It has a regular turn-over of headteachers, as the Brook Learning Trust which runs it tries without success to come up with a solution to keeping Cranbrook children in their local school. As far back as 2012, its occupancy rate was just 38% in Year 7. The main concern if it were to close is where the remaining local children would go to school, with no other secondary school nearby.

Brook Learning Trust also runs two other schools, both in the five emptiest, Ebbsfleet Academy and Hayesbrook in Tonbridge. All three have a high ‘wastage’ rate of pupils who joined the school in Year 7, suggesting that the key issue is with the Trust leadership. The previous CEO left the Trust in December 2016. None of these schools is in an area of high deprivation, where problems tend to be highest.   

I have looked at the reasons for Ebbsfleet Academy’s unpopularity  with families previously, including my article on Tough Love Academies. The school is situated in a high housing growth area, but this appears to make no difference, all the other Dartford schools bulging at the seams. The school filled 57% of its places, but sees pupils leaving for other schools or Home Education at a high rate. The current Year 11 has lost a quarter of its Year Seven intake, the second highest figure in the county. 4% of all the children in the school chose Home Education from September 2015 – Easter 2017 (the latest period I have at present), the highest rate in Kent.

The problem at Hayesbrook School, 52% of places filled and third emptiest, is more difficult to pin down, although this is an improvement on 2016 when just 40% of places were filled. Signs are that 2018 promises even less, with 55 first preferences for 2018 admission, down even from the 61 of 2018 and, at 36% of capacity is third lowest proportion in Kent (lowest is High Weald at 27%). Academically the school is one of the highest performing Kent non-selective schools, year on year, much better than its rival Hugh Christie which is as usual, full or nearly full. The previous headteacher appeared to be making an impact on cracking the problem but was discarded. Perhaps another new head appointed last September will make a difference.

Second highest proportion of vacancies in Year Seven is at Holmesdale School, in Snodland, with just 45% of its places filled, a sharp fall from the 79% of 2016, but reflective of other negative factors at the school. GCSE Progress Levels are amongst the worst in Kent, well below average, and below the Government Floor Standard, at which intervention can take place. The School website advertises this as ‘We are celebrating huge improvements in our GCSE results today’. Even more tellingly, Holmesdale had lost 34% of its Year 7 roll by the time they reached Year 11, according to the 2017 census, by some way the highest figure in the county, and well above Ebbsfleet, next on 24%. Some years ago when the school was very popular it joined in Federation with the then struggling Malling School, presumably to support it. Today, the situation is completely reversed, with Malling heavily oversubscribed with 214 first choices for its 159 places for 2018 entry, and Holmesdale down to 75 first preferences for 180 places (although up on last year’s disastrous 67).

New Line Learning Academy, part of the Future Schools Academy Trust, continues to limp along with just over half its places, at 52% filled in Year 7, although this is an improvement on 2016s’s 48%. The school has always struggled to throw off a negative image since it was formed in 2007 by merging two persistently failing schools. Future Schools Trust was one of the first multi academy Trusts in Kent incorporating NLL with Cornwallis Academy, then a very successful oversubscribed school. It was set up with an expansive ambition, but has only added the nearby Tiger Free School, a sign that government does not have confidence in the Trust to award it more schools. Cornwallis declined sharply in performance and popularity and the Trust was served with a Pre-Warning Notice for both schools in November 2015 because of low standards, with redacted items suggesting major problems with leadership. Cornwallis has made some improvement and was awarded a Good Ofsted grading reflecting the changes made by a new headteacher, but this remains puzzling as the school achieved a Progress 8 Grade of -0.51 at GCSE this summer, well below average, fifth worst in Kent and below the floor level at which government can intervene. In December 2016, the Cornwallis Notice was lifted, but NLL was served with a full Warning Notice , although its Progress 8 scores were much improved in the Summer 2017 GCSEs. The number of first choices for 2018 at 85, has improved over 2017s 75. On allocation in March 2017, it was awarded 146 children for its 210 places, but 50 of these who had not even applied to the school were allocated by KCC . A major problem for both schools in Maidstone is the grammar school appeal process. For admission in September, grammar schools were allocated around 200 additional children  for places through appeals, the large majority of whom would have come from local non-selective schools. Pecking order then takes over in the non-selectives for the spaces that have been created, and pupils shuffle up through the schools from those at the bottom, Cornwallis and NLL each losing about 50 pupils.  

Astor College, Dover, has filled 57% of its Year 7 places, down from 62% in 2016, with numbers have been falling year on year for at least five years, as the other two Dover non-selective schools have risen. This is another school that has received both a Pre-Warning Notice and a Warning Notice, with unacceptable standards and poor leadership being criticised. A controversial Ofsted two years ago did not help. Astor had one of the worst Progress 8 results in the county for GCSE in 2017, at -0.51, classified as Well Below Average, and below the floor level at which government can intervene. Strangely and falsely, the legally binding Annual Report of the Dover Federation from the Trustees, published in August 2017, claims on page 8 that the school's Progress 8 score was -0.22, supported by 32% of pupils achieving English and Maths at GCSE, the latter claim being meaningless without a level being given for the GCSE. Apparently this shows the college is performing 'extremely well' and is 'well within the tolerance level of Progress 8'. An astonishingly tolerant level! In yet another false claim, the Annual Report states that 'Astor has experienced a rise in intake this year (2017/18) because of marketing and publicity', when it is actually down by 5%. The Report also notes 'There is a risk of reputational damage caused by inadequate understanding of the context of our schools by Ofsted which could lead to unfair outcomes and reports. Reputational damage is also a risk from an event outside the control of Directors'. 

The school has had close links with the controversial Duke of York’s Royal Military School which supported it from 2010 through a formal agreement which was concluded in February 2017, Astor being a National Challenge school at the start. Oddly, the Executive Head of Astor, together with support staff, ran Duke of York’s as Executive Principal between 2012 round to February 2017. I understand that investigations into DOYRMS are continuing. The school considered its falling rolls are partly due to negative publicity according to its 2016 accounts, which has impacted on its financial situation which is apparently to be resolved partly by future rising rolls! Currently, the school has a Pension Deficit of £4.3 million, and unlike other Trusts with with deficits, no obvious plan for eliminating it. 

Lenham School (previously Swadelands) has had a chequered past, having been placed in Special Measures twice in 2008 and 20015, both as a KCC school. It suffers from its geography, having to attract pupils from South East Maidstone and North Ashford to make up numbers, which fell whenever it received negative publicity. It finally became an academy last March, sponsored by the Valley Invicta Academy Trust, and has seen its first choice numbers rise from 72 in 2017 to 95 for this year, a sign that it is winning back confidence. It filled 59% of its places in September, well up from 39% in 2016. However, reports of VIAT encouraging low performing pupils, especially those with SEN issues to leave part way through their course may be valid, with a 21% fall in numbers between October 2015 and October 2017 from the current Year 11 who will no longer figure in GCSE performance this summer. This is the highest percentage in Kent and  is consistent with the practice of off-rolling described in an article I wrote based on January 2017 figures. 

Up to this point in the article, no Medway schools have featured in the data I have looked at, but the Hundred of Hoo School lost 23% of its current Year 11 cohort from those in Year 9 two years ago, which also fits the off-rolling pattern. Two other schools lost over 15% of their cohort over this period, Aylesford School and Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy.

 

Even so, three grammar schools in Kent and Medway out of 37 shed more than 10% of their Year 12 students before going onto Year 13 this summer, headed by the controversial Holcombe Grammarin Medway, which lost an astonishing 22% of its Year 12 students. It was followed by Barton Court in Canterbury with 13%, and Dover Boys Grammar with 11%. Invicta Grammar, having clearly changed its policy as a result of the negative publicity, saw just 5% of its students leave at the end of Year 12, a figure which may be explicable through student choice.

Most families whose children start at grammar school anticipate their following through to Sixth Form. Nevertheless, some pupils have had enough of school, or in many cases more specifically their school, after GCSE or else are prevented from following A Level courses by ever increasing academic requirements as once again schools chase top grades. This blocks the many students who are perfectly capable of following A Level courses through for moderate grades which would have stood them in good stead for higher education or a career. The data is muddled as some grammars also seek to attract good A Level prospects from other schools, the most extreme examples being Dartford Grammar whose Year 12 expanded by 140 high performing students, many drawn from SE London, and Simon Langton Boys with 93, many of whom will have come from the other two Canterbury grammar schools.

Conversely, six grammar schools lost over 20% of their pupils after GCSE this summer, headed by Folkestone School for Girls with 29% of their girls departing. They are followed by Dover Boys 27%, Barton Court 24%, Norton Knatchbull 23% ,and Chatham Girls Grammar and Harvey Grammar at 21%.

The 2016 accounts list eleven trustees, eight of whom were employed by the Trust on salaries between £80,000 and £20,000, just two, the Executive Principal and the Executive Principal of the Devon PRUs having an education role. Just four remained after the clearout in October 2017: Mr Achilleos; Mr Akhurst, project manager for a building construction company; Mr Parmar, an education consultant; and Mr Rees, a Legal Partner at Price Waterhouse (the last three all unpaid).  The Trust has completely failed the ESFA's requirement to 'immediately strengthen the Trust Board with RSC approved interim Trustees, no later than September 2017'  and there were also a long list of additional requirements. 

When it was in favour with favour with KCC (as was SchoolsCompany), they were advising on CCC as it plunged from Outstanding to Special Measures in just three years, probably the fastest fall from grace in Kent. They worked with Principal Phillip Bunn who oversaw the decline and was so impressed with his work that he became a Trustee of LSSAT and their Head of Safeguarding. He resigned at the time Angela Barry joined the Board as Chief Executive, one of her first task being to withdraw the false 2015 Company Accounts and replace them with an honest set, highly critical of previous management.

Until we have further information, one can only speculate what has been going on behind the scenes at SchoolsCompany, but the financial difficulties and actions of the RSC appear similar to some at LSSAT, where the Trust collapsed owing large sums of money. We can be fairly confident that Angela Barry will face up to the difficulties. 

My own views on the lack of competence of the Education Service at Medway Council will be well known to browsers of this website. However the Council appears conditioned to ride unscathed through all criticism by monitoring authorities, with the changing cast of ineffectual senior politicians and officers making quiet noises of apology in their turn and assuming this will be sufficient. Surely, one day someone senior will be held accountable for the self-serving system which continues to fail Medway’s children – but I am not holding my breath.

Four years later: ‘EHC plans are typically not coproduced in line with the expectation of the 2014 reforms.The varying and often poor quality of EHC plans means that those carrying out the plan do not have to hand key information which could help them ensure that children and young people’s needs are well planned for. EHC plans scrutinised by inspectors contained a variety of weaknesses. In some cases, key information was missing…Where a child or young person has a health need, this aspect is often missing from their plan’. Although I no longer have the capacity to support families through the EHCP process, I am still too often contacted by families desperate for help in the face of an uncooperative SEN Department, or drowning in the confusion created.

One of number of areas where the Report identifies failure to follow the law: ‘The local area’s approach to identifying and assessing children who have autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) does not meet national requirements’. 

This all creates a vicious circle with insufficient specialist places creating a reluctance by Council officers to approve EHCPs whose requirements they cannot meet locally.

‘Some parents and school leaders reported that specialist transport arrangements for taking children to special schools and provision were not suitable. There are concerns that the bus escorts are not suitably trained to support children and young people with complex needs. One special school reported that the current transport provider is excluding some pupils from the bus rather than meeting their needs’. Quite reasonably, where there are sufficient SEN pupils travelling to the same destination, the Authority organises buses for transport, but others travelling a distance out of Medway will be sent by taxi. Surely, the Authority has had sufficient warning of demand to provide extra spaces locally and save on what will be an enormous budget. 

‘Some mainstream schools are not effectively meeting the needs of children and young people with SEN and/or disabilities. This is particularly evident in the high level of permanent and fixed-term exclusions of children who have SEN but do not have an EHC plan’.

This all adds up to yet another monumental failure by Medway Council Officers, led by Director of Children’s and Adult Services Ian Sutherland, who was previously Interim Director, whose background is in social services, and Cabinet Member Councillor Andrew Mackness whose responsibility this is.

The victims are those Medway children who have special needs and disabilities. Urgent action is needed to provide properly for these vulnerable young people, whose life chances are too often damaged by Council failures. In the past when a Report on Medway failures is published, the response is (1) its not as bad as it seems (2) we will carry out a review and come up with proposals which then don’t turn into action. 

Surely this cannot happen again.

I only have access to the figures for salaries of the highest paid staff at Academies or Multi-Academy Trusts, who are nearly always Headteachers or Chief Executives in the Accounts published by Companies House. I have not looked at every Academy Trust in Kent and Medway, but primarily those which came up in my previous survey of 2014-15 salaries and others which look interesting. However, I have subsequently been referred to a list of all Academy Trusts with at least one member of staff on over £150,000 for 2015-16, published by government, and I had identified all of these. In most cases I have published Accounts for 2016-17, others are still awaited, and I have consulted 2015-16 records for these. Salaries are generally quoted in £5,000 or £10,000 bands and in all cases I have chosen the lowest figure or given the range.

Teacher’s Salaries are decided by the Staffing Committee of the Academy Governing Body, who in the case of Knole clearly have no idea what criteria should be applied. Simply looking around West Kent, so that cost of living is removed as a factor, every other academy is performing better than Knole. At the time of the most recent salary award, Knole Academy was classified as ‘Requires Improvement’, three of the others are ‘Outstanding’, and the two others ‘Good’. The great majority of other self-standing academies award an annual salary of £110,000 or less. The only two exceptions, apart from Skinners Kent Academy that I can find are Kent’s two all-through 4-19 schools, being Folkestone and John Wallis in Ashford, both in areas of considerable social deprivation.

Governing Body Committees fixing salaries may argue that recruitment and retention of good leaders is critical to the success of a school, which it is, but some of the examples of bad practice given above will simply attract the high levels of criticism already levelled at the current scandal of Vice Chancellors’ pay, and bring the whole pay structure into disrepute.

I was criticised after my previous article, on the grounds that I was encouraging new high targets for Headteachers to achieve, and certainly looking at some of the numbers above, it is easy to form an opinion  that these are the norm. However, the reality is that the large majority of secondary headteachers are paid no more than £100,000, down as far as £70,000. What is evident however, is that some inexperienced or incompetent Governing Bodies are being bamboozled into paying ridiculous salaries, without thought of the impact these will have on the rest of their school staff, the school finances or the public perception of schools with money to burn, at a time of real financial crisis in schools. I hope that this article will encourage a sense of reality. 

Certainly, Governors at The Knole Academy, surely the worst offender by some way, have real culpability for their failures exposed here, and have shown themselves unfit for the purpose of governing the school.

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

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

By then the focus had shifted to St Olave’s Grammar school in Orpington after parents there had contacted me for help, when I reiterated my recommendation to seek legal advice. Although this involved fewer numbers than Invicta it is a more high profile school and eventually the Department for Education was forced to issue a statement that the practice is indeed illegal, as explained in my follow up article. It was subsequently established that all schools had been made aware of the illegality in 2015,on the DfE Census Return.

My estimate is that thousands of students across the country, and about a hundred in grammar schools in Kent and Medway were illegally expelled by this process, and it is interesting to see how the number of Year 12 students leaving grammar schools in Kent and Medway plummeted that summer. It is not possible to calculate what I believe would also have been  high numbers for non-selective schools, as these may well have many students following one year courses who leave at the end of Year 12 anyway. 

To this day, Invicta has never apologised to the students whose careers they blighted, nor responded to other allegations, the only public comment being a denial of the now proven allegations.

Maidstone Girls’ Grammar also denied my allegation in the same article that they were operating an illegal admission process into the Sixth Form, by setting secret artificially high academic requirements. Even when the Ombudsman ruled in my favour, the school tried to stop publication by falsely claiming his decision was confidential.

Whilst this reduction frees up more time for other activities, including the website which I run single handed, I am finding it increasingly difficult to keep the 412 information pages up to date. My own challenge for 2018 is to consider how to reduce this number whilst keeping the most important items going. 

I continue to act as a source for a variety of media on education stories now, since the sad demise of the excellent Kent on Sunday newspaper, mainly for national newspapers and broadcast media, along with local newspapers and radio stations across the country.

The Google Analytics page for the site identifies the main sources of visitors: London 27,282 (many of these will be looking to Kent grammar schools); Maidstone 7,715; Canterbury 3,816; Gravesend 3,520; Chatham 3,168; Rochester 2,826; Tunbridge Wells 2,775, etc. 

Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media: I have neither the time or the inclination to indulge, but am more than happy if the information and advice provided here is distributed more widely. I only ask that www.kentadvice.co.uk is credited with being the source.

Almost Finally, I appear to have become a source of informal advice to occasional governing bodies, headteachers, teachers and parents, each of whom has been in dispute with one more of the others!

According to reports, there are many in Authority who are keen to see me retire completely and remove an important level of holding schools, academy trusts and Local Authorities to account! I guess I shall continue as long as what I write is valued, I enjoy what I am doing, and my health lasts.

You will find the KCC Press Release here if interested. 

I will update this article as I receive further information. As always, when I get a school by school breakdown, I shall publish a fuller analysis later this month, the 2017 articles for Kent grammars being here, non-selectives here, for Medway grammars here, and Medway non-selectives here. You will find these give considerable guidance on what to expect this time round.

A look at some individual Districts

Most to follow shortly. My apologies, but other matters have had to take priority.  

A number of local children have been allocated High Weald Academy, in Cranbrook an hour and a half by bus away. Whilst I think this is unacceptable, I don't see an obvious alternative, unless Skinners Kent Academy can be persuaded to admit an additional class. 

Round up of Super-Selective Scores

Skinners: Some boys on 363 have been offered places (down from 371 in 2017). Judd: 364 Inner (same as 2017), Outer 395 (400). As noted in a previous article, Judd has expanded its intake to 180 to try and ease the pressure. Tonbridge Grammar School: Inners 369: Governors Places 394 (395 in 2017). In Medway, Rochester Grammar is now the  only super-selective school, with Rainham Mark Grammar switching to give priority to local children. Cut off score in the Medway Test is 520, down by 26 marks on 2017, but with the Medway Test pass mark down by 24 marks, it will be very similar level of difficulty.

Others to follow shortly, weather permitting as most schools are currently closed (3/3)

What can you do if you don't have a school of your choice?

As noted above, don't panic. 

So what next? If you are not awarded the school of your choice, then certainly go on the waiting list for every school you have applied for and still wish to consider. You have the right to appeal to any and every school for which you have been turned down. My article on 2017 appeals should be taken as guidance only, a classic example of the warning of taking data too much to heart being the Harvery Grammar in Folkestone, where, after a 12% success rate in 2016, the school decided it could run an additional form for one year only in 2017, and the success rates soared to 89%, as they sought to admit more children. I don't expect this again.  You will also find plenty of free advice in the appeals sections of this website at: Kent Grammar Appeals; Medway Grammar Appeals; and Oversubscription Appeals. There is also copious grammar school appeal advice on the 11 plus Exams website, although it is not necessarily Kent specific and in any case often written for out of county candidates who have different expectations and perceptions, so be careful. 

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

 You also have the option of making a late application for a fresh school, called an In Year Application from 16^th March in Kent, or go on any school’s waiting list after 25^th April. Details here (page 18). You can apply for as many schools as you wish through this process.  Every year we see a considerable ‘churning’ effect as children take up places off the waiting lists, as children win appeals at higher preferences, and some unhappy families remove themselves from the state system, so don't lose hope!

Medway is far more convoluted and parents and I often find it difficult to pin down a shifting procedure especially with late grammar school applications, the Admission Booklet being of limited assistance. The phrase ‘at the discretion of the Student Services Management Team’ is used too often in discussion.  

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

I don’t believe this is quite correct. What this means is that around three forms of entry have been provided in each of those five forms of entry, which will see some 3000 additional places when all these work through from Reception to Year 6, which won’t happen for another six years! With regard to the ‘joint first nationally’, there is no source provided but, with one of the lowest proportion of good and outstanding schools nationally, this won’t be so amazing.

If this is an important message, why is it slipped out in such a strange and off-hand way, and why is there no detail about the methodology? If it is not important, why is it there at all?

So what next? If you are not awarded the school of your choice, then certainly go on the waiting list for every school you have applied for and still wish to consider. You have the right to appeal to any and every school for which you have been turned down. My article on 2017 appeals should be taken as guidance only You will also find plenty of free advice in the appeals sections of this website at: Kent Grammar Appeals; Medway Grammar Appeals; and Oversubscription Appeals. There is also copious grammar school appeal advice on the 11 plus Exams website, although it is not necessarily Kent specific and in any case often written for out of county candidates who have different expectations and perceptions, so be careful. 

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

 You also have the option of making a late application for a fresh school. Unfortunately, Medway operates a very centralised convoluted process in contrast to Kent's simple system (details here, Page 18). As a result, parents and I often find it difficult to pin down a shifting procedure especially with late grammar school applications, the Admission Booklet being of limited assistance. The phrase ‘at the discretion of the Student Services Management Team’ is used too often in discussion.However, every year we see a considerable ‘churning’ effect as children take up places off the waiting lists, as children win appeals at higher preferences, and some unhappy families remove themselves from the state system, so don't lose hope! 

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

 Note: 46 of the 63 schools had no LAAs.

There are 66 non-selective schools in Kent. High Weald Academy in Cranbrook had the highest vacancy rate at 60%, with just 60 Year Seven pupils in a school designed for 150. After Holmesdale School and New Line Learning, the next two highest vacancy rates are at The Hayesbrook School 48% and Ebbsfleet Academy at 43%. You will find a recent article on vacancy levels across the county here.

High Weald has the lowest percentage of first preferences for 2018 admission at 27% of capacity, then come: Hartsdown 28%; Hayesbrook 36%; New Line Learning; Holmesdale; Aylesford; then Ebbsfleet at 46%.

For 2017, lowest was Hartsdown at 31%, then: New Line Learning; Holmesdale; Hayesbrook 40%; Royal Harbour; High Weald Academy 44%; and Ebbsfleet 46%.

The situation is deteriorating most sharply at High Weald, followed by Hayesbrook.

The unpopularity of the Brook Trust schools does not appear to be primarily dissatisfaction with academic performance with Hayesbrook, in particular, well above average on both measures, and Ebbsfleet above average on achievement. However, these performances are likely to have been achieved at the expense of less able children leaving the schools – see the other factors below.

Biggest loss is at Holmesdale which lost 34% or an astonishing third of its population. Next comes Ebbsfleet Academy with 24% followed by Aylesford 21% and High Weald 18%. Then come: Lenham/Swadelands; Oasis, Isle of Sheppey; Towers; Cornwallis; Hillview; Charles Dickens; and then Hayesbrook at 12%.

The school is in Dartford, along with five other non-selective schools, all oversubscribed. The situation in 2018 with all local boys’ grammar schools oversubscribed has seen a number of grammar qualified boys allocated to Ebbsfleet to the horror of many families. For 2017 entry, 13 children were allocated by the Local Authority (LACs) who did not apply to the school. This figure has soared to 67, the second highest percentage in the county at 46%, for 2018 admission. If they were all to turn up, which is most unlikely, it could present a major problem to have so many children who did not want to be at the school. However, 'Tough Love' would soon see many of them packing their bags and going who knows where. 

The school performs relatively well academically but a quarter of its current Year 11 cohort, the second highest figure in the county, disappeared from the school since Year Seven. If these were factored in, performance would fall. I do not believe that all, or indeed most of the 4.4% of the school numbers, who ‘chose to leave’ for Home Education did so voluntarily, and the Trust surely ought to have investigated what is going on. Clearly ‘Tough Love’ does not work, except to drive out weaker pupils. With just 46% of its places chosen by first preferences ‘Tough Love’ is also failing badly to attract or retain pupils at Ebbsfleet Academy. The other two TL Academies are Hartsdown and Oasis Academy, Isle of Sheppey, that also appear on most of the above lists, underlining the complete failure of the philosophy.

The big question now is:’where now for the Brook Learning Trust?’ The Education and Skills Funding Agency has surely identified the above data, especially the massive worry of High Weald Academy, and the major capital investment planned. Far too many children’s futures are being damaged because of the Trust.

Like a number of other Academy Trusts, Brook is running a large Local Authority Pension Deficit, of £7.5 million, I calculate possibly the fourth highest in Kent. With its finances in such a dire situation, the Trust appears to have no way of recovering this. The get out clause is that if the Trust is disbanded, then government (i.e. the taxpayer) underwrites the loss ; it is not passed on to another Trust which takes over.

The evidence points strongly towards this as the solution for the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

My previous article on ‘Tough Love Academies’ sets out some of the background and there is no doubt that teaching at Hartsdown is a challenge, for the original job advert does not mince its words:

‘I am immensely proud of the care the school takes over every single child – many of whom come from extremely challenging backgrounds. 27% of our students are EAL, with 10% Roma. Margate has become a bridge head for eastern European immigration and Hartsdown has specialised in integrating unaccompanied asylum seeking minors. 57% of our students are disadvantaged / pupil premium – the school serves two of the most deprived wards in the UK, Margate Central and Cliftonville West’. I am not convinced it decided to 'specialise',  for many of these are children who are placed here by KCC here, as there was no other school with vacancies. 

You will find the full advert here or, if it is still online here, painting a very ‘challenging’ picture of the school and District. Unsurprisingly, and possibly when the Coastal Academy Trust CEO saw it, the advert was replaced with a much more positive picture of school and of Thanet that might attract candidates who could have missed the national and local media controversy this generated.

It is no surprise that 85 of the children offered places at the school this month are Local Authority Allocations – children who never applied for the school, but there was nowhere else to send them. This is by some way the largest figure for any school in Kent and perhaps owes something to previous controversies which will have affected the reputation of this unhappy school.

After the adverse media publicity the advertisement was pulled, to be replaced by:

You will find the full replacement advert here or online here, presenting a much more positive view of the post but sadly, probably too late – the damage has been done.

To have a perfect uniform as the third major target in his vision is certainly unusual and, like the rest of the Welcome, appears to be about the Headmaster and his ideals, rather than the school. By contrast, the Home and Welcome Pages of the other two very successful Coastal Academies: King Ethelbert and Dane Court are all about the students and the school with the headteacher rightly taking a much lower profile.

It is clear that as the school of last choice for families in Thanet, Hartsdown needs to change its approach and  somehow needs to build a positive reputation. ‘Tough Love’ and denigration of teachers, the humiliation of pupils and the alienation of parents is not to the way to do it. Something  needs to give!

Of course we have the unsavoury parallel of University Vice-Chancellors on exorbitant pay scales featured highly in the media, but in these cases they are absorbing a far lower proportion of the institution budgets. My previous article about school leaders on high salaries identifies a number of individuals taking large sums of money from their Academy Trusts.

In this case, the Trust approached a Wealth & Pensions Adviser and paid him a considerable fee out of Trust funds. They then wrote to senior staff early in 2016 as follows:

'Given the changes to pension legislation that are coming into force in April this year and which are targeted at higher earners, the Trust has commissioned an independent specialist in Teachers' Pensions to review the position of a number of its senior staff including yourself'.

Subsequently the leader in question wrote to his finance staff as follows:

'I need to come out of the Teacher Pension Scheme on 1st November 2016 and re enter on April 1st 2017 and continue on that basis indefinitely going forward.

I understand that xxx is content for the Trust's employers contribution to be passported to me minus any on costs that the Trust incurs via NI contributions'.

I understand that this procedure is now in place.

I know that new Teacher Pension schemes are designed to stop the highest paid staff walking away with exorbitant pensions, by means of a ‘LifeTime Allowance’ cap, but in any case the Trust concerned has a further scheme to avoid the highest paid staff incurring financial difficulties, adopting a policy as follows:

‘If an individual decides to withdraw from Teachers' Pensions due to the adverse consequences of the reduced annual and lifetime allowances, the Trust will offer the individual alternative compensation in the form of a retirement allowance. This allowance is made in lieu of the Trust's contribution to Teachers' Pensions and would therefore be withdrawn if the individual decided to rejoin the Scheme in future. This allowance would only be available to the Chief Executive, Executive Headteachers and Head Teachers’.

I have been retired as a headteacher some time, still remembering how, at a meeting of heads in the late 1980s, we had a discussion on whether we as the highest paid members of staff, should diminish the school budget by charging travel expenses. The consensus was no. Clearly, I come from a different age, and now some Trust leaders appear to be happy to milk the system for all they can get out of it, with exorbitant salaries, personalised pension schemes, tax avoidance arrangements and lavish perks.

I also wonder how many other academy leaders also benefit from such schemes.

If, as a browser, you think my analysis or conclusions from of the above information, please let me know.

You will find preliminary information on Medway allocations here, and last year's article here. 

The key table is as follows:

In other words, just 14% of those living in selective areas who were not coached gained grammar school places. But surely, as seems likely, the large majority of those not coached never applied for grammar school in the first place (and so presumably should not have been counted in the statistic) this is an utterly meaningless finding. To underline this, of the sample taken, 661 of the 819 children in the sample were not coached, an astonishingly high proportion if only children applying to grammar school were considered. There is a minority of areas, such as Buckinghamshire, where all children (except) those whose parents opt out, take the test, and this is likely to swell the proportion of children who took the test, who had no tutoring and did not pass (they may not have even wished to be part of the process!). However, by lumping Kent (where taking the selection test is completely optional) and Bucks together the data becomes even more meaningless. 

Indeed the whole exercise appears based on the flawed causation that it is primarily tutoring that makes the difference between attending grammar school or not.  There may well be other reasons why more children in prosperous areas gain grammar school places, than tutoring; parental aspiration, private schools that focus on selection issues, more more able children as demonstrated in Kent by differential Key Stage 2 results in West and East Kent; primary school attitudes to selection; school experience post Key Stage One; etc.

None of this denies that coaching often makes a difference and there is no doubt it is a factor of unfairness in school allocation. However, the data in this article suggests it is less likely than I would first have considered. You will find in many comprehensive areas that selection by Post Code or religious affiliation is equally if not more contentious to families, but of course it is not a  media or political issue. 

Kent and Medway have some 20 academically and socially selective Independent schools. Entry to these s usually by entrance exams, for which there is extensive tutoring often in preparatory schools. Surely this sets out to create a social gulf and barrier to mobility through an independent sector that is considerably greater and more influential than anywhere else in Western Europe. 

With 8% of the countries school children in private schools as against 5% in grammar schools, is there anyone offering to research this area of education. 

Unfortunately, it is riddled with flaws and impossibilities, which suggest the authors have little idea of the workings of education on the ground. Let us first consider the established tutoring companies. Most not only prepare children for the Kent Test, but provide general support in key subjects for children who need extra help, perhaps being failed by their primary schools, or perhaps with Special Needs. Many also prepare children for GCSE and sometimes A Level. Some for admission to selective private schools. Are all these to be taxed for all their work, as otherwise many of these institutions will in any case work to recategorise their preparation as curriculum support. It is starting to get complicated, so overheads will rise? Then there are the private schools teaching up to and sometimes beyond the age of eleven. Many of these exist just to get children into grammar school. Are these all to be taxed, or just those that advertise eleven plus success?

Then there is the vast industry of less formal private tuition, which will be impossible to pin down, although even if it could, again a surprisingly high proportion of it exists to provide curriculum support.

Let us assume funds can be raised. I suspect an army of less privileged families will present themselves as suitable for vouchers. How will the lucky few (for I doubt there will be that much to go round) be selected: free school meals or pupil premium – will all receive vouchers or just those recommended by the primary school. Sadly, too many primary headteachers already run a mile to avoid giving a firm recommendation, yes or no. Or perhaps it will be self-nomination, with someone again having to make comparative judgments on insufficient objective information.

The only conclusion I can come to is that this has been put forward as an Aunt Sally, to be knocked down and ‘no solution’ declared.

As Professor Jerrim said on television on Thursday, he hoped that he would be asked by the Department for Education to expand on his views. I can only hope the DfE uses due diligence about any such proposal. 

More importantly, KCC has started to implement some of these strategies to reduce the discrepancy and recommend others to academies where it has no power to direct.

It is good to see super-selective schools such as Judd and Skinners offering a set number of places to the highest achieving children on Pupil Premium.

One example of the complexity of the issue found was the identification of some primary schools in areas of deprivation where the powerful government priority of achieving the then Level 4 at KS2 took all of the  schools’ effort. This meant that  high achieving pupils were too often neglected so that work on higher levels in English and maths which would have been supportive of success in the Kent Test was diminished. Nothing to do with tutoring, but I very much doubt the study took this into account!

You will find an initial article on allocation here, that also provides cut off scores for the super selective schools, and also the 2017 equivalent article. You will also find further information on Individual Secondary Schools here,  the pages currently being updated, as some are very out of date. 

 Please note that whilst the 2017 appeal pattern may be a guide to the 2018 outcomes, there are often considerable swings from year to year.

 Individual School Survey

Every Report has to identify some positives, the leading one being that ‘The support offered by Brook Learning Trust has helped the headteacher to accurately identify inadequacies in leadership, teaching and pupils’ outcomes’. I have reported previously on the failure of the Brook Trust to raise standards in its own schools, and reporting is not the same as assisting to go forward. Also, 'pupils feel safe in school', although the report makes clear amongst other issues that safeguarding problems are often not acted on quickly enough so that some pupils may have been put at risk. The Inspection did identify an improving culture and ethos, noting that many parents are positive about the difference the new headteacher has made.

Not surprisingly the Report recommends an external Review of governance: 'The governing body, appointed in January 2017, has been too slow to act. Consequently, the positive changes needed to support pupils and students have been delayed.  Recent frank discussions at governors’ meetings with leaders from the Brook Learning Trust and the headteacher have helped governors to understand that the quality of education provided for pupils is not good enough'.

The headteacher of Holmesdale at the time of the 2014 Ofsted left the school at short notice at the end of 2015, having been temporarily moved to another school, and was succeeded by Mr Hannaway, the Executive Principal of the two schools, who also took on the role of Principal of Holmesdale (one wonders what he had been doing before to have such capacity). He left with immediate effect at the break up of the Federation in January 2017, by which time Holmesdale was spiralling down out of control.

Tina Bissett, then senior deputy head at the school, was appointed to succeed him as interim head. She had joined Holmesdale the previous year, after Oasis Academy Hextable where she was previously Principal, closed down after poor standards led to parents removing their children in large numbers. She became substantive head of Holmesdale in November 2017. She has now been in post for 14 months, but the Ofsted Report finds little indication of positive actions as distinct from intentions ‘due to a lack of capacity in school leadership’.

The school has just 45% of its Year 7 places taken up according to the most recent schools census, the second lowest figure in the county. 59% of the places would be filled on allocation for 2018, before 22 children were placed there by KCC, who did not apply to the school. The census suggests most, if not all, of those placed by KCC will go elsewhere before September if they can find an alternative.

Academic performance is dire; GCSE 5 A-Cs were amongst the worst in Kent in 2014 and 2015, GCSE Progress 8, the key government measure for 2016 and 2017, was third worst in Kent for 2016, and fourth worst for 2017.  Ofsted: ‘In 2017, pupils’ attainment in GCSE English and mathematics examinations rose, but pupils’ overall progress declined further and too many pupils underachieved’.

 By the time of the 2017 census, the 75 potential vacancies had expanded with just 81 children in Year 7. A school less than half full is on a rocky path as finances reduce and the school can go into a vicious spiral.  

 It is important for families to appreciate there is considerable churning in some areas between now and September, as appeals (especially to grammar schools) and to more popular non-selective schools, play a major part in seeing movement in waiting lists.

Note: The appeal data should not be taken as more than a rough guide, as school situations can change from year to year; for example the rapid increase in popularity at Malling and Meopham, see below.

This table includes all schools with an initial vacancy rate of over a third. 

From Medway it is to mainly to Aylesford, Holmesdale, Malling and Meopham. From Bromley to Knole Academy, with a few to Trinity (presumably on religious grounds) and Orchards. East Sussex to Homewood, Bennett Memorial and St Gregory’s; out to Beacon and Uplands (close to Tunbridge Wells) and Rye and Robertsbridge (to the south); Bexley all Dartford traffic both ways; and Surrey to Oxted School.

DISTRICT SURVEY

The interesting one is the Wye Free School with an intake of 90, still oversubscribed by 14 pupils, but what a fall from 2017’s 64. This may well be a consequence of internal problems that have seen the headteacher resign suddenly last summer, followed by the Head of Inclusion and SENCO who both left in the first few weeks of the autumn, followed by further resignations at Christmas. There are issues of both behaviour and attendance reported to governors. Pressure on places will probably be eased a little as Norton Knatchbull, the boys’ grammar traditionally admits high numbers of boys on appeal.

The nearby Towers appears to have been the big beneficiary, having gone from 37 vacancies for its 234 places in 2017 to none this year (and no LAAs).

There are new schools in the pipeline to cater for future housing developments, assuming sponsors come forward

Every other school oversubscribed by first choices, led by Wilmington Academy with 29 turned away and Dartford Science and Technology 23, apart from Leigh Academy, which was the most oversubscribed school in Kent for years until 2014, and then has fast lost popularity, filling this year by virtue of one LAA, although has put an extra 14 places in. Altogether Leigh, Dartford Science and Technology, Inspiration Academy and Longfield Academy have added an extra 53 places between them. A new non-selective Free School to be run by the two Wilmington grammars is on its way, but there have been planning and land issues. The closure of the failed Oasis Hextable Academy two years ago has not helped the pressure. The 66 Bexley children admitted to the six Dartford schools almost exactly balanced by the 63 going the other way.

Dover was the District with most vacancies, but the proportion has dropped sharply from 25% in 2017, down to 4%. Each of the five schools has a few vacancies apart from Sandwich Technology College, 14 oversubscribed. However, Astor College, which has had a difficult time in recent years including two DfE warnings about low standards, has 58 LAAs, although it is not clear where these have come from, but possibly towards Folkestone. Otherwise, it would have had a third of its places vacant.

Goodwin Academy, in its new buildings, is oversubscribed for the first time since its Ofsted failure in 2014, thanks also to good management within the school, but is being financially crippled with staff lay offs, by the appalling sponsors, SchoolsCompany.  

A proposed new academy, the Maidstone School of Science and Technology has repeatedly been delayed because of planning issues, with the sponsors losing patience and could walk away from the deal.

Lenham School renamed from Swadelands after its failed OFSTED and subsequent academisation, appears to be recovering popularity with its number of vacancies falling from 45 in 2017, to 15 this year. The two academies of the Future Schools Trust, on the west of the town are both disaster areas, with poor academic performance and low popularity, in spite of new premises. Although New Line Learning Academy has just 33 vacancies, it has 80 of the town’s 103 LAAs. This gives it the second highest vacancy rate in Kent before LAAs are taken into account at 54%. Cornwallis was recently described to me as ‘huge, plazas instead of classrooms and fish bowl science labs. Not a good learning environment for easily distracted children’. Certainly, my last visit there left me with a very negative view watching the movement of children round the site.

Orchards Academy in Swanley continues to be very popular, also thriving on the closure of Oasis Hextable, offering places to all its 105 first choices, but by virtue of expanding 20 places to 140.

Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy not only has 99 of its 390 places empty, but 70 of its offers are to LAAs. Most of these will be Isle of Sheppey families desperate to avoid the school who do not include it in their applications, but finish up being allocated as the other Swale schools are full. At 43%, third highest percentage of vacancies in Kent before LAAs added in, behind the two other unpopular Tough Love Academies. Second highest percentage of children leaving for Home Education in County in 2016-17, at 3.3%, the school reportedly suggesting this to complainants as a solution. Something needs to be done about the mismanagement of this school, but no one seems to care.

St George’s CofE, with 196 first choices turned away is the most oversubscribed school in Kent, King Ethelbert fourth with 139. The scale of the problem is exemplified by Charles Dickens, in Special Measures, until it became an academy last year, sponsored by Barton Court Grammar School, which cancelled the Ofsted failure. Even with this background it is still 64 first choices oversubscribed, as some families avoid the most popular schools in a bid to maximise their chances at one of the two problem schools.

Hartsdown Academy, one of my three Tough Love Academies almost appears to seek controversial headlines, my most recent article covering one of these. 24 children from the school left for Home Education in 2016-17, third highest percentage of any school in the county. For lack of any alternatives, both these schools.

Many non-selective schools lose numbers before September; in the case of Thanet the four poplar ones each took on extra pupils through appeals. Hartsdown was 83% full, Royal Harbour Academy 91%, so limited space there and these will soon fill with incomers to the District.

Hadlow Rural Community School offers a land based curriculum, and is the most oversubscribed for its 75 places, turning away 66 first choices Between them, the other three oversubscribed schools have added 53 places. Here the interesting school is Malling (see the Holmesdale reference) 49 vacancies just four years ago, then a no no for the nearby Kings Hill development, but now one of the most oversubscribed schools in Kent, rejecting 57 first choices.

The puzzle is Hayesbrook, 6^th highest vacancy rate in Kent at 38% before its 57 LAAs nearly fill it up. Where do these LAAs come from, the only other Tonbridge school admitting boys, Hugh Christie, having two vacancies so not there. Hadlow, a few miles out of town is one possibility but if so, many unsuccessful applicants have chosen no Tonbridge school. The only solution I can see is that these are overspill from the Tunbridge Wells debacle, see below, living to the north of the town who presumably won’t be happy at this solution to their problems. Hillview, the Tonbridge girls school, was 13 places oversubscribed.

32 children from the south of the town have been sent to High Weald Academy in Cranbrook, twenty miles away. Up to 57 boys to the north have been allocated Hayesbrook in Tonbridge. A further 82 children, who will be nearly all from Tonbridge Wells District have found places at: Beacon Academy, Crowborough, 31 children; Uplands Community College, Wadhurst (probably with some from the Cranbrook area of the District) 51 children; and some of the 12 to Robertsbridge Community College. Some of these will be travelling by choice to full comprehensive schools.

Update: Theory without evidence - because Hayesbrook is in the south of Tonbridge, it is the nearest overspill secular school for TW boys from whichever part of town who fail to get into SKA. Girls can't get into the partner Hillview as it is oversubscribed. That leaves predominantly girls bound for High Weald. Can any one advise if this sounds correct?

Bennett Memorial has kept last year’s temporary increase of 60 pupils, to offer 270 places again, turning away 49 first choices, almost the same as last year. St Gregory’s Catholic has made a further temporary increase from the 180 PAN of 2017, upped to 2010 that year, to 240 for 2018. It has still overtaken Bennett in terms of popularity, with a sharp increase in oversubscription to 58. Both of these two schools give priority for all their places to families following religious practices taking little account of location, a situation unique in Kent with just one other non-selective school in the town. The problem is increased further by the two schools admitting 37 East Sussex pupils between them at the expense of local children.

This places enormous pressure on the only secular school, Skinners Kent Academy, which has retained its intake at 180, in spite of a temporary increase to 210 in 2016. This Ofsted Outstanding school has increased its popularity even further, turning 87 first choices away with no other local non-faith non-selective school to go to.

Some of the Tunbridge Wells families may have put Mascall’s School in Paddock Wood as a back up, with 45 of its 240 places going ot second or third preference, but still 27 first choices did not get offered places, possibly from the Cranbrook/Weald area, further away.

Certainly, High Weald Academy is seen as a school of last resort by many, and I have written about it elsewhere. The 32 families whose children have been placed there mainly because of the shortage of secular places in Tunbridge Wells, and now face a round journey of some 30 miles daily, cannot be happy. Some places will be filled by successful appellants to grammar schools.

The bottom line is that unless additional permanent secular places are provided as a matter of urgency, there is inevitably a crisis of provision I Tunbridge Wells. If in doubt, it is wise to consult the KCC Schools Commissioning Plan, where one will find on page 159/160, the following:

You will find the parallel article on Kent non-selective schools here. 

Please note that there will be some 'churning' as successful appeals for grammar school places remove some children from the non-selective schools. There were 93 successful appeals at Medway grammars last year; as well as 25 at Medway non-selective schools, just 19% of those heard.

Two new non-selective schools are planned for Medway, as described here, although planning approval already appears behind schedule.

The following table provides most of the relevant information, with notes about some individual schools below.

Note: * Refers to schools that apply a Fair Banding Test, see below for details. 

Two new non-selective schools are planned for Medway, as described here, although planning approval already appears behind schedule.

My similar article for the same period 2016-17 is here, and for the full year 2016-17, here.

You will find the latest Kent Ofsted assessment, by Matt Dunckley, Corporate Director of Children, Young People and Education here, which also reports on a very healthy pattern of the most recent assessments of all schools. My data collection differs from KCC’s in two respects. Firstly, when a school becomes an academy its Ofsted outcome is struck from the record, and it is not re-inspected until three years in. I consider the history of a school’s performance to be important. Indeed the above data on the Kent improved academies shows the sponsors of the three headline schools, Beaver Green, sponsored by Swale Academies Trust, Kennington by Canterbury Anglican Diocese, and  Lansdowne Primary run by Stour Academy Trust are to be praised for turning these schools round so decisively.

Secondly, KCC ignores the results of Ofsted Short Inspections where a school was previously Good, for reasons of its own. Actually it presents good performance in a bad light, nullifying a number of Good assessments. I have followed the government model instead and included these outcomes as being equally valid alongside full inspections.

This section looks at schools other than those in the headline.

80% of Kent primary schools inspected have not changed their assessment from the previous occasion when they were also found to be Good.

Dartford Primary Academy, which amalgamated a Junior and an Infant School on academisation, the former in Special Measures the latter Good, has now been found Good as a single school. Rosherville CofE Primary Academy in Gravesend, which was previously in Special Measures before academisation, following a long history of problems and short term headteachers, is now Requires Improvement after being taken on by the Rochester Diocesan Academy Trust.  

Mole Hill Academy in Maidstone up from RI to Good deserves special mention as its history, for as along as I have tracked schools was disaster until it was removed from the appalling Academies Enterprise Trust and re-allocated to Leigh Academies Trust two years back.  

The other five schools that have improved their standard, all from Requires Improvement to Good, are: Holy Trinity, CofE, Dartford; St Botolph’s CofE (Academy), Gravesham (after a very difficult time with a previous headteacher); Southborough Primary, Maidstone (after academisation); Sutton Valence and Wateringbury, both Maidstone.

Two schools have been found Inadequate.

Edenbridge Primary School has been placed in Special Measures, tumbling from Good four years ago. This appears to be a school that ran out of control, for the problems should have been obvious ‘In the last three years, pupils’ rates of progress by the end of key stage 2 have been in the lowest 10% nationally in reading and mathematics’. Also, with the permanent headteacher away on genuine sickness:‘’Until the acting headteacher took up post very recently, senior leaders had not responded well to external support and advice. When help has been offered, some leaders have been reluctant to take it, even when some significant weaknesses were pointed out by the local authority’. The previous head has unsurprisingly now left the school, which is now run by an Acting Headteacher appointed from within the school.

‘Governance is ineffective. Governors rely too much on information provided by leaders without checking carefully that what they are told is accurate. Governors have tried to challenge the school and hold leaders to account. They ask the right questions but are hampered in their efforts because they are given inaccurate, overly positive information. Governors have not been tenacious enough in their challenge of senior leaders.  Reports of visits by the local authority alerted leaders and governors to serious weaknesses in the school. Published information about the school’s performance provides clear evidence of significant underperformance over several years. Governors did not take enough notice of this evidence to hold the headteacher and senior leaders stringently to account. Until very recently, governors have not been aware of the extent of the disorderly behaviour and bullying in the school. Leaders had not told them about concerns that parents and carers had expressed about bullying’.

What a tragedy for the children of this school. Even though this is a KCC controlled school, it appears the Council was not prepared to take the strong action required soon enough to tackle the deep rooted problems. It is surely no coincidence that five families withdrew their children to take on Home Education, one of the county's highest figures for primary schools. I presume the Governing Body has been replaced, unless they are to be kept in position until an academy sponsor can be found.  

Pilgrim’s Way School has had a difficult time for years. It was taken over as an underperforming school by St Stephen’s Junior School Academy Trust which took it into Special Measures. Removed from them and given to The Village Academy Trust, it got up to Requires Improvement last year, but this has not been sustained and it has fallen back to Serious Weaknesses (above SM but still Inadequate): ‘Recent discussions by the directors have focused on growing the trust, rather than checking on the standards and vulnerabilities of Pilgrims’ Way. The trust has the ethos of allowing its schools to have autonomy. However, the checks on the quality of teaching, the accuracy of self evaluation and pupil premium spending in particular have not been rigorous’. However, because the school was not full: ‘School leaders have recently been focused on an unprecedented influx of new pupils’, being rehoused from the London Borough of Redbridge, and requiring two new classes to be created,the sort of issue that can de-stabilise any school. As so often in such cases, the headteacher appears to have left the school.

There is still no evidence that Medway’s policy to persuade all its schools to become academies has seen any rise in standards.

Luton Junior School, one of the remaining Council schools, has indeed achieved an Outstanding performance: ‘The school is a haven of care, respect, friendship and learning, situated in the very centre of the diverse community it serves.  The inspirational headteacher has led a remarkable improvement in all aspects of the school so that pupils now receive an outstanding education….The school serves a community with a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils from many different backgrounds and cultures. However, the headteacher and other leaders do not allow this to be a barrier to success. Pupils get along harmoniously because appropriate behaviour and expectations are modelled so clearly by the headteacher and her team…The school is incredibly inclusive’. (I also enjoyed its unusual website).

All Faith’s Children’s Community School, one of the lead schools of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust, has slipped to Requires Improvement, the quite remarkable Key Stage 2 results of a few years ago having vanished with the retirement of the previous headteacher.  

 Not offered the school of your choice?

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. 

Permanent Exclusion

The Director of Kent County Council Education has published two articles on exclusion in the past year: Permanent and Fixed Term Exclusion for 2016-17; and January 2018 update. The total number of exclusions in Kent was 68 for 2016-17. KCC has worked hard and successfully with schools to force numbers down from its height of 210 in 2011-12, including 41 statemented children, when I highlighted the two issues and attracted political and media pressure to see numbers reduced.

Given reports that the number of permanent exclusions is rising around the country, Kent’s remarkable record of the lowest proportion of secondary school permanent exclusions in the South East at 0.05% in 2015-16 ( a third of the national percentage) is likely to see its national position  of 13^th lowest rate in the country with 51 exclusions improve even further when 2016-17 outcomes are published, at 49 secondary permanent exclusions. The proportion from primary schools at 0.01% of the population is negligible, at half the national rate.

There were just three children excluded who had Statements of SEN or Education Health Care Plans (the replacement classification) last year; contrast this with the 25 permanent exclusions of statemented children in 2013-14 out of a total of 87 or the 41 of 2011-12. For many years government policy has been that for statemented children exclusion should be a very last resort, but there remains considerable concern over the large numbers nationally. Kent has seen around one fifth of the national average of statemented/EHCP pupils permanently excluded in 2016-17, although I was still contacted by too many such families where the school was threatening exclusion unless they moved the child elsewhere.   

With numbers this low in Kent, it could be that a single major issue can give rise to a jump in exclusion figures for a school. It is perhaps unfortunate that Knole Academy is the only one of the five secondary schools with more than five permanent exclusions in one of the last three years, to suffer this fate twice. Given comments below, it may be relevant that three of the others are Ebbsfleet Academy, High Weald Academy and New Line Learning Academy.

However, some schools have taken up alternative strategies to exclusion to force 'undesirable' children out, such as encouraging families to change schools, take up Home Education for their children (see below), or transferring children to Pupil Referral Units designed for those at risk of exclusion (see below).

There has been growing concern about schools removing pupils in Years 10 and 11 to improve GCSE performance. 22 of the Kent exclusions were from these Year Groups, which I don’t think is a large enough number or proportion to suggest that exclusion is being used as a tool in this way.

When I investigated and wrote about the illegal exclusion of up to 32 students at the end of Year 12 at Invicta Grammar School in 2016, I did not anticipate it becoming the national scandal into which it developed. The effect of the rules being widely made available by government, so that the illegality became well known, has had a powerful consequence for staying on rates in grammar schools. In 2016, 264 students left or were forced out of Kent grammar schools at the end of Year 12. By 2017, when the rules were well known, this figure fell to 165, most of whom I must assume left for legitimate reasons. It is not possible to quantify the situation regarding non-selective schools, as so many pupils follow one year courses at these schools.

Elective Home Education (EHE)

Kent has historically had the largest number and the largest proportion of EHE children in the country for some years. However, there is no official data kept, the best analysis being by a private researcher looking at 2013-14 figures. In that year, Kent had 1117 new cases, with Essex second largest at 583. In 2015, the BBC identified a 65% increase in EHE over six years to 2015, and it appears that numbers have been increasing further nationally since then. However, KCC has been in dialogue with families and now appears over the peak with 925 new cases in 2016-17. These were made up of: 338 primary children, 570 secondary; seven from Special schools; and 10 from PRUs. I suspect the total remains amongst the highest in the country, but it is certainly surprising that, with such a strong government interest in EHE recently, there appears no national collection of data.

One complication is the variety of reasons for choosing EHE, a list by the BBC reads: lifestyle choice; dissatisfaction or conflict with the local school; cultural reasons; bullying; special needs; or failure to get into a school of choice, as the main ones in order.

In Kent, the largest numbers are in Swale – 147 new cases; Maidstone – 119 new cases; Thanet – 100; and Dartford – 81.

After Ebbsfleet Academy at 4.1% of the school’s total roll – the equivalent of more than one child in every class leaving for EHE; and Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy at 3.3%; come Hartsdown Academy 3.1%; Community College Whitstable and New Line Learning Academy 2.8%; and High Weald Academy 2.6%. All six are the schools of last choice in their local areas with few if any alternative schools available, and so inevitably take in numbers of children who have been turned down by all their preferences. This will inevitably have an effect on parental dissatisfaction if children are at schools they did not choose.  

It is no coincidence that the first three of these schools are the Tough Love Academies, accounting for 15% of the total, about which I have written several times before. Certainly, from parents I have talked with who have withdrawn their children from Sheppey and Ebbsfleet, it has not been a matter of choice, rather the final straw with several reporting threats by the school to leave or else face exclusion which, if proven would be unlawful. Sheppey operates what I believe to be an unlawful isolation system often for petty reasons, which could amount to abuse to improve behaviour. This is called 'Reflection' and appears designed to alienate its victims. Interestingly, this week I have had reports surfacing of staff being bullied at Ebbsfleet.

Hartsdown, NLL and High Weald all have sectional communities who may regard schooling as optional, compounding the issue. Hartsdown in Thanet also suffers because with all schools technically full, and a transient population with considerable levels of deprivation, it will tend to fill spaces with children who present a challenge, such as language, culture or Children in Care placed in Thanet by London Boroughs. The school’s headteacher describes Margate as ‘on the margins of English society, both culturally and economically’ and his own intake as having: ‘many who come from extremely challenging backgrounds. 27% of our students are EAL, with 10% Roma. Margate has become a bridge head for eastern European immigration and Hartsdown has specialised in integrating unaccompanied asylum seeking minors. 57% of our students are disadvantaged / pupil premium’. 

For reasons I still completely fail to understand, KCC refused to provide anwers to my FOI request for information on the Year Groups of pupils who left for EHE. They put up two alternative and completely spurious reasons for this and then when I took it to Internal Review (the complaints stage) received a lot of flannel, admitting nothing but provided me with everything I wanted and almost everything I had requested in the first place. Given current government concerns over issues around Home Education, most recently the number of children being forced out before GCSE, I find this attitude bewildering.

As it happens, the additional data has not substantiated my theory that Kent schools were forcing children out to improve GCSE results, as is reportedly happening with too many nationally, although some appear to use an alternative tactic in Swale and North West Kent (see PRU below).

The 338 primary leavers for EHE are spread across a wide range of schools, the eleven with five or more withdrawals including Drapers Mill and Dame Janet Primary Academies, in Thanet, and Minster and Richmond Academies, on the Isle of Sheppey, all in areas of considerable deprivation, together with Edenbridge Primary near Sevenoaks, recently placed in Special Measure whose failures including unchecked bullying.

The articulate and vociferous lobby for Elective Home Education and against regulation appears to consider their life-style choice to be the only reason to make it as a choice. They do a massive disservice to the victims of the system as described above, for whom it is no choice. 

Both these two are controversial, the Swale Inclusion Unit (SIU) being effectively managed by the Swale Academies Trust whose two schools use it extensively for both types of placement, and the failed NW Kent Alternative Provision Unit.

The North West Kent Alternative Provision Service (PRU), which had 36 of these pupils on Long Term Placements in October 2017, has failed them badly, as recorded by Ofsted in its Inspection Report when the PRU was found Inadequate, partly because ‘The local authority did not keep a close enough watch on the school between 2013 and 2016’. A new Headteacher is making reported to be making improvements.

For 2015-16, 21 of the 41 pupils taken off roll by their schools and placed in SIU were from the two Swale Academy Schools, Sittingbourne Community College and Westlands School, a further 6 from Oasis Isle of Sheppey. After I drew attention to this practice last year, the figure fell to 10 out of 26 in 2016-17, again with 6 from Sheppey.

The figures for NW Kent were smaller with 9 in 2015-16 rising to 19 in January 2017, but with the recent surge to 36 as reported by Ofsted. Census figures suggest that a considerable part of the increase is from pupils previously on the roll of Ebbsfleet Academy. 

For what is called dual Registration (i.e. pupils remained on their home school roll), there were a total of 818 pupils in 2016-17, including 49 from primary schools. Largest users were: Hartsdown and Sheppey, both placing 32 pupils and Sittingbourne Community College 28. No one else had more than 20.

Tonbridge Grammar placed five girls in their local PRU and Simon Langton Girls Grammar four (at risk of Permanent Exclusion). The highest use primary school was Langafel in Dartford with five, but no other more than two.

Children Missing from Education

On top of all this, is the large swathe of children whose existence is known about, but whose circumstances are not. Many of these may be victims of child exploitation, or slavery, certainly some are children in Care and others unaccompanied child immigrants or refugees. There were 2,292 children who went missing at some time in 2016-17, and I am awaiting further data. Figures from 2014-15 show that of the 2173 children who were reported missing at some time in that year all but 419 were traced, 769 within ten days, but 290 after more than 50 days.

Unsurprisingly, the largest figure for 2016-17 was in Thanet at 333, followed by 287 in Swale, 241 in Gravesham and 231 in Dover, all the way down to 67 in Sevenoaks.

Conclusions

This is a survey of happenings across the county, not a polemic article, and the reasons for many of these findings remains unclear.

Probably the biggest question remains: is the very low level of permanent exclusions achieved through encouraging the high rates of EHE and transfer to PRUs?

Whilst I can see evidence that a few schools are actively promoting this for difficult or low performing pupils, I am unconvinced the practice is widespread. Many vociferous lobbyists for EHE will argue that choosing to home educate is generally a life style choice, but this is not the case and it is far more complicated, as my article shows.

I have shown that other reasons for EHE in Kent are indeed those in the BBC list: living in an area of deprivation which may also tie in with failure to be awarded any school of one’s choice, itself often associated with dissatisfaction with the school attended. Bullying occurs in several of the examples above; and cultural issues can include an ambivalence about school attendance and membership.

There is also a strong lobby arguing that EHE is an easy way out for inadequate or uncaring families. This may be true for some, but in either case, the child will not receive any education, which will present a much bigger problem for society when they grow up. They should not be abandoned, but whose responsibility is it to tackle the issue?

Then there are the children missing from education, in some cases vanished completely. Whilst I feel it is completely out of my self-defined limits to comment on the horrendous issues this may be covering up, surely it needs a much higher priority than it is currently awarded by government.