This article follows on from my initial survey of 2020 allocations, containing further data at Kent Secondary allocations.You will find the equivalent article here for 2019 allocations. Please note that it is written for and read by a number of different audiences, so not all may be of interest or relevance for families. 

You will find my initial and more general thoughts here, with the parallel article on grammar schools for 2019 here (2020 to follow) and 2020 Medway schools grammar and non-selective. A net total of 162 additional places have been created to meet a rise of 149 in the number of pupils offered Kent schools. This leaves 494 vacancies, or 3.5% of the total. 

The new Maidstone School of Science and Technology, opening in September, has offered 180 further places (together with holding a waiting list) which are not included in these figures as the school is not yet part of the Kent admissions scheme. This may pose an existential threat to two other Maidstone schools.

I look at individual Districts further down the article, with direct links at: 

Page 2: Ashford; Canterbury; Dartford; 

Page 3: Dover, Deal & Sandwich; Folkestone and Hythe; Gravesham; 

Page 4: Maidstone; Sevenoaks; Swale; 

Page 5: Thanet; Tonbridge & Malling; Tunbridge Wells

Last year there was just one new arrival in the list of schools oversubscribed by more than fifty places, this year there are four:  Wye and John Wallis, reflecting the major development of Ashford, Stone Lodge, the new school in Dartford, and Hillview Girls in Tonbridge. Two have gone, Charles Dickens in Thanet, and St Anselm’s in Canterbury. In one sense I am describing a misleading picture as, for some of these schools their popularity is increased by a desire to avoid another school with perceived difficulties, as explained below.  Some commentators seek to criticise such parents for chasing popular schools, but the reality is often very different.  

The picture will change from now until September, successful grammar school appeals taking children out of the sector and creating a ripple effect as children move up to preferred schools through re-allocation where places have been freed. In addition, some of these schools also admit significant numbers of additional children on appeal (but see below), those at the other end of the scale suffering even further.The Individual School section contains relevant detail here.

The polarisation referred to in my introduction continues apace, as can be seen by comparison of the table below with the equivalent 2018 article, and the District surveys below. The latter article listed just seven schools with a vacancy rate of more than a third before LAAs are added in. Now there are eleven with 40% or more vacancies. I have chosen the 40% cut off this time round because the next school in the 2020 list was a long way down from this level, with just 23% empty spaces before LAAs were taken into account. All the seven schools in the 2018 list are also in the current one.

 The final column, '% Loss 2019’' looks back to 2019 data. Here I have compared the March allocation figure with the number of Year Seven children who actually turned up, according to the October 2019 school census. It is no coincidence that the six schools with the highest percentage losses are all in that 2018 table of vacancies. The losses will have come from children taking up places at preferred schools where vacancies have developed (or in some cases private schools) together with an indeterminate number leaving for Home Education, rather than send their children to these schools.

A school’s finances are based primarily on the number of pupils in the school and my articles through the years have identified half a dozen secondary schools that have been forced to close through lack of numbers, most recently Pent Valley School, Hextable Academy and Chaucer Technology School. I can see two further schools that I consider are at risk.     

* Hartsdown Academy came third in this list separating the Brook schools, with just 65 first choices. 

I have written critically about the Brook Trust before, it is clearly still in considerable trouble and is the subject of a further article in progress.

 District Survey

 ** Excluding Duke of York's Royal Military School (Boarding only)

Kent children having been offered Out of County Non-Selective Places (around 280 in 2019): Bexley 69 (St Catherine's Catholic 19, Haberdasher's Aske's Crayford Academy 15, St Columba's Catholic Boys' 10, Blackfen Girls, 6, 2019 - 53);  Bromley 14 (2019-21); East Sussex 61 (Uplands 44, Beacon 7, Robertsbridge 6,  2019 -68); Medway 59 (Greenacre 16, Rainham Girls 9, Howard 7,  2019 -41); Surrey 37 (Oxted 35, 2019 -62).

 Unfortunately, whilst the three points above may well be aims for KCC, my District Survey below shows that there is considerable shortfall in the first two of these. I appreciate this section may not be of interest to most of my readers, so please follow the link to read on. 

You will find full data for each school in the Individual Schools Section of this website. Currently, the large data bank is up to date, although commentary is lagging behind in a few cases where indicated (update in progress, or on request).

There are new secondary schools in the pipeline to cater for future housing developments; but the first of these at Chilmington Green is not due until 2022, so existing schools will need to expand further to pick up the shortfall.   

The big loser is, as is to be expected, Ebbsfleet Academy with 29 of the 32 vacancies in the District (there were none last year), and 31 LAAs. However, under a new headteacher, this is better than it could have been with the notorious Alison Colwell having fled to run a private school in Mallorca. She is seeking to exact her revenge with a book to be published in August. This is reportedly an exposé of her experiences at Ebbsfleet under the title of ‘The Secret Headteacher’. The puff for this (a previous version, since deleted, identifies the author) predictably contains one of the many falsehoods claimed about the school under her headship.

Also losing out is the Inspiration Leigh Academy oversubscribed since its opening three years ago, but now allocated 18 children as LAAs and still with three vacancies. This is intended to bolt on to the struggling Leigh UTC, very short of numbers with its entry at Year 10 admitting just 40 pupils in a school with PAN 120 in 2019. The whole setup is starting to look very shaky. Every other school is oversubscribed.

Around 75 out of county children have been offered places in Dartford secondary schools, the large majority from Bexley, with a similar number crossing the border the other way.  With Ebbsfleet Garden City expanding at great pace, there is sufficient capacity in the District, until 2021-22 when the Alkerden School comes on stream.

Omitting DOYRMS, The District has 7% vacancies, second highest in Kent, all 63 being at Astor College, its popularity having slumped and also offering all Dover’s 34 LAAs. The school's one saving grace is picking up 12 pupils last year between allocation and the October census, some of whom may be refugees, others refugees from Folkestone Academy. Every other school is oversubscribed. St Edmund's Catholic School, last year full for the first time in many years, has continued to grow in strength. The school has the fifth highest increase in first choices in the county, up by 44. It has turned first choices away for the first time and becoming the most oversubscribed school in the District with 31 families disappointed.  Dover Christ Church Academy has admitted another 30 pupils increasing its PAN to 180 for the first time and is close behind St Edmund's, having seen its number of first choices increase by 40. Goodwin Academy is also full for the first time in many years, after the scandal of SchoolsCompany, having been taken over by Thinking Schools Academy Trust. 

Brockhill Park in Hythe is the most oversubscribed school in the District, disappointing 54 first choice families, while the rural Marsh Academy continues to recruit well and for the first time has turned away first choices, seven in number. It is likely that some families from the Marsh, drawn to Brockhill in the past, can no longer access it, because of the flow from Folkestone.  

When MSST opens, the children it draws from other schools will create a churning effect, as children move up to fill gaps opening in the more popular schools. This inevitably reaches through to the two schools at risk, Cornwallis and New Line Learning academies, both run by the Future Schools Trust. These two schools have 132 Local Authority Allocations between them. The only six vacancies currently in Maidstone are at Cornwallis which does not appear in the above county vacancy list, but still has 21% empty spaces before LAAs, at present. The problem is exacerbated by the annual high number of successful appeals at the four Maidstone grammar schools which last year absorbed 187 further children. These are drawn mainly from the same two schools after trickle down. The KCC Commissioning Plan for Maidstone non-selective places forecast there would be a surplus of 607 places in September 2020 after MSST came on line. This is a figure larger than the total capacity of Cornwallis and New Line Learning academies! 

Unfortunately, this hardly touches the issue of the large number of Sheppey families trying to avoid Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey (OAIOS). These, along with families, often to the south of the town, who would have looked to Fulston Manor  are desperately seeking schools on the mainland but instead themselves part of the 101 Local Authority Allocations at OAIOS (second highest figure in Kent and over 30 more than ever before). This still left the school with 66 vacancies, also the second highest figure in Kent. Each year when I was offering individual professional advice, I received enquiries from large numbers of these families at their wits end and refusing to consider Oasis with its awful reputation. Only last week I took a phone call from a professional who told me about the large number of reports of bullying at the school which they received. I am not convinced any of these families will find the KCC view acceptable.

Not surprisingly Fulston Manor and Westlands schools in Sittingbourne are both in the top six most oversubscribed schools in Sittingbourne, although last year they took very different routes through the appeal process. The Fulston Manor Appeal Panel has not upheld more than seven cases (one per class) in the past six years at least, so the successes will be very special cases.  Westlands upheld 51 out of 52 appeals, but may of course go down a different route this year. The problem has reached crisis levels, with KCC's estimated shortage of  144 Year Seven non-selective  places in Sittingbourne next year, rising to 192 in 2023. The Commissioning Plan recognises there will need to be another six forms of entry in 2023, but puts through no solution. Some years ago, a new school was proposed, but there is now no mention of this. Oasis saw a fall of 51 potential Year Seven children between allocation and the October school census last year. The decline in Oasis numbers has seen the school mothball one of its two sites, but for how long. Reopening surely cannot be the solution to the coming crisis, but where is there an alternative for those 192 children  Some families desperate enough to avoid the school home educate with around 150 families on the Island trying this at present! This should not be happening. Girls might like to try Rainham School for Girls in Medway.

The Sittingbourne School saw the second highest increase in first choices in the county, at 55 taking it to 21 first choices oversubscribed. It still did not appear to have any appeals last year, and Abbey School, Faversham, which is slowly losing out in popularity to the much improved Whitstable, just filled. 

According to the now out of date Commissioning Plan, 'Forecasts indicate a deficit of places for both Year 7 and Years 7-11 over the Plan period. In the short-term this increased demand will be met through temporary additional Year 7 places at Royal Harbour Academy, whilst bringing forward the permanent expansion of King Ethelbert School by 2FE for September 2022. Ursuline College will expand by 1FE later in the plan period to meet the forecast need from 2023'. Meanwhile, the misery for too many parents continues, with 187 children being allocated to Hartsdown and Royal Harbour academies through the LAA process, having tried to avoid the two schools. These are both managed by the Coastal Academies Trust along with King Ethelbert, the second most oversubscribed school in Kent, meaning the Trust controls over half of the secondary places in Thanet.  

St George’s CofE, whilst still the third most oversubscribed non-selective school in Kent, is declining in popularity! This year 129 first choices were turned down, against 2019’s 182, the fall possibly reflecting the disappointing GCSE performance in 2019. Performance is still significantly better than Hartsdown, Royal Harbour and Charles Dickens, three of the lowest five performers in Progress 8 GCSE in Kent.

It has now been overtaken by King Ethelbert, with 144 disappointed first choices. The other two oversubscribed schools are Charles Dickens, which has fallen from 77 to 37 first choices declined, and Ursuline College, which has chosen to reduce its intake back to 150 from the 180 of the two previous years, and is oversubscribed by 24 places (23 in 2019).

The previous link also provides much background information to the following data for Hartsdown and Royal Harbour, as my most recent article on the decision to reinstate the new Thanet Skies Academy.  

A further issue in the District is that 79 local grammar qualified pupils have been rejected from their first choice grammar school, so it is unlikely that many will be taken out of these two schools through grammar school appeals.

I have written previously about the avoidable disaster that led to Holmesdale  being placed in Special Measures following repeated failures by KCC to take action. A more recent article contains further revelations about KCC’s failures. The school is now rapidly improving its standards under the leadership of Swale Academies Trust with a much better GCSE performance and pupils no longer leaving the school during the course; however it takes time to rebuild a school’s reputation. As a result, there are still 70 LAAS out of the school’s 155 offers, and it currently depends on children from Medway to keep it afloat. 

Hayesbrook School continues on a downward slide as GCSE performance continues to decline from being the fourth highest performing Kent non-selective school in 2015 to Well Below Average and one of the lowest Kent performers in 2019. This will no doubt have influenced its current sorry state where it depends on pressure for places in Tunbridge Wells to keep afloat (see below). 56 of the 133 places awarded were LAAs, more than the number of first choices, at 54 the lowest number of any school in the county. Even more worrying, last year 59 of the 130 pupils offered places in March 2019, did not arrive in the school according to the following October census. That is 45% of the original number of places allocated, the highest dropout rate in the county. There is an item about the Brook Learning Trust which runs the school, earlier in this article. 

The crisis in secular non-selective provision in Tunbridge Wells is set out clearly in my 2018 article, which explains how a new school was lost through lack of a sponsor, and drawing on the Kent Commissioning Plan for 2018 which set out the need. The 2019 Plan was much less clear about the problem, stating that: 'the strategic response to this demand is a proposed 6FE expansion of an existing school or a new school from 2021-22'. There is no explanation how this is to be achieved, and the idea of expanding an existing school by 6 FE, is mind boggling. The 2020 Plan loses the problem completely recording that:

The use of the term ‘permanent’ makes it unclear if this extra provision, presumably at Skinners Kent Academy, is in addition to its current intake of 240 pupils, or if it is merely consolidation of the 60 places put in last year. 

So how is this sleight of hand achieved? Quite simply by spreading the children across a ‘Planning Group’ vision that takes in Tonbridge and Cranbrook, with some Tunbridge Wells boys unable to access local schools being dispatched to Hayesbrook (56 LAAs) and, I suspect, mainly local girls off to High Weald (32 LAAs), 20 miles away - last year some came from as far away as Edenbridge. TW girls cannot access the heavily oversubscribed Hillview School in Tonbridge. That totals up to 88 Tunbridge Wells children excluded from schools in their own town. There is still plenty of room in the low performing Hayesbrook and High Weald schools, both Brook Learning Trust Schools, see earlier item. 

High Weald Academy in Cranbrook, has recently had a major building programme, at a cost of some £13 million, replacing most of its older buildings. This has to be a high risk strategy, as the school has seen for some years the  biggest vacancy rate in the county along with a regular replacement programme of leaders in a vain attempt to improve matters, but no doubt the new premises were seen as an attraction to improve matters. Perhaps because the premises works were not completed by the time secondary admission forms were submitted in November, this hasn't worked yet, attracting just 55 first preferences with 96 places being offered in total for a school with a PAN of 180, at 36% the highest vacancy rate in Kent.  

Apart from the lack of the planned new school, the root of the problem lies with the two church schools. Bennett Memorial Diocesan School, which is consistently the highest performing (together with attainment) non-selective school in Kent and amongst the most oversubscribed, turning away 85 first choices this year. A key factor in this success is its highly selective religious criteria for admission, across seven categories, which only give limited priority to distance from the school. As a result, 41 places are going to Out Of County children this year (39 from East Sussex), and many others will be drawn from outside TW, at the expense of local children. St Gregory’s Catholic, 37 first choices disappointed, has a similar complex arrangement, but with just eight children from East Sussex. This leaves just one secular school in TW, Skinners Kent Academy, with 12 first choices oversubscribed for its 240 places, having expanded from 180 last year. 51 children from the area have decamped to East Sussex schools, 44 of them to Uplands Community College, the nearest school to TW.

Mascalls School in Paddock Wood has seen a sharp loss in popularity for reasons that are unclear, down by 59. but still leaving just one vacancy. 

Last year I finished this section with:'In other words, KCC does not know either where  the needed additional places are coming from or where they are going to place non-selective children who don’t qualify for faith schools, an issue that is not even mentioned!' The quotation still stands.

 Unfortunately, whilst the three points above may well be aims for KCC, my District Survey above shows that there is considerable shortfall in the first two of these. I appreciate this section may not be of interest to most of my readers.

I don’t intend to carry out a full analysis of the 162 pages, but draw some observations from the secondary schools section. It is unfortunate that the target is immediately nullified by the statement: ‘For this iteration, we have reverted back to publishing forecasts that do not include the pupil places required to support planned housing and therefore they  will need to be read in that context’ . In previous years KCC has taken planned housing into account which makes sense. It is some years since I had a public argument with the then Director of Education for Kent, who insisted that county policy was only to build new schools after there were sufficient pupils to fill them. The new policy appears to revert to those days, when the ambition to provide places for all learners saw some being allocated schools in other towns, although in reality we are already there in Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells.

This shift in policy may have followed the current debacle in Thanet, where planned housing has not arrived at the rate expected, a new school has been cancelled, although as a result, 187 families are allocated to schools they did not apply for and which are not regarded locally as of high quality. A reported 150 families on the Isle of Sheppey home school rather than send their children to the local school, unable to get a place in one of the three Sittingbourne schools, all bulging at the seams.

Whatever, the shift in policy accompanies an optimistic short term plan, which now assumes that schools in various parts of the county will be able to expand to whatever size meets the need, never mind the clear statement in the document that the recommended size of secondary schools should be between six and eight forms of entry.

It is certainly not KCC’s fault that whilst they are responsible for providing a school place for every pupil, they are not given the power to bring this about, nor to provide enough high quality education places located in the right areas. This is partly because Academy Trusts now run three quarters of Kent secondary schools, and in addition problems with finding sponsors, getting approval and planning have seen delays in getting most new schools off the ground.

However, surely one function of the plan is to identify problems which it clearly does not, instead papering over the cracks, presumably hoping that 'something will turn up'. And so we are left with the situation in Tunbridge Wells where a proposed new school failed to find a sponsor, and KCC now appears to have whitewashed the school and its six forms of entry out of its planning, instead expanding the eight form entry Skinners Kent Academy by two more classes if it allows, and dispatching those children unable to be accommodated to schools in Cranbrook, twenty miles away, and Tonbridge as is already happening. In Sittingbourne large numbers of pupils are offered places on the Isle of Sheppey where many families are taking whatever steps possible to avoid the local school. In Thanet, KCC policy is in ruins.

You will find direct quotations from the new regulations in blue below. Recent updates are in red

This is my fourth article on Coronavirus, Number Three being here, as the format of appeal hearings have clarified with fresh releases of information and regulations. I have also written a recent article on Coronavirus: Kent Test, Grammar School Admission and Appeals 2020 which includes amongst other matters, a look at different aspects of, and fresh problems with, appeals at grammar schools. 

I recognise I am not a lawyer; this being just the view of a practitioner (although with over fifteen years experience of appeals as panellist, trainer and adviser to families). To be clear, this is my personal interpretation, and may well be regarded as controversial in places. No doubt we shall soon hear the legal interpretations of the new rules, but this article is mainly written from a human perspective.. I have conducted an online survey of many Local Authorities and have only found two so far which have taken a position (27/4), Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire County Councils. See update below.  

In Kent and Medway alone, over 3,000 secondary school appeals were heard last year, more than twice as many as any other Local Authority, and over four times as many as the large majority. Initial reports suggest that the number of appeals locally will be significantly higher for 2020. Seven local schools had over 80 appeals each in 2019, with two hearing 130 appeals, many panellists volunteering to hear appeals for a number of schools.  Now the schools are closed, the ranks of administrators depleted through the pandemic and its consequences, and no doubt many volunteer panellists pondering on whether to get involved due to the current uncertainties. In this case a decision to greatly expand the workload for each appeal, as spelled out in the new Regulations, appears foolish in the extreme and shows  a lack of awareness of the job in hand.

In particular the regulations bear down hard on appeals to be decided on the basis of written submissions only, their recommendations detailing an enormous extra administrative burden, surely impossible to deliver without the caveat noted below.    

 Overwhelmingly, the regulations appear to have been written by Civil Servants who regularly use Video Conferencing and clearly assume that the rest of the nation is equally comfortable with it. They make the assumption that appellants and panellists are more conversant with video conferencing than many Members of Parliament and media correspondents at Minister’s briefings, and that they will be using technology that is more effective than either of these. One of my correspondents wrote, ‘everyone is familiar with video conferencing through pub quizzes, etc’. It doesn’t take a moment to see that an appeal hearing in this mode is far more complex than these, with critical live exchanges between different members of the conference between at least six people, several of whom may never have encountered the concept before. Current practices see at least a dozen half hour appeal hearings per day on a tight schedule per school, so any hitch in the technology is going to throw this out of kilter, and be reliant on the clerk to solve problems of timing and rearrangement. The television programme 'Have I got News for You', currently conducted remotely, is a good example of how the content of a half hour programme  becomes greatly reduced in this mode. Therefore, in the case of video conferencing, the Appeal Panel and clerk will need to make a  choice of: holding fewer hearings each day to a very flexible timetable; curtailing discussion in each hearing; or rearranging appointments as the day goes on. All this in a very tight schedule for appeal organisers including KCC, which will inevitably have that reduced pool of volunteer panellists.   

I am conscious that the issues are most acute in the 38 Kent and Medway selective schools, which held 72% of the local 2019 appeals. These can become quite technical through examination of the evidence to justify  grammar school ability. However, quite simply the document washes its hands of problems, merely noting that panellists should only be appointed if they have the necessary equipment or facilities; no mention of expertise, confidence or specific training for remote hearings. Parents are dismissed with the patronising: ‘It is recommended that appeal panels bear in mind that appellants may be less familiar with this kind of meeting’. No explicit mention of the many who may have no experience whatever, nor the ability to manage conferencing. 

On the following pages you will find sections on: Some General Principles in the Regulations; New Deadlines and Timescales;  Effect of the Temporary Regulations on Hearing Appeals; Welsh Office Regulations; Appeals decided on the basis of the written submissions only; Concluding Thoughts

• The overriding principles governing all appeals are procedural fairness and natural justice.  I am sorry but this is simply not true.  In the case of video (or telephone, even more difficult to visualise) conferencing, a massive advantage falls to those comfortable with using the facility.
• TheSchool Admissions Appeals Codehas not been amended by these temporary regulations, and the vast majority of its requirements remain appropriate and must still be complied with.
• Where face-to-face hearings cannot take place, hearings should be conducted by telephone or video conference. Where telephone or video conference is not possible, appeals conducted entirely on the basis of written submissions are acceptable. At least  three Local Authorities have now decided on their policies (written 27/4): Somerset and Hertfordshire(Telephone Conferencing, details to follow 24th April update); also Northamptonshire which has  published this policy at face value without amplification. Most have not, although time is passing. The written submission option is relegated to being only acceptable when telephone or video conference are not possible. The clerk is required to contact all appellants preferably by telephone (seebelow) to establish if they have the necessary equipment. There is no mention of whether appellants are to be asked or assessed (how?) if they have the competence  or confidence to manage a conference hearing. Too many will sign up to the procedure through not wishing to  appear inadequate and perhaps damage their chances . This judgement by the clerk appears to be placing a great responsibility on him or her, who will in most cases have no training nor have been expected to have the ability to carry out this critical task.   
• Appeal panels must be transparent, accessible, independent and impartial, and operate according to principles of natural justice (Accessible? Natural justice?).The clerk must keep an accurate record of proceedings.
• Parents retain the right to raise a complaint of maladministration on the part of the appeal panel(one can only hope that the authorities have factored in the large increase in complaints and the resources need to manage them, including the large additional workload that will fall onto schools. However, the very low historical rate of success should mean they will be easy to deal with)
• The temporary regulations work to ensure that the appeals process can continue during school closures by removing references to ‘school days’.

• the parties will be able to present their cases fully; each participant has access to video or telephone facilities allowing them to engage in the hearing at all time; 
• the appeal hearing is capable of being heard fairly and transparently in this way.
• It is recommended that the clerk contacts appellants as soon as possible to explain the new, temporary arrangements for appeals and to establish whether they have access to the necessary equipment for telephone or video conference. Where possible, the clerk should contact the appellant by telephone.  Again, there appears no requirement to establish that the appellant has the skills or confidence necessary to participate in a video conference. I look forward to learning how clerks, especially those responsible for multiple appeal hearings will have the capacity to make up to a hundred plus telephone calls for each school!
•  Where appeals are to be heard by telephone or video conference, it is recommended that panel members are only appointed if they have, or can be provided with, the necessary equipment and facilities.Rightly so, but this introduces an additional filter on numbers. Again, there is no requirement that panellists have the necessary skills, confidence or additional training for this very different type of hearing.
• The admission authority must provide a presenting officer for a remote access hearing but, as set out in paragraph 2.11 of the Appeals Code, if no presenting officer attends the hearing, the panel can resolve the case using the evidence submitted by the admission authority if it is satisfied that to do so will not disadvantage the appellant. There is no such requirement for the panel to be satisfied for written submission cases (below).
• As set out in paragraph 2.12 of the Appeals Code, where an appellant fails or is unable to take part in the hearing at the arranged time, and it is impractical to offer an alternative date, the appeal may go ahead and be decided on the written information submitted. The appellant retains the right to be represented or accompanied by a friend in a remote access hearing.It appears from this that where appellants do not have the skills to access Video Conferencing, the Panel can simply ignore them and carry on regardless, in their absence. This would be grossly unfair, contrary to basic principles and likely to occur for some families in the large majority of multiple appeal hearings. The only concession is the patronising and dishonest advice (not requirement) to panels that: ‘It is recommended that appeal panels bear in mind that appellants may be less familiar with this kind of meeting’. Apparently lack of any experience is not to be considered according to this recommendation, for there is no mention of parents who have never taken part in a complex video conference, or have the necessary skills.

Every one of the 77 Kent and Medway secondary schools that held hearings in 2019 conducted multiple appeals. However, the sole explicit reference to these is  as follows:

• Where there are multiple appeals for the same school, the principles set out in paragraphs 2.18 to 2.20 of the Appeals Code continue to apply in relation to remote access appeals. These principles should be considered by the admission authority, clerk and appeal panel in deciding whether it is possible for multiple appeals to be heard on a remote access basis, and how they should be organised. Again, there is no advice on what should happen if a remote hearing is not possible for individual families, nor advice on how they should be organised, in sharp contrast to the detailed arrangements laid down for written submission appeals, below. 

There is nothing of the same prescriptive order for the government’s preferred route of using telephone or video conferencing, presumably drawn up by Civil Servants comfortable with the process, and so assuming that all will run smoothly. 

I am aware that government has consulted with Local Authorities over these regulations but fail to see that any notice has been taken of the above issues in these challenging times, missing the opportunity  to be flexible with the terms of the Appeals Code of Practice. This flexibility has already been used with time limits for hearing appeals, so the principle of holding to the Code inflexibly has already been broken. 

The one saving grace appears to be for appeals conducted through written submission, where 'admission authorities and appeal panels must exercise their own judgement in the circumstances of any particular appeal being considered'. 

I sincerely hope that is the case, lawyers permitting, for the alternative appears to be an unnecessary collapse of the system locally. 

Update Note: My article is primarily critical of the item in The Times, and four academy trusts who appear to have leapt in regardless, in their enthusiasm to follow the government's lead. The various comments below give different opinions on how to manage the crisis, as do views from headteachers in the local  media such as St George's Sheppey, St Peter's Aylesford, Skills for Life Trust, Kent Association of Headteachers, here, etc. Governing Bodies and headteachers of individual schools are those legally and morally responsible for the consequences of their actions, taking their own circumstances and the risks involved into account. Any view of my own from the safe sidelines is irrelevant beside these.  

The Times tries to make out that it is the teaching unions which are 'the enemy' in opposing the opening of schools, ignoring the multiple counter examples of schools and academy trusts featured in local and national media with a contrary view. I have spoken with the leaders of several of these in the past week and all are very worried about the safety of children, parents and teachers and their families, and the impracticability and safety of following the detailed government advice. None has  mentioned the unions. Even more importantly the British Medical Association, representing the country's doctors, has argued that the number of coronavirus infections remains too high to allow schools to run safely. 

I do not consider I have particular insights on this crucial issue of the health of the nation, but it is surely essential to maintained a reasoned approach, based as far as possible on evidence and with the consent of parents. Unbalanced and misleading articles such as this do nothing to help the debate.

For examples of my coverage of the misfortunes of the children educated at Copperfield Academy and Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey,  follow the links and my website search engine. 

 In passing, the headteacher I spoke to this Sunday morning is one of 30+ I have had messages from before mid-day - of which more later! I am told by several of these that being a HT is currently a seven day a week job. I believe it!

Government has made clear there is no penalty for parents who wish to keep their children at home, and schools have the additional responsibility of providing these with some form of education. Some staff are not able to return at present because of their personal situations. It is not clear what the situation is for others who simply feel unable to return at present because of the inherent risks. I can see some schools being unsympathetic and taking action against them. There are schools in great difficulty because of a shortage of staff, for these and other reasons.

One key factor is  places which can vary strongly with social background of families, many schools in disadvantaged areas expecting fewer than half their school roll to arrive in week one. This creates a further uncertainty with an expectation by some that more children will return the following week – but only if week one works well – although some school plans cannot cope with such an increase because of limited space?

My very sincere best wishes to every headteacher, staff and governing body in Kent and Medway as they face up to these unprecedented challenges. 

The total number of children offered places in Kent reception classes on allocation in April 2020 is 17,534, up by 163 on 2019’s 17371, but still lower than the peak of 18,066 of 2016.

The  Commissioning Plan for Education Provision in Kent 2020-2024 provides an official view of the current situation and future planning requirements for Kent and is broadly consistent with this article for 2020 provision. 

This annual report is the longest article I write in the year and will become one of the most visited in time. The parallel 2019 article has now received 15,591 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 2019-20 outcomes to Lockdown here.

KCC has a target of securing 5% vacancies in each District, but the norm is that this often hides a sharp distinction between different areas such as rural and urban, and so I have separated these below. There is also a stated preference for schools to have two forms of entry (60 children), although this is under ever increasing pressure as more places need to be provided. 

 * Including 60 additional places outside the system at Bearsted Primary Academy. 

At the other end of the scale, the schools in the villages in Folkestone and Hythe District have, together with Hythe itself, 23% of their places empty overall, six over a third empty. However, there is the remarkable success story here of Brenzett CofE, regularly a failing school under KCC control with one of the county’s highest vacancy rates annually as a consequence, 75% in 2019. Brenzett has completely filled its 21 Reception places for 2020 as an Academy under the Diocese of Canterbury Academies Trust. 

The level of oversubscription of a school can be strongly influenced by at least  two factors out of its control. Firstly, is the matter of siblings who are generally given priority. A classic case was at Singlewell Primary in 2015, when 25 out of 30 places were awarded to siblings and the catchment distance shrunk to 200 yards. Secondly variation in the number of children living in small villages can produce a considerable effect on intake, although families will still send their children some distance, and I am aware of a number of traditional routes of this nature.

I also look at the KS2 performance table, and  Ofsted performance where these may be relevant to parental preferences, below. 

The Districts surveyed are:

Page 3 - Ashford; Canterbury (including Whitstable and Herne Bay); Cranbrook; Dartford; 

Page 4 – Dover Deal & Sandwich; Faversham; Folkestone & Hythe; Gravesham; Maidstone; 

Page 5 -Malling (including Kings Hill); Sevenoaks; Sheppey; Sittingbourne; Swanley

Page 6 -Thanet; Tonbridge;Tunbridge Wells; Junior Schools; Not Offered the School of Your Choice; Appeals

Individual academies are denoted (A) and schools set up as Free Schools (F).

 Next: Individual Schools in Ashford; Canterbury (including Whitstable and Herne Bay); Cranbrook; Dartford.

Across the District there were just 21 Local Authority Allocations well down on the 55 of 2019.

Outside the town, just five of the 21 schools are mildly oversubscribed, led by Aldington and Wittersham turning away six first choices. Bethersden has turned away a pupil for the first time in years, with 35% of its 20 places empty in 2019.

Lady Joanna Thornhill, in Wye, has seen a sharp fall in popularity dropping from 57 first preferences to 37, leaving the school with 19 vacancies, although I have no indication of why. It has had three consecutive Outstanding Ofsted Inspections, and average KS2 results. Six other schools also have over a quarter of their places empty.

As in previous years, the popularity of the nine city schools is heavily polarised, with four schools oversubscribed, led this year by St Thomas’ Catholic School with 24 first preferences not offered, and one of the highest proportions of first choices per place in the county at 180%. It is followed by St Stephen’s Infants with 17. Wincheap Foundation Primary’s popularity appears to have collapsed, falling from 33 first choices turned away in 2019, to three this year.

The five other schools have 79 vacancies amongst them, Parkside having improved its intake to 50% full, following much improved KS2 results (including Writing Well Above Average, although it was amongst worst in Kent in 2018) at the expense of Pilgrims Way (A)  going the other way, the area having suffered from receiving a large London overspill population over the past few years. As a result the only school due for expansion is  Pilgrims Way due for expansion in 2021 as explained here.  

There is a quite remarkable shift in parental choices in the rural hinterland, which has seen a fall of 26 in the number of children being offered school places, to 2020’s 351. In 2019, there were two heavily oversubscribed schools in Blean and Bridge & Patrixbourne CofE, also the top two in 2018, along with another five oversubscribed schools. For 2020, choices appear to have fallen much more equally amongst the 12 schools, with Blean oversubscribed by 13 first choices (down by 18), Barham 10, whilst Bridge & Patrixbourne did not fill.  The only other oversubscribed school is Wickhambreaux with two disappointed first choices.

Although numbers are up along the coastal strip, there is still plenty of capacity, with just two of the nine schools oversubscribed, Herne CofE Infants 26 disappointed first choices, and Hampton 10. The only other school that filled was St Alphege CofE Infant, which had 24 vacancies in 2019.

As in previous years Goudhurst & Kilndown CofE is significantly oversubscribed as usual with its Outstanding Ofsted, although disappointing KS2 results by its own standard in 2019. With 14 first choices turned down, it has almost been caught up this year by Benenden Primary, benefitting from its complete rebuild last September, disappointing 12 first choices whereas in 2019 it didn’t quite fill. In all, seven of the 12 schools oversubscribed.

A new school, St Andrew’s CofE (F) had been planned for Paddock Wood, but has been put on hold because numbers didn’t hold up. The correctness of this decision is underlined by applications for Paddock Wood (A) with 21 of its 90 places unfilled this year, down from 4 vacancies in 2019.

West Dartford is one of the tightest areas in Kent with only 1% of vacancies. It will be even tighter next year unless extra accommodation is found. This is in spite of the new River Mill Primary (F) joining the Kent Co-ordinated admission scheme for the first year and taking in 60 children  (it admitted 30 children in both Year R and Year 1 directly for 2019).

The most oversubscribed school is Wentworth (A) with 33 disappointed first choices, having shot up from just three in 2019, in spite of its below average KS2 performance measures. It is followed by St Anselm’s Catholic with 19 and Joyden’s Wood Infant (A) with 10 first choices turned away. The latter had 11 of the 12 vacancies in West Dartford in 2019, the transformation in outcomes again having no obvious reason.

Biggest loser is of course Dartford Bridge (A), which had 33 first choices turned away after news of its Special Measures Ofsted broke in 2019, but even then has four disappointed first choices this year. The other loser is Westgate, although it is also just full, having had 21 first choices losing out in 2019. The three schools with vacancies are Temple Hill (23, out of 120 places) Holy Trinity CofE (three) and Wilmington (A), six, although with inward migration and rising rolls in the District many of these will have vanished by September.

The East of the District is naturally dominated by the growth of Ebbsfleet Garden City.  Another new school, Ebbsfleet Green Primary (F), is opening in September with applications made directly to the school outside the Kent co-ordinated admissions scheme. Unfortunately, delays to the building programme have led to temporary premises being adopted nine miles away from the permanent site.  It will join Cherry Orchard Primary Academy (F) opened in 2018, currently oversubscribed by 20 first choices, many of whom will presumably transfer to the new school in September.  The next new school at Alkerden is due to arrive in 2022, which will be part of an all-through school. Three other schools of the 16 in the area are significantly oversubscribed, headed up by The Brent (A), the second most oversubscribed school in Kent, turning away 44 first choices, although this number has fallen from the 86 of 2019 to lose its top spot, presumably as families become more realistic.  Nearby Gateway (A) with 28 disappointed, and its excellent KS2 results last summer, also continues to be very popular. Craylands with 14 oversubscribed presumably benefits from the continued unpopularity of Knockhall (A), recently looked at here following its Requires Improvement Ofsted inspection, but which has seen its vacancy rate leap to 53% of its 90 places in spite of eight Local Authority Allocations,  one of the highest percentages in Kent.

Out in the local villages, Bean Primary still struggles to attract pupils in spite of its Good Ofsted, up from RI, published just before applications closed, with 14 of its 30 places vacant.

Next: Dover, Deal & Sandwich; Faversham; Folkestone & Hythe; Gravesham; Maidstone 

In Dover, St Martin’s (A) again heads the list turning away 11 first choices, followed by Temple Ewell with eight. For another year, over half of the 20 schools have vacancies.  Not even Sibertswold, with 100% of children reaching the expected KS2 Level in 2019 can fill with six vacancies. 

The only school in decline in popularity is Selling (A), which has seen a sharp fall from having made 18 offers for its 30 places in 2019, to just eight for this year.

Bysing Wood (A), perennially struggling ot attract pupils, in spite of two consecutive Good Ofsted inspections, has also seen an increase in numbers for 2020, offering 29 places, although including 12 LAAs reflecting the pressures elsewhere. The school has a PAN of 60, having had this doubled by KCC for some reason, although it hasn’t filled even 30 places since then.  The school has now joined with three other East Kent primaries to academise and form the EKC. According to the most recent inspection, the headteacher is ‘held in high esteem by the local authority which views the curriculum you have developed as a model one’ and it is unclear of the source of the continued unpopularity although it dates back for at least 15 years.

There is no doubt that the main headline is the success of Brenzett CofE (A) in attracting a full house of 20 Reception pupils, for the first time after many years of failure under Kent County Council. It became an academy with the successful Canterbury Diocesan Trust and is one of a number of schools turned round from Special Measures to Good by the Trust. It has taken time to convince parents and in 2019 just five children were offered places. 

There are no serious problems with oversubscription across the whole Shepway district. Just one of the 36 schools is significantly oversubscribed as it has been for some years. Sandgate Primary has 26 first choices turned away this year, up from 14 in  2019. Three schools have 10: St Martin's CofE; Palmarsh; and Stowting CofE, with its superb KS2 results. 

However, the other main headline for Shepway is, as it has been for the last three years, the failure of Morehall (A) with 50% vacancies and Martello Primary (A)  47%, to attract pupils, by some way the highest vacancy rates in Folkestone, both schools being run by the appalling PR organisation that is Turner Schools. You will find the most recent of multiple articles about the Trust’s failures here. The Trust also runs the controversial all-through school, Folkestone Academy (A), but appears to have allowed the primary section to run on its own terms in the past, being an Outstanding school when it was separate. This clearly suffers reputational damage from being associated with Folkestone Academy and so it has been decided to split the two sections, waiting for approval to separate in September 2020. It has been oversubscribed for many years, but for 2020 has 10 vacancies, so clearly it is time for the break. The departure of the previous CEO is clearly an opportunity for the Trust to improve by focusing on the task of improvement. 

There is just one school with a higher vacancy rate than Morehall, the small rural Bodsham primary with 54% of its 13 places empty. In all 10 of Folkestone’s 17 schools have vacancies, and 11 of the 19 Hythe and rural schools.

This is the only area in town under pressure, although  Springhead Park School (F)opening  towards Ebbsfleet in September, creating 60 additional Reception places will ease this considerably. Exceptionally the new school will also take an unspecified number of pupils into years One to Four. As with all new schools, Springhead Park accepts applications directly in its first year,

Previously, KCC persuaded sponsors to pull out of a planned new school in the same area in 2018, on the false grounds it was not needed. They also did exactly the same once before arguing that a new school in the area would place the struggling and nearby Dover Road School (now Copperfield Academy) in jeopardy, resulting in a shortage of places for the past few years. Springhead Park could now well prove terminal at last for Copperfield Academy, as its standards have slipped even further, becoming by several measures the worst primary school in Kent. I looked most recently at Copperfield Academy (A)here. In 2019  the school was the only one of the eight Northfleet schools, with vacancies, having  just 31 first preferences (along with any children with Education Health Care Plans) with a total of 37 children offered places who applied for the school. There were 14 Local Authority Allocations.

For 2020, quite remarkably each of these situations has declined further, demonstrating the complete lack of faith in the school by local families. There were for 2020 admissions, 22 first preference offers for the 90 places (the lowest proportion in the whole of Kent); 29 children offered places who applied for the school (second lowest in the whole of Kent); 42 Local Authority Allocations (nearly twice as many as any other school in Kent and in any case the highest proportion).  Its Key Stage Two performance last summer, also placed it amongst the worst primary schools in the county. On the other hand, Ofsted thinks in a monitoring inspection that the school is doing a good job. With the new Springhead Park ready to rifle its current Years R to Three for September, many parents are likely vote with their feet.

There are 14 other vacancies, all in one school, the previously well regarded Shears Green Infants, which has traditionally been well oversubscribed. Many of the oversubscription pressures on other schools can be traced back to the problems of Copperfield as families try desperately to avoid it.  

The situation in Gravesend is very different, with four of the eleven schools being oversubscribed, the other seven having vacancies. The new primary section of the all-through St George’s CofE (A) has the highest level of oversubscription, turning away 17 first choices, followed by St John’s Catholic (A), last year's runaway leader, with 13. Next comes Kings Farm, oversubscribed for the first time ever, disappointing seven first choice families, having improved year on year since its disaster in 2014, initially described here. It then joined a Federation with Ifield Special School that proved its salvation. Its recent Good Ofsted and excellent KS2 Progress Level placing it sixth in the county, both reflect the remarkable transformation of the school.

Westcourt (A) has 21 vacancies, followed by Holy Trinity CofE with 20, hit by two nationally covered scandals in the past year. Next comes Tymberwood (A), the second school in Gravesham to be run by REach2 with 19. The Commissioning Plan reports that one primary school in west Gravesend will reduce its PAN by 30 places, because of the surplus, although no sign of this.

The seven village schools in the District are all oversubscribed apart from Vigo Village Primary to the south. Several of the others, especially Cobham (20 disappointed first choices) draw pupils from out of Gravesend, and in the case of Istead Rise (A), 15, now much improved following re-brokering, from Northfleet. The Commissioning Plan considers that any future shortage (although) it has already arrived!) will be met by surplus places elsewhere, presumably in urban Gravesend!

Three of those which may be affected include nearby St John’s CofE (A) which is currently the most oversubscribed primary school in Kent, with 55 disappointed first choices, and the second highest proportion of first choices per place. Others include Valley Invicta (East Borough) (A) 30 children unsuccessful; and Greenfields (A) 26, although their very popularity may enable them to keep pupils. Thurnham CofE Infants, Madginford and Sandling, all oversubscribed to a lesser extent, may also lose pupils. Other popular schools are South Borough (A) with its excellent KS2 results and St Michael’s CofE, turning away 23 first choices; Langley Park (F), a new Free School, four years old, in a growth area of the town with 22 first choice families losing out; and Loose (A) with 21,  but sharply down from the 48 of 2019. 

Coincidentally, the two schools with five vacancies each out of the 12 in total, Jubilee (F) and Tiger (F), were both set up as Free Schools, Jubilee by an Evangelical Christian Group and Tiger  whose Ofsted rating fell from Good to RI, along with some of the poorest KS2 results in Kent last summer, by the Future Schools Academy Trust. Four other schools only filled by significant numbers of Local Authority Allocations, most at Archbishop Courtenay (A) with 23, with some of the poorest KS2 results in Kent, and Molehill (A) with 20 although now armed with a Good Ofsted, two schools which have both struggled for too many years.

The Commissioning Plan is quite gloomy over provision in town: ‘This town centre pressure will be mitigated via places available in the Maidstone North planning group with the September 2020 opening of the new 2FE Bearsted Primary Academy Free School. Forecasting methodology uses existing travel to school flows to distribute Reception pupils from each primary planning group into individual primary schools’. i.e. There aren’t and won’t be sufficient places locally and children will need to be sent elsewhere.  

The situation outside the town is very different with none of the 20 schools being significantly oversubscribed. Bredhurst is oversubscribed by 10 first choices losing out for just 15 places, and Hollingbourne with five.   There are just four other schools oversubscribed by one or two families losing out. 

Of the twelve schools with vacancies, four have over half of their places empty. Three of these have just four pupils offered places in Reception for September: Laddingford St Mary’s CofE (PAN of 13), continuation of a steady decline over recent years; Leeds and Bromfield CofE (PAN of 15), also with five or fewer pupils in two other age groups, second lowest achieving school at KS2 in 2019; and Platts Heath (PAN of 13),  normally much higher. One problem with schools serving small rural communities is that numbers can vary considerably year on year, but one can only wonder how long some of these small schools will survive independently, although Leeds & Bromfield and Platts Heath are already part of the Aspire Federation of four small village schools.

Next: Malling (including Kings Hill); Sevenoaks; Sheppey; Sittingbourne; Swanley

The most oversubscribed school is Valley Invicta School at Aylesford (A), with 23 first choices rejected for its 30 places. However, the PAN of 30 is somewhat puzzling. Until 2019 the Planned Admission Number was 45, but for the past two years the Valley Invicta Academy Trust has raised the intake to 60 children, with most Year Groups now having 50 or more children. For 2020, the PAN was reduced to 30 children, although no explanation is offered for this reduction and presumably the accommodation is there with the larger numbers leaving at the top end. Hence 23 families deprived of their first choice.

Of the other ten oversubscribed schools, only three have rejected more than four first choices. These are Valley Invicta (Holborough Lakes) (A) at Snodland, turning away 18 first choices, serving a major new housing development, Ryarsh with 12, perennially popular with its Outstanding Ofsted dating back to 2012, and Brookfield Infant (very close to Aylesford), nine.  A few years ago, the three Kings Hill primary schools were all oversubscribed, with some children being diverted to West Malling, but numbers have fallen perhaps as families have matured, and just two families lost out on their first choice across the community.

Plenty of vacancies, including four schools with more than a third of their places empty. A few years ago, West Malling (A) was very popular, but has lost its attraction with 16 of its 30 places unfilled on allocation. The other three are also well down on previous years Burham CofE has half its 28 places unfilled, well down on previous years. Platt CofE has 10 vacancies out of 26, again well down on previous years.

I split the large hinterland of Sevenoaks into three sub districts, Rural, Rural East and Swanley, the last named forming a separate section.

The main rural area has 21 schools, with eight oversubscribed, but only two in double figures. These are Chiddingstone CofE with 20 unsuccessful first preferences and Crockham Hill CofE with 12. These were also the two top schools last year, but the numbers not getting first preferences are up for 2020.

There are two schools with more than a half of their places unfilled: Churchill CofE, Westerham, whose Ofsted outcome improved to Good arrived to late for admission numbers, with 38 vacancies out of 60; and Halstead which always struggles for numbers, and has slipped back to Requires Improvement, with 15 unfilled places out of 25.

Of the six rural Sevenoaks schools to the East, four are full, led by Ofsted Outstanding Hartley Primary Academy (A), oversubscribed by 21 first choices and  New Ash Green with ten. Horton Kirby CofE (A) with 16 vacancies out of 45 has recently had a Short Inspection where Ofsted found concerns, so it could slip back to RI. West Kingsdown CofE, which has finally had a Good Ofsted after a long period of concern, did at least see an improvement in numbers up to 24 of its 45 places filled, although with seven LAAs.

Two schools which regularly struggle for numbers had over a third of their places empty again. Thistle Hill (A) was ruined by the unlamented Lilac Sky Academy Trust three years ago, but does not seem to have recovered, with poor KS2 results, and 22 vacancies out of 60 places. Eastchurch, somewhat remote on the far east of the island with two sites several miles apart, a recent Requires Improvement Ofsted and recent difficulties,  continues to struggle to attract children with 21 of its 60 places left empty.   

Last year five schools in and near the town of Sittingbourne had vacancies, with 715 offers of Reception places made in total. This year all but two of the 15 schools are oversubscribed as the number of children has leapt to 781, an increase of 8% in twelve months. There are 4% of empty spaces, second lowest proportion in the county. Strangely, the Kent Schools Commissioning Plan (page 123) does not identify this as a problem, identifying a surplus of 13.7% of places across the whole of Swale, whereas it is just Sittingbourne itself with the problem.

The Kent Plan identifies pressure to the north of the town, which apparently can be eased in future years by children taking up places in other areas. It is hoped to have a new all through school for 2023/24 to meet a major development in this part of Sittingbourne, although there are no signs of any progress at present, which may help to ease pressures. Any other pressures will be eased by expanding Sunny Bank School (A) although this is against KCC policy as the school failed its Ofsted last year. The Report made a withering attack on leadership and KCC support, which combined with its dreadful KS2 results last summer, led to an Academy Order and it has now been taken over by the Island Trust. At first glance Sunny Bank has filled for September, which may have taken KCC in, but this is only because of the 19 LAA children allocated to the school, the fifth highest figure in Kent. The Plan forecasts 51 Reception vacancies for the town schools in September, against an actual total of 34.

101 children did not get their first choice school, the most oversubscribed being Canterbury Road again, oversubscribed by 21, followed by Kemsley (A) with 19, another school taken out of KCC control after failing its Ofsted. Then come Iwade (A) and Tunstall CofE with 17; the latter with its Outstanding Ofsted having navigated a difficult period after doubling in size to 60, relocating to the outskirts of town to ease the ‘non-existent’ pressure, and seeing 7 vacancies in 2019. Bobbing (A) has 14 disappointed first choices, Oaks Community Infants(A)  had 13 and South Avenue (A), 10.

The two schools with vacancies are St Peter’s Catholic with nine, 30% of its total and a school that is usually oversubscribed, and Westlands (A) with 25 out of 90, which continues to bump along at the bottom of the table.

Away from the town, Bapchild & Tonge CofE is oversubscribed by six first choices, and Rodmersham with its consistently high KS2 performance and Outstanding Ofsted, oversubscribed by five, half of the ten schools having vacancies.

Next: Thanet; Tonbridge;Tunbridge Wells; Junior Schools

Over half of the Thanet primary schools have vacancies. Drapers Mill (A), Margate, TKAT Academy has 57% of its places unfilled in spite of its Good Ofsted Report and above average KS2 Progress performance, followed by Dame Janet (A), Ramsgate, 54%, TKAT Academy, Good Ofsted but below average Progress; Salmestone (A), Margate 53%, TKAT, Good Ofsted but very low KS2 Progress results last summer; St Joseph’s Catholic (A), 50%; Northdown (A), Margate 42% also run by TKAT, but Requires Improvement; Ellington Infant, 32%, Ramsgate. Whatever TKAT is doing to improve standards it doesn’t appear to ride well with parents.   

Three schools normally top the vacancy list, one of which was Royal Rise (A), now a Cygnus Trust Academy (previously St Stephen’s when it failed its Ofsted as a KCC school ). The other two are Longmead, with 63% of its Reception places empty for September, and in Federation with the nearby Hugh Christie secondary school, Good Ofsted in September 2019 up from RI,  and Cage Green, taken over as an academy last July, by Connect Schools, having failed its Ofsted shortly before. Five other schools also have vacancies.

Temple Grove (A) appears to be improving in popularity year on year from being the least popular in TW in years past, and is full again for 2020, without the large number of LAAs which propped it up in 2019.

Rusthall St Paul’s CofE again has the highest proportion of vacancies at 30% of its total of 30 available, but this is a significant improvement on 2019. Going the other way is Pembury, full last year with 22% of its 60 places empty. St Augustine’s Catholic (A) also has 22% vacant spaces.   

This year all but one of the 1934 children applying for places at one or more of these schools was offered their first choice, a remarkable statistic, given that there were 34 in 2019.

Two schools have 20% or more vacancies (down from five in 2019) 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. The dip in Tenterden Junior School numbers with 38% vacancies appears to reflect a parallel fall in Year Two at the linked Infant School. Christ Church CofE Juniors in Thanet has 25% vacancies but no specific linked Infant school. North Borough Junior, Maidstone with 22% vacancies, but none in 2019, appears to have lost some who would normally transfer from the linked St Paul’s Infant.

You have the right to go on the waiting list for, and appeal for any school on your application form, where you have not been offered a place. You also have the right to make a late application in Kent to any school that was not on your original list, on or after 15th June, when the first reallocation of vacant places takes place to children already on the waiting list. You should use the KCC In Year Application Form and send it directly to all schools you are interested in as you choose, that were not on your application list. You are not restricted to just one school at a time. KCC will tell you which local schools still have vacancies on the day you enquire. This will not damage your chances at any school for which you are on the waiting list. If you are appealing and are offered a place at one of these schools in advance it may be taken into account. However, with the very low chances of success at appeal (see below), this is a risk worth taking.  

A large  number of children are offered places off waiting lists, most setting off a ‘churning process’ freeing up other places. You have nothing to lose from going on the waiting list for as many schools as you  wish. Sadly, chances of success at appeal are negligible in nearly all cases, as explained below. 

You will find further details about the Gipsy Hill and Kingston Polytechnic arrangements  here.  Please note that the degree ceremony, due to take place on 24th July this year has now been postponed because of the coronavirus, so there is likely to be ample time to apply for a ticket. 

‘Eight teachers who brought an employment tribunal case in 2017 were awarded £120,766 after claims against Henriette Le Forestier School for unfair dismissal and unauthorised deduction of wages were upheld. But they could only recover the money from the government’s redundancy payments office, which usually consists of statutory redundancy pay and up to eight weeks’ arrears of salary’. 

At one stage, Patrick Leeson, KCC Chief Education Officer, now retired having become Chairman of the underperforming ‘The Education People’ theoretically an ‘arms length’ company responsible for School Improvement in the county, accused me in writing of making completely unfounded allegations and scurrilous remarks as I continued my investigations.Unsurprisingly  he was unable to back up the allegations with evidence. He continued to heap praise on the company officially at KCC Education Committee Meetings, before and after his deputy left to become briefly its Managing Director. It was only after the Trust was closed down by government in 2016 that he described its behaviour as ‘outrageous’, vindicating all I had written. In  passing, he had claimed the headteacher of Furness put in by Lilac Sky was an SEN specialist but this was untrue, she was a drama teacher and after Furness was one of the many short term heads of Martello.

Articles Relating to Lilac Sky and its successor Companies on www.kentadvice.co.uk  

Furness School closure update, February 2015

The letter does briefly mention the Ofsted ‘Good’ of last year in the second paragraph. The other four paragraphs are about Mrs Moris who has become Acting Principal. There was no warning before she left that Mrs Sowden-Mehta was on her way out, the website still opens with an introduction by ‘Mrs Sowden-Mehta, Executive Principal, Martello Primary and Morehall Primary’ and the last school newsletter at the end of Term 5, sent less than two school weeks ago makes no mention of it, although she signed it.

This article has been extensively updated following comments and information sent directly to me by a variety of correspondents.

The controversy over the 11 plus ban was extensively covered in the national media and I was interviewed on several occasions. I also received enquiries from as far away as Ireland and was sent copies of the relevant Trust Board Meeting Minutes which I used to illustrate my previous articles. Many of the Trust primary schools were up in arms, as, although it is rightly Trust policy to support comprehensive education through Catholic secondary schools, many are proud of their pupils’ performance in the Kent Test and market those successes strongly. To make matters far worse, there was an explicit threat of disciplinary action to headteachers who ignored the instruction.

The ‘position statement’ from the Catholic Archbishop of Southwark, in my view a masterpiece of politics in the way it explains away previous events, made clear that: ‘"The ban was inoperable, discriminatory and not supported Canonically from the Bishops’ Conference, and so could not therefore be Diocesan policy’. Pretty conclusive and placing Mr Webster in an impossible position.

Biggest problem is probably at St Edmund’s Catholic School, a secondary in Dover, which the Trust took over four years ago, and has improved its standard from the previous Special Measures under KCC. It has now improved its image in Dover, and is oversubscribed for the first time in September, turning away 31 first preferences. However, it has been  forced to close its Sixth Form through lack of demand during the lean years, and is currently running at a net deficit of £257,000. Nothing in this article decries this strong performance of the Trust in terms of school achievements and progress. It is rightly proud of its record of running 19 schools, nearly all high performing at either Key Stage Two or GCSE (in an academically selective county), an excellent Ofsted record with six Outstanding schools and, dare I say it, an excellent record in securing places at Kent grammar schools.  

The Trust has a declared ambition to run all 32 Kent Catholic schools by 2022. Presumably those that haven't joined are resistant, and it has been suggested that Clive Webster was an obstacle, so it will be interesting to see what happens now, especially given recent events.

 The biggest question mark is over The Rochester Grammar School, currently with the lowest percentage PP in Year Seven over the most recent three year period, super selective, with a reputation for working well with bright conformist girls. Government considered it appropriate to award it several million pounds in funding for an artificial expansion, on condition that it moved to awarding the majority of its places to the girls living locally, who had passed the Medway Test, no matter what their scores. Presumably this was on the basis that the most good could be done by such a dramatic change of intake, although whether the culture is also capable of making the break with the past remains to be seen. In the event, 83 of the school’s 235 places were awarded to out of Medway girls for the coming September, almost the same proportion as in 2019, presumably because of a high number of siblings.

These show a remarkably consistent percentage of 8% of PP children in Year Seven in each of the 163 grammar schools across the three years 2017-2019, below that for both Kent and Medway. There is just one zero entry across the three years, (excluding Cranbrook School which had no Year Seven in the relevant years) contrary to the wild CF claim of 22 in one year.

For the most recent year available (January 2019 data), most striking are the five King Edward grammar schools in Birmingham which have a very active policy of admitting children with Pupil premium, all five admitting over 20% in 2019. That same year 27% of all pupils were eligible for Pupil Premium (secondary schools will be a little lower). So King Edward VI Aston School admitted 29% PP children, above the national average for all schools.

With regard to comparisons with all children, the best figure would be to take that for PP children scoring highly in the national KS2 tests, who might be considered eligible for grammar school. The only figure I can find is for Kent grammar schools in 2016, where 57% of these pupils are attending grammar school, as compared with 79% of non-disadvantaged pupils. This suggest the Kent procedures are not bad for the aim of treating PP children fairly, although there is room for improvement. Wild comparisons with ALL children are completely invalid.

Please note that this proposal is specific to the Kent Test with its Head Teacher Assessment (HTA) which is different to the Review process operated by many other Admission and Local Authorities such as Medway (see below).

You will find a comprehensive survey of grammar school selection in Kent in normal times  here, and a survey of Pupil Premium numbers in Kent and Medway grammar schools here, which sets the background for these major issues to do with academic selection .  You will find my previous article on the Kent Test and Coronavirus here. 

To consider the two stages in more detail:

Children will have wildly differing experiences of preparation for the Test, ranging from those who have been tutored heavily to children who have had no schooling for the previous six months and come from backgrounds unable to give them support. It is a nonsense to suggest that preparation is unimportant, especially since the test was changed in 2014 to give more focus to curriculum English and maths.

The choice of a pass rate which is fixed to allow a percentage of the Kent state school cohort to be automatically selected is in the hands of KCC and my suggestion is to fix it low enough to enable children less well prepared or who simply were unable to take the test to be considered as fairly as possible. In recent years this has varied between 18-20%, apparently to try and anticipate the success rate at HTA.

There is likely to be a major logistical issue if the number of Out of County candidates is anywhere near the 5000 of recent years. Some centres are not offering their sites for testing for various reasons.  

My proposal rests on the professionalism of primary school headteachers who know the pupils best. I am aware that a small minority who do not have the pupils best interests at heart may buck the system in different ways, and that the prejudices of others may be unfair, but the heart of the principle assumes this will be carried out in an objective manner.

I have floated a straightforward ranking idea before (as was applied to me in the Kent 11 plus  over sixty years ago), but it still allows the HTA Panel to mediate using their own professional judgement and local knowledge. Whether primary headteachers are asked to supply additional evidence would need further thought, as do other aspects of this proposal.

I have not considered the situation of Out of County candidates with regard to HTAs, but I am sure an appropriate formula can be devised. For 2019, there were 4795 children who sat the test, 269 who had HTAs submitted, mainly from Bexley and Medway, but in the end just 408 were offered places.

I cannot see how a similar process would work in Medway, bound in as it is by the useless Medway Review process, which explicitly forbids consideration of any factors extraneous to submitted schoolwork and test scores.

 For families who are unhappy with the outcomes of this process the Independent Appeal process will still exist. For 2019 this saw an additional 570 children offered grammar school places. 

I finalised this proposal after a positive discussion with Paul Carter, CBE, previous leader of KCC which was very helpful

I have written three previous articles over the past few weeks about the Kent Test, looking also at issues of disadvantage in admissions. These are: 

Proposal for the Kent Test 2020 (Personal); Grammar Schools and Pupil Premium Children; and The Kent 11 Plus and Coronavirus: Part Two.   

Other aspects of the Consultation cover the consequences of a delay in testing which would mean results being issued after the national closing date of 31^st October, which I have looked at here. My suggestion of increasing the number of choices to six is picked up and consulted on, but would surely be inevitable if parents are to make meaningful choices of secondary school without knowing the outcome of the Test. 

The other major issue consulted on is what should happen if the pandemic situation deteriorates. The the option suggested is a system of recommendation supported by evidence of academic achievement by each school. Frankly, I think this is unworkable.

I have had several comments about the position of super selective schools under such a scheme.  Quite simply it may be that all candidates for these schools would be required to take the Kent Test. Other Kent grammar schools would be available for those unable to sit the Test, via the HTA route. As it is, Skinners School which had 10 places available for PP children last year, was only able to recruit four PP children. Tonbridge Grammar has made 10 available for 2021 entry. These would still be accessible for children found selective via the HTA route.

However, it could only be accepted by KCC if it met the legal requirements for change. In practice I believe it requires less change than any suggested alternative. Given the stated view of the Secretary of State above to support children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, it is surely a way forward.  

At the end of the day, this has to be a decision made by KCC members and the Cabinet Member for Education, in line with legislation. I don't envy them. 

It is noticeable that neither letter is signed by the Chief Executive of KCSP, who is on long term 'unexpected absence' but both by the Chair of the Trust Board, Mike Powis. I have had correspondence with various educationalists associated with KCSP and past and present parents of St Thomas’. Whilst the former are self-selecting, there is a consistent view about the problems of the Partnership, focusing on the attitudes and actions of the CEO, several of which are outlined in my previous article.  Although there are some families very loyal to St Thomas’, a very significant minority are articulate in concerns about the headteacher and the involvement of her husband in the affairs of the school, dating back several years. What I find unusual this time round is that the normal sense of loyalty that binds Catholics together appears to have fractured, indicating the level of concern felt by so many and underlined by the number and depth of comment on my previous article. 

The letter explains that the members of the Partnership Board:

The programme will start next week so there is a clear sense of urgency. There is a major concern about this 'paramount concern' of which, apparently, there has previously been little evidence. Any sense of Partnership has been secondary to the drive from the centre which created the two major issues described previously, along with others.   

This is a high performing primary school, perhaps not surprising given its location, with the highest percentage in the county of pupil success in the 2018 Kent test at 68%. In most years it just about fills its 30 places; for 2020 six first choices were disappointed.

There have been aspects of the leadership concerning at least a significant minority of parents for some years, including the influence in the school of the husband of headteacher Mrs Aquilina, who is vicar of the Catholic parish of Westerham and Biggin Hill. I do not consider it appropriate to outline the details of the alleged safeguarding incident that has brought the issues to a head, except to observe that is not  of the common nature of such allegations relating to personal relationships. However, if it is as described to me it, would represent a serious breach of both safeguarding legislation and of lockdown requirements.  There is also a separate allegation.

I have seen many letters to parents explaining the absence of headteachers, but not one before that explains in such clarity that it is because ‘Our immediate priority as a Trust must be the children and staff of St Thomas’. Mrs Aquilina is now ‘on special leave until the end of the academic year’, presumably whilst an investigation takes place into the circumstances.

In the meantime, an Acting Headteacher has been brought in to run the school in her absence. He is  Mr Chris Wright, currently Executive Principal of: St Gregory's Catholic Primary, Margate; St Joseph's Catholic Primary, Broadstairs; & St Mary's Catholic Primary, Whitstable, all within KCSP. Staff at the school have been told that any approach to them by Mrs Aquilina should be reported immediately to senior staff without exception.

Please note that this proposal is specific to the Kent Test with its Head Teacher Assessment (HTA) which is different to the Review process operated by many other Admission and Local Authorities such as Medway (see below).

You will find a comprehensive survey of grammar school selection in Kent in normal times  here, and a survey of Pupil Premium numbers in Kent and Medway grammar schools here, which sets the background for these major issues to do with academic selection .  You will find my previous article on the Kent Test and Coronavirus here. 

To consider the two stages in more detail:

Children will have wildly differing experiences of preparation for the Test, ranging from those who have been tutored heavily to children who have had no schooling for the previous six months and come from backgrounds unable to give them support. It is a nonsense to suggest that preparation is unimportant, especially since the test was changed in 2014 to give more focus to curriculum English and maths.

The choice of a pass rate which is fixed to allow a percentage of the Kent state school cohort to be automatically selected is in the hands of KCC and my suggestion is to fix it low enough to enable children less well prepared or who simply were unable to take the test to be considered as fairly as possible. In recent years this has varied between 18-20%, apparently to try and anticipate the success rate at HTA.

There is likely to be a major logistical issue if the number of Out of County candidates is anywhere near the 5000 of recent years. Some centres are not offering their sites for testing for various reasons.  

My proposal rests on the professionalism of primary school headteachers who know the pupils best. I am aware that a small minority who do not have the pupils best interests at heart may buck the system in different ways, and that the prejudices of others may be unfair, but the heart of the principle assumes this will be carried out in an objective manner.

I have floated a straightforward ranking idea before (as was applied to me in the Kent 11 plus  over sixty years ago), but it still allows the HTA Panel to mediate using their own professional judgement and local knowledge. Whether primary headteachers are asked to supply additional evidence would need further thought, as do other aspects of this proposal.

I have not considered the situation of Out of County candidates with regard to HTAs, but I am sure an appropriate formula can be devised. For 2019, there were 4795 children who sat the test, 269 who had HTAs submitted, mainly from Bexley and Medway, but in the end just 408 were offered places.

I cannot see how a similar process would work in Medway, bound in as it is by the useless Medway Review process, which explicitly forbids consideration of any factors extraneous to submitted schoolwork and test scores.

 For families who are unhappy with the outcomes of this process the Independent Appeal process will still exist. For 2019 this saw an additional 570 children offered grammar school places. 

I finalised this proposal after a positive discussion with Paul Carter, CBE, previous leader of KCC which was very helpful

I have written several previous articles on the 2020 Kent Test most recently here (with links to others) and some of the information in this one covers the same ground but is now specific to the KCC decision.  There are two published documents providing the relevant information. These are: The formal proposal that goes to Mr Long for approval; and the press release which is mainly a summary of this. All of the quotes in italics below come from one of these two documents, or from the Headteacher survey (below). The Kent Test identifies approximately three quarters of those children found suitable for grammar schools through three elements, each carrying the same weight: English, maths and reasoning. The remaining quarter of successful candidates comes from a process known as Head Teacher Assessment (HTA) which is not mentioned in either document, although it is unworkable in its present form this year. This is considered further below.

The government’s £1bn catch-up tutoring fund for England's pupils is very welcome, but the clue is in the term ‘catch-up’, i.e. nothing for the more recent and advanced curriculum work needed on which two thirds of the marks in the Kent Test will be based.

Meanwhile, many of those children whose parents can afford it will be put through extended and in some cases excessive coaching to maximise their chances in what is now a loaded competition for places. I have no criticism of the large majority of these. There has been no effective sanction applied to private schools who coach for the Kent Test, although it is officially banned, so these will go into overdrive to secure grammar school places for their children.

The only sop provided is the statement: ‘The proposed delay will also provide an opportunity for all students to take part in school-based learning before undertaking the Kent Test’ , However, schools will clearly focus the five extra weeks on firstly the settling into school life and then some elements of the now missing five months.

If there are no changes to the nature of the Kent selective assessment process, then ‘ordinary families’ will lose out big time, although the numbers selected will still fit the required pattern. The first public measure of this will only be seen when the data emerges relating to Pupil Premium children taking up places in grammar schools for 2021. Currently 9% of Kent grammar school places go to PP children, in my view a fairly healthy proportion, and above the national average. Sadly, I believe that with no changes to the KCC policy the proportion of PP children will plummet, along with those in the east of the county. These children will have been replaced by the academically marginal overcoached children in the wealthier parts of the county which will see numbers soar. The second measure will be in grammar school performance at GCSE in five years time, as too many children inappropriately placed in grammar schools work their way through. This should be a great concern for grammar school leaders.

Whilst there is no mention of the inequity outlined above, ‘The proposed delay will allow KCC to take appropriate steps to ensure that the Kent Test can be delivered in the safest way possible, with sufficient social distancing controls in place, but also accounting for the unexpected educational environment that Year 5 pupils will have experienced in the lead up to taking part in the Kent Test’.  Unfortunately, there is no indication of how this unexpected educational environment will be accounted for.

I have previously explored the relevant issues in some detail here, in an article exploring my own suggestion which addresses these concerns, but there are of course other alternatives.  That article also shows that the current form of Headteacher Assessment, which normally selects around a  further 6% of the Kent Year 6 cohort on top of the 19% identified through the Kent Test, is unworkable in its current form, as the additional evidence of academic ability will no longer be available.

Last year I contributed to a National Report by the Children's Commissioner for England, entitled 'Skipping School- Invisible Children', looking at how some schools pressured families into withdrawing their children to undertake Elective Home Education, a major tactic which can lead to off-rolling. I wrote in my previous article on 2018-19 EHE numbers: 'The four highest EHE schools are the same as in 2017-18 and are four out of the top six the previous year, yet no-one appears to question what is going on in these schools'. Three of these also top the table below!

Such a fall can also happen if there is a partially transient pupil body, for example at schools with high eastern European or Traveller numbers such as the top three schools in the list below. Five of the schools below are also in the 2018-19 table. Hartsdown faces fresh problems with a new school opening in Thanet. Waterfront UTC is the new name given to Medway's UTC after its takeover by The Howard School Trust, following an appalling record under the previous management as Medway UTC, and one would expect to see an improvement soon.  

* Medway School

Noticeably absent from this list are: Ebbsfleet Academy, the worst culprit for several years, following a change of headteacher; Holmesdale School turned around following a controversial management takeover by Swale Academies from Kent County Council, who had sleepwalked it into Special Measures and beyond; and Hundred of Hoo Academy which also appears to be through past difficulties. 

There are nine schools in the table which lost more than 10% of their pupil numbers between starting the school in Year Seven through to January of Year 11 along with: Royal Harbour, 22% (facing a fresh challenge along with Hartsdown); Charles Dickens, 15% (now out of Special Measures, so this is mainly historical)); Hundred of Hoo, 15% (also mainly historical); Greenacre 15%; and Westlands 12%. 

Quite frankly that grammar school decision letter failed on all three counts. It did list the child's strengths which to me appeared quite impressive. However, according to the letter, the panel then simply ' decided that there was insufficient academic evidence to prove to the Panel that your child is of grammar school ability', with no clue as to how it reached this decision. This probably took the clerk ten minutes to dash off, put inside a generic top and tail, which falsely stated that 'the school was oversubscribed and could not take additional pupils without causing prejudice to the efficient provision of education or efficient use of resources'. I understand that a large number of other appeals were successful in this case, so the appellant has been left bemused as to why they lost out, especially as there now appears to be an unusual pattern in the nature of some unsuccessful appeals. 

In short, it is crucial where there is a written only appeal, that the decision letter offers evidence the case was properly considered and not just rubber-stamped out of sight of the appellant.