of distraught parents contacting me about Ebbsfleet Academy, having been awarded places at the school although they have not applied for it. Some have gone the extra mile and visited Ebbsfleet Academy but after seeing how the school is operated have become even more determined to avoid it at all costs. All the other five Dartford schools are full and turning away pupils on allocation, with families who have applied for them

This is the second feature article about the school in The Sunday Times, for four years ago I wrote about: 'an article in the Sunday Times Magazine in July 2014, which explained "how it had turned around its reputation as one of the country’s worst performing schools". Puzzlingly, the predecessor Swan Valley School had no such reputation and this statement is completely untrue'. The current article repeats the false claim that when she arrived: it was ‘failing on every measure’. These are certainly not the only falsehoods uttered from the Academy, its inception being itself highly controversial including the removal of Ms Colwell’s predecessor, Nigel Jones at no notice. Mr Jones removal took place only after she had already been offered the post informally, as explained by her here. The trashing of the school under Mr Jones's leadership is completely false, as he  had been steadily building up the school and its reputation, was well respected by parents and children, and was highly praised in the Ofsted Inspection two years previously: 'The headteacher, passionate about obtaining the best for his students.... Staff morale is high and the students are very proud of their school'.  He was rapidly snapped up to be the head of the highly successful and twice Ofsted Outstanding Milestone Special Academy in nearby New Ash Green, a far more complex and challenging school than Ebbsfleet, both Ofsted Reports dripping with praise for Mr Jones.  

The article also continues the tradition of misleading information in academic matters. It identifies the school as rising from 24% good GCSEs (A-C Grades) suggesting this was before Ms Coldwell took over, whereas this was a year and a half afterwards and actually represented a fall from the final results of the school under Mr Jones! The claim that it has risen to 60% does not make sense with the new GCSE assessment system. For in 2018, the school achieved a Below Average Progress 8 Grade of -0.39, the government’s preferred measure, which is well inside the bottom half for Kent’s non-selective schools.

Ebbsfleet Academy is part of the Brook Academy Trust, one of Kent’s lowest performing academy chains across a range of measures, comprising Ebbsfleet, Hayesbrook School and High Weald Academy, so little incentive to change or improve. The decision by the Trust to get rid of Mr Jones and replace him by a much less successful head was replicated at the Trust's Hayesbrook School, when it got rid of the highly successful David Day and replaced him with a headteacher who has steadily taken the school downhill subsequently. However, Ms Colwell is leaving all this, and is off to run a far less stressful private school in Mallorca, leaving the Brook Trust with the challenging task of now recruiting a strong replacement after she has rubbished the school she has led for seven years.

She and I agreed publicly at a Conference two years ago, that the biggest issue facing schools today is the recruitment and retention of teachers. However, she can see no further in this article than to blame the exodus on foul mouthed parents, with no mention of the  behaviour of pupils which she does not mention, so presumably not a problem at Ebbsfleet! However, I strongly believe and have consistently argued, based on the view expressed to me by teachers from both good and poor schools, that the main factor leading to poor quality and retention of staff  is seen in schools that adopt a sink or swim culture for their teachers. Contrast this with the nurturing approach developing skills in new teachers, which brings the best outcomes in good schools and keeps losses to the profession to a minimum. This may be reflected at Ebbsfleet by the ten posts currently being advertised by the school, including four at a senior level. The advertisements include the statement: 'It is a fantastic time to be joining the team. You will join a hardworking and passionate team of staff, in an academy characterised by high aspirations, academic excellence and exemplary behaviour. Firm discipline and crystal clear rules are enforced alongside a strong climate of care, encouragement and reward. Our parents are supportive and ambitious for their children, and our reputation in the locale has grown. The academy is an increasingly popular school in the rapidly growing Ebbsfleet Garden City community'. This surely contradicts the Sunday Times article with its forgotten supportive parents who are ambitious for their children (the school must be hoping candidates don't read the Sunday Times!); together with the 'growing reputation in the locale and increasing popularity' that is in sharp contradiction to the facts in this article. 

There are two main two grammar provision problems in Medway. Firstly, there is the gender disparity in numbers of places. The co-educational Rainham Mark Grammar gives equal priority to boys and girls, recruiting locally. Other than this, however, there are three girls' grammars but only two for boys. This gives a total of 505 places for girls and just 325 for boys!  This disparity will be exacerbated from 2020 onward, when The Rochester Grammar School scraps its super selective status in favour of local girls, in order to benefit by £3million from the 2018 government award. A high proportion of the money will go to increase its admission number by another thirty places. This will hit Chatham Grammar for Girls hard. Secondly, the influx of children from London Boroughs unable to access the six grammar schools in Dartford and Gravesham because of pressures there, simply disguises much but not all of the surplus.   

Thus we have the bizarre situation of Medway Council voting to increase numbers in its undersubscribed grammar school sector, whose main benefit will be to offer places to even more London children. If there is no pressure on places, the main way of supporting disadvantaged pupils will be to offer a lower pass mark in the Medway Test, a highly controversial move allowing in pupils not of a grammar school standard.   

The 2019 grammar school expansion scheme made no provision for additional places to be provided through an annexe to a current school or by a new free standing grammar school. These are the two ways forward proposed by Medway Council, the second one being unlawful under current legislation. The schemes that were approved instead all appear to be straight forward expansions, such as the one at The Rochester Grammar School which is going to have far reaching effects across the grammar school sector.. The only grammar school annexe of this nature currently in existence, is the one at Weald of Kent which has had to be created in the image of the main school, and was funded by a different route. Although there is no case to be made for additional boys' places, as there is a large amount of additional capacity at Holcombe Grammar for Medway children who have priority on distance grounds, it could be argued that provision for boys and girls should be equal. An enlargement of the oversubscribed Sir Joseph Williamson's merely raids Holcombe grammar that will then be forced to admit an even larger number of London boys. However, now that Sir Joseph Williamson's is run by the Leigh Academy Trust from Dartford it is difficult to predict their attitude. An enlargement at Holcombe Grammar should not be considered, given its appalling track record for managerial incompetence, summarised here.  

I suppose there is the possibility that Rainham Mark, Medway's only mixed grammar school, and situated in the East of the Authority could have been approached to set up a mixed annexe further West, but this would only exacerbate the issue with a surplus of girls. Then there is the possibility of a Kent grammar coming in to provide. The possibilities are endless but surely the probability needs to be nil.

A few years ago, the Thinking Schools Academy Trust made a strange proposal to make the situation worse by making one of its schools, Holcombe Grammar co-educational, increasing the surplus of girls places, and putting pressure on boys provision by reducing boys places. Perversely this was supported by Medway Council, whilst I appeared the only person to challenge it, successfully as it turned out. My suggestion to make another of their schools,The Rochester Grammar, co-educational which would have the reverse effect of evening up provision between boys and girls was unsurprisingly ignored!

However, this has proved a major problem for some, as they could have lost their other choices as a consequence, although I understand from KCC that they have negotiated the restoration of the correct offers that should have been made on National Offer Day, had there not been an error.  Some have also lost the opportunity to appeal for the grammar school at the right time, and may be unfortunate with a late appeal if the school has already filled. 

The problem has only occurred at these two schools where admission is by success at either the Medway Test or the Kent Test. KCC has confirmed it made an error in sending through some wrong data about the Kent Test results to Medway. However, this cannot be the whole solution as several children who received false offers are reported not to have taken the Kent Test, in which case the fault is once again clearly with Medway Council. 

I have previously come across the problem of places offered in error and then withdrawn, coincidentally only at Medway schools. In one case, the family pushed the matter as far as they could, then took legal advice, but were unsuccessful in reversing the decision to withdraw the offer. The bottom line is that even if the Local Authority is responsible for the mistake, the child is not grammar qualified and so not entitled to a place without appeal!

Over the years I have at peak times advised up to 20 families a day, and also received many enquiries from across the country by desperate families seeking help, although I have generally been unable to assist these. In 2018 alone I responded to over a thousand enquiries, offering information and support in the vast majority of cases. 

Apart from the last two years I also ran a professional and complete school appeals advice service, using local knowledge on a unique basis in the country. This proved extremely popular, with up to a hundred clients a year, predominantly in March. I stepped back from that a couple of years ago, and have since continued to run the telephone service for clients who sought more than the limited free advice I was able to offer to all. I have also offered informal advice to many governors, headteachers and teachers who have run into problems with the system and seen positive outcomes in a large number of cases.

It is with great sadness that I have made this decision, knowing that there appears no similar alternative source of individual independent advice in the county, or indeed across the country. I hope that the KentAdvice website will continue to provide information and advice for those with difficulties and plan to extend its scope to help meet the gap. 

In particular I am very grateful for the many informants, both professional and by virtue of their position as parents, who let me know of education issues across the county that often serve as the basis for news stories and investigations and campaigns affecting the education service. Many of these have changed practices for the benefit of children, in a few notable cases on a national basis. Please continue to support education in this way.  

Peter

My similar article for the same period 2017-18 is here, and for the full year 2017-18, here.  

For the first time, I have separated out  Main Inspection (Section 5) and Short Inspection (Section 8 ) outcomes in my Individual Schools sections, as explained in detail here and annotated (S) . Short Inspections now take place for some 80% of schools classified ‘Good’ in their previous inspection, and others classified ‘Outstanding. The inspection does not change the classification, but for some ‘Good’ schools there will be a recommendation for an early Section 5 Full Inspection indicating the school may then be found ‘Outstanding’ (SU).  For some other ‘Good’ schools, where there are concerns, a Section 5 may lead to a fall in classification (SC). 

22 of the 41 previously ‘Good’ schools received short inspections. Of these three: Amherst, Sevenoaks; Oaks Primary, Maidstone; and Sibertswold CofE, Dover, are all to be revisited to see if they are Outstanding. There were concerns about another two: Ditton CofE Junior, Malling;  and Joyden’s Wood Junior, Dartford.

As well as St Eanswythe’s and Chilton, seven other schools have improved their classification, all to ‘Good’. These are:

 Holy Trinity CofE VA, Gravesend, up one. Istead Rise, Gravesend, a school with a torrid past, after being placed in Special Measures in 2013. Several times KCC failed to come up with Ofsted approved Plans to move the school on as documented here. It was then taken over by the appalling Meopham Community Trust under Kent’s highest paid primary headteacher, which only saw it go further downhill, until it was removed from them and has now been academised under the Swale Academies Trust.

St John’s CofE, Canterbury,  another school  whose children suffered a torrid few years since being placed in Special Measures in 2014 but which is now Good. Exceptionally, the headteacher has remained in post throughout, having been unlawfully removed after the 2014 Ofsted by a maverick KCC officer (see below).It remains a KCC school having somehow avoided forced academisation.  Westgate, Dartford, was placed in Special Measure in 2013, KCC subsequently failing to prepare effective plans to make progress. It was then Sponsored as an academy in 2016 by Cygnus Trust, a small local Academy Trust. West Kingsdown CofE, Sevenoaks, up one to Good.

Dame Janet Primary and Salmestone Primary, both run by the TKAT Academy Trust and both up one Good. This follows a dreadful period for TKAT which I described in 2014 as a disaster area, with four of its five Thanet schools having been found Inadequate. Drapers Mills and Newlands were found Good last year, so after more than five years of failing its children in Thanet, TKAT appears at last to be turning the corner, although Northdown fell again to Requires Improvement.  

Two schools have been placed in Special Measures.

For reasons one can only speculate, Copperfield Academy and its predecessor Dover Road Primary have been propped up by local Area Education Officers (including a maverick to be featured in a future article) through the years, putting in additional classes to cater for the ever present pressure on places in Northfleet, even at the expense of vetoing a planned new school, the Hope Community School last year, sending pupils right across Gravesham to find a place.

Three other schools had also seen a fall in Ofsted level, all to Good after losing their Outstanding classification since the rule that excluded such schools from re-assessment was rightly relaxed. They are: Monkton CofE Primary, Ramsgate (previously Inspected in 2011); White Cliffs Primary College for the Arts, Dover (2010); and Yalding St Peter & St Paul CofE VC Primary, Malling (2008).

No new Outstanding schools, but 13 out of 15 being awarded Good, with four improved is pleasing news, but also owing much to the Medway policy of encouraging all its schools to become academies as it has demonstrated in the past to be incapable of raising standards across the Authority. See multiple articles on this site, including before and since this one.

The four schools which have improved are: Byron Primary, Gillingham, out of Special Measures to Requires Improvement after sponsorship by the Westbrook Trust; Hempsted Infants, Gillingham, up one; Lordswood Primary up one to Good, sponsored by the Griffin Trust; and Temple Mill, Strood, up two and out of Special Measures after being sponsored by the Howard Academy Trust.   

 * Medway School

Notes: (1)  Leigh UTC recruits into Year 10, see below. (2) Waterfront UTC lost these under its previous name and disastrous ownership as Medway UTC, underlining for both schools the UTC problem. (3) The new Hadlow Rural Community School initially proved very attractive pulling in pupils from other less popular local schools. Hence the overall surplus. Where are they now going?

As regular browsers of this website will know, I have taken a particular interest in off-rolling, including one method sometimes used by schools identified by Ofsted: ‘As our report shows, some schools, sadly, pressure families to take their children out of school to avoid an exclusion – many parents simply do not want a permanent exclusion on their child’s record’. Oddly, Ofsted makes no reference to the earlier Report by the Children’s Commissioner: ‘Skipping school – Invisible Children’ with which I was involved. Do these organisations not work together in the interests of children? Ofsted also notes that: ‘We know that disadvantaged pupils, those with special educational needs, and pupils with low prior attainment are disproportionately removed from the school roll. Inspectors will ask leaders about who has left and why’. 

My recent article on Elective Home Education looks at many of the issues, and identifies some of the schools most likely to have practised off-rolling. One of these is High Weald Academy which saw an astonishing 6.4% of its roll, by some way the largest proportion in Kent ‘choose’ Home Education and eight times the county average. Ofsted has stated several times previously that it is looking out for off-rolling, so one would have expected a reference to this in the school’s latest Inspection Report, published last month, but nothing!

Similarly for the notorious Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy, whose monitoring Inspection Report came out last year, when it had 9% of its Year 11 roll leave between October in Year 10 and January in Year 11. Nothing! Some 150 local families connect for a home schooling support group.   A new headteacher took over in September 2018 and, remarkably, census records show that just one Year 11 pupil has left since then, and two from Year 10. Ebbsfleet Academy, another of the largest offenders in previous years, does not appear in these latest figures, having a net increase of 12 pupils. This probably reflects the rapid development of Ebbsfleet Garden City around it, along with the number of students baling out of Leigh UTC with nowhere else to go and so the real figure is impossible to isolate. One can only wonder how many of the UTC transfers were amongst the Ebbsfleet students, around 30 in number, that previously pulled out of the school to go into Year 10 at the UTC in the first place! What a shambles, but never mind the poor misled pupils, caught up with the UTC promises! However, one also hopes it all indicates a change of policy at Ebbsfleet now with the spotlight upon it.

The claim to power in Section Five, giving Governors the right to require the withdrawal of boys at any time, purely on receiving an appropriate report from the Headmaster, is surely amazing and has no place in any school. It not only takes off-rolling to a new level, it is of course completely illegal. Section One is simply foolish as even the most ill-informed parents will know it is not enforceable.

The only way that children can be removed from a school is by permanent exclusion, to be used according to government, only as a last resort relating to behavioural matters. I have raised this informally with the school and I was pleased the headteacher responded. However, whilst confirming that the school would review arrangements at the end of the admission process this is no answer to parents who are unhappy about being forced now to sign a document ostensibly allowing the school to behave illegally, and presumably have done for years. Surely the school needs to act now to remove the illegality.

One can only speculate how many other schools have such illegal clauses in their joining documents or other policies. Parents will feel obliged to sign such documents rather than fall out with the school before their children join but surely many, like my correspondents, will feel extremely uncomfortable about the principle.  

This annual report is the longest article I write in the year and will become one of the most visited in time. The parallel 2018 article has now received 13,109 visits at the time of writing. Please let me know of any errors or areas that need expansion. You will find Ofsted outcomes for all schools in the Individual Schools section, and a survey of 2018-19 outcomes to Easter here.

KCC has a target of securing 5% to 10% vacancies in each District, but the norm is that this often hides a sharp distinction between urban and rural areas, and so I have separated these below

At the other end of the scale, the schools in the villages in Folkestone and Hythe District have, together with Hythe itself, 27% of their places empty overall, headed up by Brenzett CofE with three quarters of its places unfilled for the second year running, after its failed Ofsted in November 2015.

Whilst the pattern of the most popular schools changes each year, the four most oversubscribed schools, Brent, Great Chart, Loose and East Borough were also there in 2018, along with Herne CofE Infants. Herne has dropped right down the scale this year with only three first choices disappointed, having had just one year in the limelight (nine oversubscribed in 2017). Brent benefited enormously from its ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted in January 2017, up from ‘Requires Improvement’, having had vacancies in 2017 and there is no doubt about the high correlation between Ofsted category and parental preference, underlining the importance of a strong Ofsted assessment to a school. I also take into consideration schools at the extremes of the KS2 performance table where these are may be relevant, below. Great Chart and Loose are the only Kent schools to have been in the top ten most oversubscribed schools for three years. The Ofsted Special Measures decision for the popular Dartford Bridge arrived too late for parents making choices this year. 

The Districts surveyed are:

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

Page 3 – Dover Deal & Sandwich; Faversham; Folkestone & Hythe; Gravesham; Maidstone; 

Page 4 -Malling (including Kings Hill); Sevenoaks; Sheppey; Sittingbourne; Swanley

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

The real pressure comes in the rural hinterland with just 11 vacancies in three of the eleven schools, in all 3% of the total number of places.  Even so, just two schools are significantly oversubscribed: Blean with 31 first choices turned away and Bridge & Patrixbourne 15, also the top two in 2018. Even Adisham, another school at the bottom of the KS2 performance table had four disappointed first choices. 

By contrast, a total of 17% of places available at the nine Canterbury coastal schools went unfilled. Just two of these had no vacancies as in 2018, but with their fortunes reversed. Hampton which just filled in 2018 turned away 17 first choices, whilst Herne CofE Infants which had turned away 43 first choices for its 90 places in 2018, saw this figure wither away to three this year.

In the east of Dartford, where many of the schools are in the villages, and where I also include Hartley from Sevenoaks as feeding into Dartford, just three of the twelve schools are oversubscribed with first choices. These are Hartley Primary Academy (13), Our Lady of Hartley (4), both with ‘Outstanding’ Ofsteds and Craylands with nine.  Last year’s new Cherry Orchard Primary had an additional 30 places added to its original 30. Even so only three more have vacancies, not including Stone St Mary’s  which fills by virtue of its 12 LAAs, a sharp fall from 2018, when it was the most popular school with 18 places oversubscribed. Knockhall Primary continues to be very unpopular, having  previously been unfortunate to be a Lilac Sky school, with a third of its places empty, even after 20 LAAs. The other two schools with vacancies, both having just one form of entry, are Bean (33%) and Darenth Community (30%).

In Deal and Sandwich, where there are a large number of rural schools, again over half the 19 schools have vacancies, Goodnestone having 5 of its ten places empty, for the second consecutive year, and Sandwich Infants 38%. St Mary’s Catholic School tops the oversubscription list of seven schools, turning away just 8 disappointed first choices.

The more important news is the mass conversion of Deal and Walmer primary schools to become Academies, in a single Multi Academy Trust, the Deal Education Alliance for Learning Trust (DEALT) in spite of considerable local opposition, as explained here in an article where I applauded the proposal. The seven schools are: Deal Parochial CofE; Hornbeam; Kingsdown and Ringwould CofE (Ofsted Outstadning, the other six are all Good); Northbourne CofE; Sandown; Sholden CofE; and The Downs CofE.  The other two local primary schools are already academies.

For unfathomable reasons, KCC doubled the Published Admission Number for Bysing Wood to 60 in 2017 and has kept it there, resulting in a 75% vacancy rate this year, the highest in the county along with two other schools. Graveney, a standalone academy witha PAN of 15, has made just six offers and one wonders how much longer such a small moderately performing school can operate on its own. Luddenham also has over 50% vacancies.

Just one of the 18 town schools, Sandgate is significantly oversubscribed turning down 14 first choices (most recent full Ofsted inspection was in 2007, when the school was found Outstanding), with Christ Church CofE second with eight, benefiting from its excellent KS2 results in 2018. Five other town schools had vacancies, most at Mundella with 40% empty spaces.

In the whole of Hythe and the rural parts of the District, just one of the 19 schools is oversubscribed, Saltwood, oversubscribed by four first choices. 13 schools did not fill, with Brenzett once again 75% vacancies, or 15 of its 20 places. The school’s most recent Ofsted placed it in Special Measures and along with Dymchurch (44%) also in SM, it was taken over by Aquila, the Diocese of Canterbury Academy Trust which has a good record in turning round schools,  notably at Reculver and St Mary of Charity both in Special Measures under KCC, but Outstanding after academisation. Lydd also with a high proportion of vacancies and a dire history, including Special Measures, now taken over by The Village Academy Trust has 42% vacancies. It will clearly take time to restore confidence in these schools.

Meanwhile in Gravesend, where there is no shortage of places, St George’s CofE has been allowed to open a Primary section, admitting 30 children and contributing to the loss in six other schools of a total of 51 pupils, including nearby Whitehill losing 10 from a school recently oversubscribed. Also in 2018 Singlewell, which has three vacancies, was oversubscribed by 21 first choices in a typical year. To compound this problem, St George’s has been given permission to advertise for Year One pupils for September, who will be drawn directly out of other local schools, damaging their plans for the year. Just two schools are oversubscribed, with 19 at St John’s Catholic.

Just one of the seven village schools has vacancies, Vigo Village School at the far end of the Borough with 9 empty spaces. Istead Rise has overcome its previous horrors, and its Good Ofsted gained under new Sponsors Swale Academy Trust, sees it full for the first time on many years. Elsewhere there is a considerable shift in popularity. Cobham, for some years one of the most oversubscribed schools in the county, is down to 10 disappointed first choices (from 21 in 2018 and 35 in 2017), although 2018 KS2 results are amongst the best in Kent, including highest proportion of pupils achieving at a higher standard. Higham is down from 11 to one oversubscribed, whilst travelling in the other direction Meopham which had eight vacancies in 2018, is 11 first choices oversubscribed.

Eight schools have 10 or more first choices turned away, headed up by Loose (48) and East Borough (46) the second and third most oversubscribed schools in Kent. Third again is Greenfields with 39, well up on 2018’s 22 and a long way from the days when I advised families how to avoid the school. Then come: St John’s CofE (37); St Michael’s CofE Infants (31); South Borough (21); and Brunswick House (17).

Quite simply, there are not enough primary school places in Maidstone even though Allington (Outstanding in 2008, and not subsequently inspected) took in an additional form of entry to ease the pressure, so that effectively there were no vacancies at all. A few years ago KCC tried to commission a new school in Bearsted, but was overruled by government which approved one for Langley Park, outside town, which did not meet the need at that time, but saw Bearsted children allocated to the school on the other side of town. Then, in 2017 another new school was approved for opening in September 2018, the Bearsted Primary Academy, although as so often the opening date has now slipped to 2020 even  though the need is now.

Other schools with a number of LAAs are Archbishop Courtenay, Special Measures in 2017 (11), , and Tree Tops, out of Special Measures in 2015, up to Requires Improvement twice (8), 

In total, there are 82 LAAs across Maidstone, almost 20% of the total for Kent.

Outside town, just three of the 20 schools were significantly oversubscribed: Bredhurst CofE, tucked just in Kent up against the M2 in Gillingham, Ofsted Outstanding in 2011, turning away 33 disappointed first choices. Then come Langley Park (see above) with 14, and Boughton Monchelsea with 10.

Worryingly, there are three schools with five or fewer children offered places on allocation, so they are surely at risk in terms of viability, although all three have a recent Good Ofsted. Leeds & Bromfield and Ulcombe both have a Published Admission Number of 15, and admitted the same number in 2017, although both filled in 2018. The other school is Laddingford St Mary’s CofE, with a PAN of just 13,

The other school with a large number of vacancies is Harrietsham, which doubled in size to an intake of 60 in 2018 and, in spite of its Good Ofsted, has 25 empty places. 

There is little oversubscription, but headed by Kings Hill with 12 first choices disappointed, with Brookfield Infants 10, and Lunsford 9, both in Aylesford. Aylesford Primary,  run by Valley Invicta Trust (see below) was enlarged by 15 places to 60 and filled 52 in total, confirming the extreme pressure in that area. 17 schools had vacancies, over half the total, the highest proportion being at Valley Invicta (Kings Hill) with 50% of its places or 15 out of 30, unfilled. The Discovery School also on Kings Hill has 19 of its 60 places empty. A few years ago, when there were just Discovery and Kings Hill serving the area they were both heavily oversubscribed.

Next highest is Burham, with 46% vacant spaces and St Katherine’s, Snodland suffering a massive fall in popularity with 44% of its 90 places unfilled, following a fall in Ofsted rating to Requires Improvement. Staplehurst also suffered from a fall in Ofsted to Requires Improvement, with 40% empty spaces.

The large hinterland of Sevenoaks District (excluding Swanley below) has just 44 first choices denied across its 21 schools, spread across 11 schools, and up from 11 first choices oversubscribed in 2018. Most are at Chiddingstone CofE (15) and Crockenhill (8).

Eight schools have a total of 100 vacancies, over half being at Edenbridge (39) with its dreadful history, including being placed in Special Measures, but subsequently academised, and Churchill CofE, Westerham (27), Ofsted downgraded to Requires Improvement, along with very poor KS2 results. Penshurst CofE may have just six vacancies, but this is 40% of its total intake of 15 pupils.

In and around the town, three schools out of the 13 are significantly oversubscribed, led by Canterbury Road and Iwade each turning away 14 first choices, followed by St Peter’s Catholic with seven. Five schools have vacancies, Sunny Bank having 53% places empty. The school is the result of the recent amalgamation of Murston Infant and Junior schools, which does not appear to have been popular with parents. Regis Manor has also declined in popularity with 40% vacancies.

Of particular note is Tunstall CofE, which relocated to new premises on the edge of town, doubled in size and armed with an Outstanding Ofsted was the most popular school in Sittingbourne in 2018, but has slumped to having 12% vacancies this year after the appointment of a new head, despite the claim on the welcome page of its website that it is 'extremely popular and oversubscribed '.. Something has changed .

Outside the town, the only one of the 15 schools to have significant oversubscription is Bobbing, turning away 31 first choices. None of the other five oversubscribed schools have more than four first choices rejected. Nine schools with vacancies, headed up by Eastling with 60% empty spaces, followed by two schools from The Village Academy Trust, Milstead & Frinsted CofE with 53%, and Lynsted & Norton with 45%. No others above 20%.

The only school seriously oversubscribed is Slade, normally Tonbridge’s most popular school (and most oversubscribed in Kent in 2017), turning away 31 first choices, followed by Sussex Road with 8. Half of the town’s 14 schools have vacancies, most as usual in the north of the town at Longmead Community (53% vacancies) and Cage Green (38%), both of which Require Improvement according to their latest Ofsted inspection. Next is Royal Rise with 33% whose most recent Ofsted placed it in Special Measures before it was academised in 2017 under the Cygnus Trust, which also has two schools in Dartford.  

Temple Grove, usually the least popular school in the town, filled its 30 places this year thanks to 11 LAAs, although many of these won’t take them up as private education draws a number of children out of the system.  This left Rusthall St Paul’s with 50% vacancies, followed by St Mark’s CofE with 30%, propped up by eight LAAs.

As a result, there are only three schools significantly oversubscribed, headed up by Whitstable & Seasalter Endowed CofE, as some families at Whitstable Juniors  have attempt to switch for some years to a school with an Outstanding Ofsted and, normally very high KS2 results but not for 2018! But few will have been successful as Whitstable Juniors remains full in Year Three each September. StJames’ CofE Junior in Tunbridge Wells had six unsuccessful first choices.

Five schools have 20% or more vacancies which may depend on other factors than their own reputation such as the number coming through from the linked Infant school, or other opportunities in the area. For example Sandwich Junior School had 48% vacancies, making 31 offers, not surprising with the feed in current Year Two at the Infant school having just 34 places filled for a PAN of 56. In Thanet, Christ Church CofE Juniors has 30% vacancies, but no specific linked Infant school, and St Laurence in Thanet CofE Juniors has 22%, linked to Ellington Infant which is usually undersubscribed.  Ditton CofE Junior is also 22% undersubscribed but having attracted 50 of the 52 children from Year Two in the Infant school.

Sections Include:

New schools:Chilmington Green Primary, Ashford; River Mill Primary School, Dartford; School of Science & Technology, Maidstone; Stone Lodge School, Dartford; New Special Schools in Swale; cancelled Hope Community Academy, Gravesham

New Academies:Deal primaries; Greenlands, Dartford; Halling, Medway;St George’s CofE (primary section), Gravesham; Waterfront UTC (re-brokered), Medway.

Expanding Grammar Schools; 

Academy Trusts:Leigh Academy Trust; Turner Schools

Individual Academies: Ebbsfleet Academy, Dartford; Hadlow Rural Community School, Tonbridge; The Rochester Grammar School;Skinners School, Tunbridge Wells.

Minded to Terminate Letters  to Copperfield Academy, Gravesham and Twydall Primary, Gillingham

Academy Performance 

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

 Greenlands Primary School, Dartford – previously Darenth Community Primary School, converted to an academy as part of the Cygnus Academy Trust (another local Trust with four primary schools, three in Dartford).

Halling Primary School in Medway has become a Converter Academy in the Cliffe Woods Academy Trust, now comprising Cliffe Woods Primary and Halling.

St George’s CofE Comprehensive, Gravesend, primary section, opening in September 2019 for Reception and Year One, to take in 30 pupils in each year group. There is currently no primary places shortage in Gravesend, The school is part of the Aletheia Anglican Academies Trust, comprising St George’s and six local church primary schools.

Waterfront UTC in Medway has been re-brokered to The Howard Academy Trust, which also comprises five Medway primary schools along with the Howard School. This follows its complete failure under the name of Medway UTC.  It is also changing its intake age to eleven to try and attract pupils, as Leigh UTC has done before it, which wipes out the UTC concept for the schools. 

In Kent, as the population increases, there also needs to be an increase in grammar school numbers to keep provision of the 25% of places for grammar ability stable (this does not and should not take into account additional numbers granted places through appeals). Whilst those opposed to selection may have a case for the complete allocation of grammar schools, it is not valid to argue for the blocking of additional places to keep opportunities at the same level. Whilst some grammar schools are able to increase size on site to meet this need, the main method for the future to stay within the rules would appear to be by annexes, following the Weald of Kent Grammar School Annexe in Sevenoaks as a precedent. currently the only example in the country. .

For historical reasons, grammar provision across the county is uneven, but there are already long term shortages, and the rapid expansion of some areas is and will continue creating extreme pressures.

The main pressure point for many years has been Herne Bay and Whitstable, both with a rapidly growing population, where unsuccessful attempts to meet need have been made intermittently since the 1980s. Two grammar schools have made public their desire to provide an annexe there in the next round of expansion: Barton Court in Canterbury (one of several attempts over the years) and Queen Elizabeth’s, Faversham.

There are currently three other pressing major areas of housing expansion: Ashford; Folkestone and Ebbsfleet. The two Ashford grammar schools are not yet up to capacity, with Norton Knatchbull able to absorb more boys comfortably. In Folkestone, where the Shepway Test adds to demand for grammar school places, there is a major expansion planned for Otterpool, and The Harvey Grammar is being considered for expansion. Ebbsfleet where the new Ebbsfleet Garden City is underway is situated between Gravesham and Dartford. There is no apparent extra capacity in Dartford for multiple reasons discussed elsewhere on this site, so any solution has to be met by the expansion of the two Gravesham grammars, with some grammar qualified Ebbsfleet children already having to appeal to stand a chance of a selective place.

Each letter spells out several steps to go through and, if the schools fail to deliver the very specific requirements laid out in the letters with a sense of urgency, they will then be issued with a Termination Warning Notice. The last one previously posted locally, was to Elaine Primary School a Medway academy in the Williamson Trust in 2017. The school was subsequently taken from the Trust and awarded to the Inspire Partnership Academy Trust. The Williamson Trust was then effectively closed and handed over to Leigh Academy Trust in its entirety.

For each school, follow the links below.

Copperfield Academy

Twydall Primary School

Copperfield Academy

When I was a Gravesham headteacher, I knew Dover Road Primary School well, back in the day when it was run by Llew Jones, a big personality who ran a strong and successful community school until he retired around 2003. It then deteriorated under a number of short term headteachers, several rated by KCC who even took one away to support other heads whilst Dover Road sank further. The Ofsted Inspection Report of 2011, placing the school in Special Measures, reported on poor achievement dating back at least five years. My article describing the Ofsted decision explains how a KCC officer rejected the idea of a new school in the area, for fear Dover Road would lose numbers and be forced to close (explicitly quoted in local newspaper). Instead the solution (?!) was to expand this failing school to take in children who could not find a place elsewhere, completely against KCC policy, the additional pupils to be taught in temporary accommodation, all almost guaranteed to take it down further. This is explained in my subsequent article in 2012 after the school was found to have made Inadequate Progress in a Monitoring Inspection. I visited the subject again early in 2013, after yet another failed Monitoring Inspection also reporting on the excessive staff turnover figures and the departure of yet another headteacher.

Unsurprisingly the school was required to become an academy in 2013, sponsored by REAch2, a rapidly expanding Trust, currently running 58 schools in SE England including four in Kent (also Tymberwood in Gravesham), with another new school in Gravesham having been awarded, which must now be in doubt.  It was given an Ofsted free break by virtue of schools being excused an Inspection for the three years after becoming academies, in order to settle down. Sadly, Copperfield did not respond and in 2016 Ofsted published a highly critical ‘Requires Improvement’ Report that appeared to avoid being rated Inadequate because a ‘New senior leadership team has a very clear view of the improvements that are required. Leaders have wasted no time in developing ambitious plans which focus on the most important things first’ . This is a recurring theme.  Unfortunately, this was only part-way through another recurring theme: a rapid turnover of headteachers since academisation, that saw a total of seven (at least, for it is difficult to keep up with the changes) having had a go (and then departing!).  I highlighted the school in an article on Disappearing Headteachers last July as another headteacher bit the dust.  The Report also highlighted a perennial problem for the school: ‘Leaders have not been able to retain teachers. At the beginning of each year, a large number of teachers join the school but do not stay. This term, almost three quarters of the teaching staff are new, with most at the beginning of their teaching career’.  Or, in more detail: In September 2016, 13 new teachers joined the school, of which five are newly qualified teachers and six are new to the English education system’. As always in this story, pity the poor children.

If it were possible, matters went from bad to worse and a year later, in October 2017, an Ofsted Monitoring Inspection  reported that ‘Senior leaders and the trust are not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement’, noting that ‘The school should take further action to make sure that everyone understands the urgency of the required improvements. The report describes a horrendous context of massive changes in staffing, management and governance in the previous year, concluding with ‘Eleven new teachers took up post in September 2017’ (there is currently a total of 19 class teachers, along with the Executive head and two Acting Deputy Headteachers). As a result ‘In a period of significant turbulence in staffing and leadership, standards have fallen further in all key stages since the previous inspection, including for disadvantaged pupils’. Not surprisingly and with echoes of previous Reports: ‘The new regional director and the trust have identified correctly that standards have further declined since the previous inspection. However, this candid self-evaluation is yet to lead to demonstrable improvement’.

 KCC then compounded the disaster by producing false data to show that another new school in the area, which had already been approved by government, was not needed for September 2018. It considered that Copperfield Academy could be expanded again by 30 places to admit 90 children to cater for local demand (again in temporary accommodation), in the full knowledge that the school was already failing its pupils. In the event, with every other Northfleet school filled, it offered places to 65 pupils including 11 Local Authority Allocations (LAA - not having applied for the school), mopping up all new arrivals locally so that the school had 71 pupils in Year R in September. This is explained in more detail here.

No matter, in September 2018 yet another Executive Head, Simon Wood joined the school, who led it into Special Measures again in January 2019, once again having made improvements in several areas (but presumably not others) that have not yet had an effect. For a school that should have been in the spotlight for too many years it is appalling to read that:‘Trustees and governors have not acted swiftly enough to halt a significant decline in the quality of education and standards since the last inspection. Teaching, learning and assessment in key stages 1 and 2 are inadequate. Teaching is poorly planned and does not meet pupils’ needs. Weak teaching of spelling, punctuation and grammar across subjects is impeding improvements in writing. The curriculum is narrow and unbalanced in key stages 1 and 2’.  Astonishingly, given the school’s record and events to follow: ‘It is recommended that the school may appoint newly qualified teachers’.

 Only the six months earlier, another REAch2 school, Sprites Primary Academy in Ipswich, was also failed by Ofsted, concerns including the turbulence in staffing. This was also followed by a ‘Mindful to Terminate’ letter, identifying failure by the Trust to take appropriate action and requiring them to raise standards across the region.

Given the repeated failures of REAch2 to provide an adequate education for the children of Copperfield Academy over the past six years, it is hardly surprising they were issued with the Minded to Terminate letter from the Regional Schools Commissioner, one of just two in Kent and Medway in the past two years. He writes:

An astonishing sixteen years of failure by KCC and the REAch2 Academy Trust have culminated in this indictment of their joint failure to provide an adequate education for local children over generations. That local population is wisely voting with its feet so that just 51 places have been offered for September 2019 admission, including 14 LAAs, with a hopeful Published Admission Number kept at 90, requiring more temporary accommodation. It makes the headteacher’s welcome on the school website ring rather hollow: ‘Copperfield is an old and long-established Northfleet School, having opened as Dover Road School in 1904.  It has always been a popular school with local families and we currently have the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren here of former pupils’.

At around this time, I became involved in a battle by the school to avoid being taken over by TSAT, being brought in informally by some governors to advise. The battle is laid out in a series of articles beginning here, the others accessed through the website search engine, which paint of picture of a failing school, a governing body at war with itself and with the Council manipulating membership, whilst at the same time being determined to get rid of it by passing it on to an unwelcome Academy Trust, whose solutions to problems were unpalatable to parents and most governors.

Eventually TSAT tired of the battle and withdrew in 2015 leaving Twydall to find an alternative solution. The shocking state of Medway education at the time is set out here giving little hope the Council could help Twydall sort its problems. Twydall then by mutual agreement become an academy sponsored by Rainham Mark Grammar School (RMGS).

Subsequently Twydall limped along being one of the lowest performing schools in Medway, failing its Ofsted in June 2018, placed in the Category of ‘Serious Weaknesses’. The Report noted that: ‘Following the school’s conversion to academy status in 2016, the school declined further. Fragilities and turbulence in leadership and staffing have hampered school improvement. Improvements have only just got under way since the appointment of the acting headteacher in January 2018. She has brought a new sense of purpose and direction to the school and has harnessed the support of the staff. There are positive green shoots of recovery’ .  A Monitoring Inspection in April 2019 carried out by an HMI is very positive, but the bottom line is that this school remains unpopular with families. It has had the fourth or fifth highest percentage of vacancies of any Medway school in each of the past four years. Ofsted June 2018: ‘In 2017, the standards achieved by pupils by the end of key stage 2 declined significantly to below the government’s minimum expectations. Pupils’ progress was significantly below the national average in reading and mathematics, and only a third of pupils achieved the expected standards’.

These standards improved considerably for 2018, with reading and maths at an average standard (nationwide) and two thirds of pupils achieving the national standard.

The 2019 results will be critical but the November 2018 ‘Minded to Terminate’ letter was written before the much stronger  2018 SAT outcomes were available and so would appear to have been premature, with the school  surely able to look forward to its withdrawal.  

 You will find the equivalent article and data for 2018 here; a preliminary article here; and the parallel Kent article here.

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 2018 entry, of 63 registered Primary appeals organised by Medway Council where Infant Class Legislation applied (the overwhelming majority), just two were upheld - the comparable figures in 2018 being 66 appeals registered, one upheld.  

Note: The letter after the name of each school in the table above indicates the Medway area in which it is situated.

The abbreviation LAA (Local Authority Allocation) in the sections below 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 Published Admission Number of the school.

Eight of the 14 schools have vacancies, most at Twydall with 44% of places empty, whose recent history is reported here. The two other schools with over 20% empty spaces suffer from a difficult Ofsted history, Napier Community (43%) with repeated ‘Requires Improvement’, and Saxon Way (25%),  Special Measures under Medway Council control but now ‘Good’ as an academy. 

October 2017 Monitoring Inspection: At the time of the previous inspection, a new executive headteacher, leadership team and local governance arrangements had been in place for approximately two weeks. There have been further significant changes to governance, leadership and teaching since this time. The executive headteacher’s involvement with the school ended during the spring term, 2017. The head of school continued to run the school, supported by the trust. The current experienced headteacher took up post on 7 May 2017. The head of school left shortly after this, following a three-week handover period. The deputy headteacher has joined the school since the previous inspection and two assistant headteachers took up post in September 2017. Eleven new teachers took up post in September 2017.

June 2018 Kentonline: A total of ten members of staff have resigned from a beleaguered primary school which has parted ways with its fifth head teacher in five years''. Reach2 spokesperson quoted: 'The formal recruitment process for a new Head will begin shortly. Our staffing more generally is currently very stable, with no vacancies'. There has been no sign of such a recruitment process, always difficult over the summer holiday as interviews cannot realistically take place, and in any case the Executive Head took up post at the beginning of the September term. 

August 2018, Kentonline:  REAch2's spokesperson said: "At the end of the school year two teaching staff left us – one of whom was returning to her home country as she had always planned – and eight support staff..When former head teacher Kevin Holmes left with just weeks to go of the school term after less than a year parents expressed their outrage, with one claiming their daughter has had 13 teachers in four years. Two teaching staff left, so why was it necessary to hire nine unqualified staff in September?. This just does not add up.  

January 2019 Ofsted Inspection, Special Measures: Since joining the REAch2 multi-academy trust in 2013, the school’s leadership and staffing have been turbulent. Several headteachers, leaders and other staff have left the school in this period. A remarkably mild criticism for a school that has just failed  its Ofsted, the word 'several' clearly being understated to the extent of being misleading.  

June 2019 Ofsted Monitoring Inspection: Since the inspection (five months earlier), a number of teachers and support staff have left. Currently nine classes from Reception to Year 6 are covered by unqualified teachers. You are intending to recruit 10 teachers to start in September 2019.... The quality of teaching remains highly variable. This is further exacerbated by the high level of staff changes or staff who are absent. The current staff list records a total of 18 class teachers from Reception to Year Six, so exactly half are unqualified according to Ofsted! If just two teaching staff left the school last summer, and staffing is very stable with no vacancies, as the Trust claimed in Kentonline (above), how come there are now nine unqualified staff? The truth is clearly very different from the extraordinary and false Trust claim (above) that 'Our staffing more generally is currently very stable, with no vacancies'.  

Both Deputy Headteachers are ‘Acting’, presumably Trust trouble shooters, and so also very likely to move on.  What will happen to the school and its children when the tide goes out again? 

It is notoriously difficult to recruit qualified staff to a Special Measures School, as demonstrated by the abject failure of Copperfield to do so last September.  What is astonishing is that both the of the two most recent Inspection Reports give permission for the school to appoint newly qualified teachers. With such an appalling record of staff turnover, suggesting complete failure by the Trust to support the school's teachers, the two approvals border on maladministration by Ofsted as well as betraying potential new teachers at the start of their careers.

After six years of failure by the Trust it has once again been forced to take short term action to improve matters. I remain unimpressed by the gloss that has produced this most recent report!

A letter to staff from the KCC School Improvement Team, The Education People, informs them that 'although they may not have been aware (the headteacher) has recently suffered a period of ill health. Whilst his health is improving, (he) has understandably taken the decision to step away from his responsibilities with the school'.  Parents only get a letter signed by Kim Stoner, a Foundation Governor appointed in January, and not by the Chair of Governors, Charles Wells. She was until recently, Headteacher of St George's Foundation School in Broadstairs, who was also recently brought in as a member of the Interim Executive Body at the troubled Holmesdale School by KCC, so is clearly a trouble shooter. 

Kent County Council (not the governing body with legal responsibility) has appointed Mr David Elliott to take over as Acting Headteacher and he is already in post, suggesting that those responsible are very anxious to speedily reverse the decline. Mr Elliott was headteacher of New Line Learning Academy for four years until 2016 (also leaving mid term), and since then then he has been an Educational Consultant, including carrying out roles for KCC and The Education People. 

Foundation Schools have a degree of separation from the Local Authority, but are still funded by them, as distinct from academies which are funded directly by government. However, as distinct from community and voluntary controlled schools, the governing body employs and appoints the school staff, with primary responsibility for admissions. The school land and buildings are owned by the governing body, or a Charitable Trust, in this case The Archbishop's School Trust. Parents and staff must be quite bemused at the abdication of responsibility by governors to appoint the headteacher, and by the letter to parents coming from a newly appointed  governor and not the chair. There are three parent governors one of whose appointment dates back to 2012, all of whom are GB appointments as no parents stood for office, quite a remarkable failure for a once popular church school.   The minimalistic school website makes no mention of recent events, the two item latest news dating back to December whilst the staffing page is apparently under construction (at the time of writing).  

A new substantive headteacher will be appointed by due process as the school is not an academy (academies appear to have the freedom to be able to recruit headteachers at short notice without going through normal procedures for a senior position in public services!).The successful candidate will certainly have a job to do given that two other local schools, Spires Academy and The Whitstable School both with long term troubled pasts, have recruited pupils much more strongly than Archbishop’s for 2019.

My previous article portrays an arrogant Academy Trust and Junior School that have decided to extend into the Infant sector without the necessary skills. This places Delce in direct competition with its own two feeder schools, Crest and St Peter’s Infant schools, although there are not currently sufficient children to fill two schools, let alone three. The wisdom of Delce Infants in changing its name to Crest Infant School, thus drawing clear water between it and the Infant branch of the failed Delce Academy, is self-evident. As the data shows, parents were wise to ignore the inducement of an all through struggling primary school, and just 10 have signed up for the Delce Reception Year in September 2019. After the news of the Special Measures becomes public, this number will inevitably have thinned further. To quote Ofsted again: ‘The Castle Trust leaders claim high ambitions for Delce Academy but have not provided adequate support to ensure that the school improves’. In other words, they are living in fantasy land.

A new Executive Headteacher, Mrs Kate Taylor, was appointed in March from Hempstead Infant School, taking over from: ‘The head of school, who has been in charge since last September, has not had sufficient training to support her in leading the school effectively’.  This post has vanished since the Inspection a month ago and there is now a Headteacher.  I am not clear what the role of an Executive Head of a single school is, when there is also a Headteacher in place but whatever, in spite of overload the management of the school is heavily criticised.

The Trust has a CEO, Karen White, who is also headteacher of the second school in the Trust, Greenway Academy (primary) in West Sussex (very handy!), having also run Delce until last August. She appears to have been the driving force behind the Trust since its inception in 2014 and presumably behind the self-destructive age range extension, which is clearly not looking financially or practically viable. She is currently on a salary of at least £100,000 as a reward for running this small two primary school Trust, although she has effectively moved on from the chaos at Delce, and is clearly not being paid by results.

When the first Multi Academy Trust were set up, they were encouraged to set up Local Governing Bodies (LGBs), but these became unpopular with many Trusts, as LGBs too often flexed their muscles. As a result many Trusts, including Castle, set up Local Advisory Bodies with no powers allowing the Trust to keep control centrally. The Chairman of the Local Advisory Body for Delce Academy since September and a Member of the Castle Trust (Members usually have oversight over the Board of Directors) is Joy Gundry. She also runs the 3J School Improvement Specialists Company, so ought to have brought specific skills with her, although these are clearly not yet showing results. 

Ofsted’s view is that: ‘The school’s leadership over time has been turbulent. The new executive headteacher has only just joined the school. Although staff and governors have high hopes for the changes that she will bring, there has been no time as yet for there to be a noticeable effect on teaching and learning (how often have I read this and seen it unfulfilled). Pupils are not well prepared for the next stage of their learning, whether that is the move to the next class or to secondary school’.

‘Staff training has not had a marked impact on teaching. Middle leaders have also suffered from a lack of training. They have not had enough time to monitor the quality of teaching or plan necessary improvements’– this is where good School Improvement practice should have been telling, but isn’t.

This is another Academy Trust that is not fit for purpose and the Regional Schools Commissioner should be considering re-brokering it to a more competent body.

The Trust’s CEO, very highly paid for such a small Trust, is certainly praised in the Trust’s Annual Accounts for her ability to attract additional funding, and her high profile status has certainly seen the school benefit financially, such as described here and via the link. On the other hand it also enables her to speak out in the TES about the real need to provide extra funding for schools in Coastal Areas on grounds of their poor performance although, as so often, some of the evidence about Folkestone does not stand up to scrutiny.

‘This week, having visited the academy, the National Schools Commissioner, Dominic Herrington, praised the progress that the school has made to date’.

Did he take into account:

The dire 2018 GCSE results after more than a year of Turner Schools being in charge, with the sixth lowest Progress Grades in the county, having fallen sharply from being in the top half of non-selective schools (somehow blamed on poor performance before Turner arrived!).

The removal of vocational courses in the Sixth Form in 2018, contributing to a fall of 45% in Sixth Form numbers in one year. 

The need to employ five different headteachers in the two years the Trust has been in charge (including failure to lure any external candidate in spite of expensive national advertising for the most recent change).

The high turnover of teachers at 33% last year, three times the local average.

The sharp fall in intake at Year Seven, caused partially by the opening of Turner Free School, although some pupils have been lured away to schools in Dover, and others clamour to get into the only non-Turner non-selective school in the area at Brockhill in Hythe. This follows another fall in numbers at all three schools the previous year. 

The highest fixed term exclusion rate in Kent by far, more than twice as many as the third highest and 300 more than the second (put down to seeking to raise standards in spite of previously condemning exclusion as failure of teaching quality). Mirrored by Martello having the second highest rate of Kent's 463 primary schools.

Many other false claims about the school exposed on this site (perhaps the NSC was persuaded by these in being pleased with the progress of the school).

The proposed new development at Otterpool, some miles out of Folkestone will come with its own secondary school, so no apparent issue there. 

After the free school opened, KCC calculated there would be a shortfall of 451 secondary school places by 2024-25 across Folkestone and Hythe ‘if this action was not taken’. It has already been taken, the action being the increase in PAN of Turner Free School (TFS) by 60 places from September to 180, leaving a shortfall of just 151 across the five year groups in five years’ time, according to this data (Any deficit can be cleared at a stroke by returning Folkestone Academy to its previous PAN of 300, having been reduced to 270 in 2018 to try and hide the fall in numbers). However, September 2019 is already seeing Folkestone Academy’s intake crucified by the increase in numbers at TFS, and is already down to 186 offers for its 270 places with more to be lost by successful grammar school appeals and children finding school places elsewhere. Further KCC’s Folkestone and Hythe Forecast (pp 106-107) has always overestimated non-selective take up in this area because of the additional pupils being taken up by the grammar schools through the Shepway Test which pickes up some 200 pupils annually on top of those selected by the Kent Test. In any case, KCC believe that by 2024-25 there will be a shortage of just 30 Year Seven places across the area with no additional places created, and by 2026-27, there will be no deficit as a smaller cohort works through.

Since then there has been a continuous PR exercise to denigrate the school’s previous performance documented in various places on this site. There will  be a surplus number of places at FA for many years to come unless the fortunes of TFS also decline under Turner Schools.

You will find the result of my initial FOI here, containing the surprising information that of the 22 full time and five part time teachers (this will have included the three senior leaders none of whom were class teachers) just five were unqualified at the time of the inspection, clearly contradicting the information provided by Ofsted of 'half the teachers'. Further, it tells us that the staff included just five teachers who had joined the school in September 2018 and that only four full time teachers have left during or are leaving at the end of  this school year, along with two part-timers, to be replaced by ten new appointments in September 2019 (Ofsted). These ‘facts’ hardly meet the Ofsted description of ‘the high level of staff changes’, passing over the 'high level of staff who are absent' for the moment. 

 I did not go through a formal Internal Review request to explore my concerns, as these had been widened by the response to the FOI. Instead I wrote and expressed these to the Trust, receiving a courteous but inadequate and misleading attempt to justify the data in a reply which you will find in full here. This clearly confirms that the answer to my original FOI was false. The first point in my enquiry was that 'The recent Ofsted Monitoring Inspection carried out in May states: "currently nine classes from Reception to Year 6 are covered by unqualified teachers" but your data indicates four full time Unqualified Teachers (UQTs) and one part-time'.  The Trust replied: "There is no discrepancy in this information. The school currently has nine members of staff working as ‘UQTs’ (Unqualified Teachers), across the school. By ‘UQT’ this means anyone who does not (yet) hold Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), or does not need to for their regular role. In some cases, their QTS is in progress; in others they hold relevant qualifications for the post they ‘typically’ hold, or they are HLTAs or lead LSAs, all of whom have covered classes to ensure continuity, stability and equity for our children". 

To clarify. Academies are exempt from the requirement that class teachers need to hold Qualified Teacher Status. This is to enable them to employ exceptional people from outside of the profession, who will bring something extra to the job, as explained here: ‘Government officials say this means academies will be free to hire "great linguists, computer scientists and other specialists who have not worked in state schools before".’ This was never ever intended to allow the dilution of standards to include Higher Level Teaching Assistants or Learning Support Assistants who may have many excellent qualities but are not trained teachers. Those learning on the job, as they work towards Qualified Teacher Status should not have full responsibility for classes, the key being in the word 'training'. None of these should be used instead of trained teachers to cover up a shortage, with those on training schemes working to a part-time timetable under supervision.  

So, the Ofsted report of nine UQTs is correct, the school claim of ‘just’ five is false, and the ‘explanation’ to try and equate the two is invalid.

My second point to the Trust demonstrates a different discrepancy. ‘You are intending to recruit 10 teachers to start in September 2019’. Given that there are just two teachers (one part-time) leaving by the end of the summer, this appears out of all proportion. Answer: 'This is not the case. Please refer to the answer to question 1 above'.  The reference to question one confirms that Teaching Assistants who have been used to cover classes over the year, are simply standing down. I do have considerable sympathy for schools that are forced down this route through no fault of their own, but in the case of Copperfield this is surely a result of poor management producing a multi-failed school with an inevitable high turnover of staff

The whole charade is explained in the response to my third point that: 'staff who have been ‘covering’ classes will return to their substantive roles' (unless some of the ten new teachers don't arrive in which case the inadequate provision will continue). Covering Classes for a year can never be an adequate substitute for being taught by a trained teacher, the school apparently satisfied that these Teaching Assistants will 'ensure continuity, stability and equity for our children' . This may well be true, but parents have a right to expect their children will be taught and taught effectively as well. 

None of what I have written should be taken as a criticism of the Teaching Assistants in this and many other schools who will step into the breach and do their very best to minimise the damage caused by the absence of a trained teacher. 

  .   

I have previously touched on these issues here in a paragraph about Hadlow Rural Community School, but which contains a further link to a personal view from an insider about the meltdown at Hadlow College. Much of the information in this article comes from the FE Week website, which has published numerous articles on the related scandals, and from information provided form inside the College and Group. 

FE Week now reports about Hadlow College that ‘Investigations into financial irregularities are ongoing, including the role of the principal, deputy principal and two college chairs, all of whom have now departed in disgrace’. The annual salary of the then Principal, Paul Hannan, was £264,000 in 2017, the latest date that accounts are available. The college was placed in Education Administration by the High Court in May.

The Group has now appointed Graham Morley from outside Kent as Interim Principal , who comes with a reputation as a trouble shooter. 

The relevant Wikepedia page provides links to each of the separate colleges, which reveals financial mismanagement, large debts being run up and Principal resigning at several of the institutions. These are accompanied by a vast capital investment that has gone into providing shiny new premises at many sites in recent years. This has the added effect that such spending, spread across the country, props up the frequently quoted Government commitment to all education through rising financial investment.

The Kentish Gazette published an article in 2018 outlining events at East Kent College, as it absorbed Canterbury College and parts of South Kent College in Folkestone and Dover. Canterbury College went under and the Principal resigned after the College ran out of money after using cash reserves to build new showpiece buildings, although the takeover was presented as a merger. South Kent had been broken up following financial problems in 2010, the debts being taken over by K College.  

Mid Kent and North Colleges appear untouched by any of these scandals. 

Further Education is frequently described as the Cinderella of the education service. Unfortunately, it appears as a result too often to attract unsuitable leaders with immense powers wielded through financial control, who have forgotten in their ambitions that they are not there on an ego trip or for financial gain but to provide the best possible education for their students. Sadly, whilst many staff in FE Colleges have not had a pay rise for years they have looked enviously on the high and higher salaries being enjoyed (not earned) by their leaders. 

Betteshanger Country Park Limited;  Betteshanger Sustainable Parks Limited; 

 All the Directors resigned from both companies some years ago, apart from the Principal and vice Principal of Hadlow College, Mr Paul Hannan and Mr Mark Lumsdon-Taylor  (described on LinkedIn as a Business Financier and Corporate Leader with a passion for Rural, Creative Education, Digital and Health),  always a warning that not all is well. This left the Country Park company having income of £695,000 and expenditure of £700,000 in 2017, and a considerable sum owing to creditors. The accounts state that: 'the company is reliant on the support of  Hadlow College, the company's ultimate parent undertaking. Hadlow College has indicated its willingness to continue to support the company and ensure it is able to meet its liabilities as they fall due for a period of not less than 12 months from the period of these financial statements'.  In other words, the Principal and Vice Principal could do what they liked!  It is alleged that the Principal took a helicopter flight to visit the Park. The sole director now is Graham Morley; what a hot potato for him! Mr Hannan is now shown as Ex-director, no occupation. Betteshanger Park is now up for sale, the link providing even more interesting information.  

One could go on, with most of the other companies showing a similar pattern of financial difficulties, in spite of receiving large sums in grants and funding from Hadlow College. What a disgrace. 

What on earth were the Governors of Hadlow College doing to allow this? They were in 2018: Ms T Bruton; Chair ;Mr P Dubrow; Vice Chair; Mr P Hannan; CEO/Principal;Mr B McNicoll;  Ms S Hart; Mr P Morris; Ms L Currie; Mr C Hearn; Mr J Bonet; Mr M Weed; Ms P Worrall, Staff Governor. Most have now departed, leaving to carry the can: Mr Morley; Professor Bonet (Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Greenwich); Professor Weed (Pro Vice-Chancellor, Canterbury Christ Church University); and Ms Worrall; with the recent additions of Andrew Baird as Interim Chair (an experienced FE Governor being a National Leader of Governance, previously an International Banker); and John Dinnis, a local farmer. 

 You will find further background here. 

Two major issues which dominate any decision making by school governors, who will once again be in control subject to KCC rules are, firstly, the expensive PFI scheme that currently blocks The North from converting to become an academy, the agreed aim between KCC and Swale as explained below. Secondly, when Swale Academy Trust took over the school in 2014, it was carrying a financial surplus of £121,277 at year end in March. Since then the school has overspent heavily, to produce a deficit forecast to be £768,357 at the end of this financial year, which will now have to be eliminated which will require considerable cost cutting.  

I assume that the decision by KCC has been made because Swale Academies Trust has successfully brought the school up to a Good Ofsted standard but may also take into account the annual overspend, but I had understood that the County was committed to the arrangement until the PFI issues which were preventing academisation were sorted out (see below). The article here is an indication of expectations three years ago. However, there is a parallel with events at Holmesdale School where KCC made clear it explicitly did not want Swale managing the school and unsuccessfully tried to find alternatives.

There was a meeting of the Governing Body of the school last evening, which presumably had to try and resolve the issues this last-minute decision has raised. The information I received from the school preceded this and, in any case, it is right for Governors to inform the school and parents first about the consequence of KCC’s action.

One of the key issues to settle will be the position of headteacher for, although Anna Lawrence has been at the school for five years, the last two as head, she is currently employed by Swale Academies Trust. Something will have to give if KCC has no contract with Swale to deliver services. There may well be other staff in the same situation.  Swale Academy Trust has a very strong culture and support mechanism shared with all its schools and  The North School will currently be integrated into this, but this could come precipitately to an end.

There is no doubt that KCC support for its few remaining secondary schools has withered away in recent years and is now of dubious quality, as discussed here. As such, it is a poor exchange from what is undoubtedly a high quality service from Swale Academy Trust, which has now brought the school up to the strong standard it now enjoys and which is very attractive to families, but which was funded extravagantly. The North went into Special Measures just a year after Meopham School, which was also taken over by Swale around the same time, but which celebrated its Outstanding Ofsted earlier this year (a rare award for a non-selective school without advantages from its circumstances).