Kent on Sunday has published my personal Review of the Year, reproduced in full here. It will come as no surprise that it is introduced as: "As pressure grows on teachers, is 2016 going to provide any relief? - Probably not according to former headteacher and education adviser Peter Read in his end of year report", and concludes with "What is certain is that the education map is changing faster than at any time I can remember in my forty years of working in the county, with government more firmly in the driving seat than ever before. I see no sign of relaxation of this centralised and politicised grip in the near future, so hang on for another bumpy ride in 2016".
I have decided to limit my secondary transfer appeals service in 2016 to the following geographical areas at most, together with support for previous clients in the rest of Kent, along with in-year admissions and appeals as they arise. The reasons for this decision are set out at the foot of this article. I am afraid I have no capacity to go outside this range.....
I shall be happy to support appeals to grammar and non-selective schools in Mid and East Kent (bounded by Maidstone and Ashford), along with Gravesham and Medway only, together with support for previous clients in the rest of Kent, where I consider there is a realistic chance of success.
If you wish to engage my services to appeal to a grammar school in these areas, please use my “contact me” link to send in as many relevant details as possible. Up until the beginning of February, I will send an acknowledgement and indication of my provisional willingness to support you. At the beginning of February, when I have finally determined my intentions, I will contact you again to arrange a consultation from mid-February on if you wish to proceed. I will in any case, keep back some capacity for non-selective and grammar school oversubscription appeals until March when the need for these becomes apparent.
The problem with the consultancy quite simply is that whilst I gain great satisfaction from my appeals work, it is a nationally unique service that I offer and demand for my support appears limitless. In 2015 I estimate that I was asked to prepare around 5% of all secondary admission appeals in Kent and Medway, although I turned down a number of these requests as unrealistic and others after I reached my limit, along with declining the overwhelming number of requests for support with primary school appeals. You will find details of the outcomes of Kent and Medway appeals here. Even with the satisfaction of seeing over 90% of appeals successful, this proved a heavy workload which I am not prepared to repeat, even armed with my new hip!