The Unique Medway Secondary School Admission Lottery

A different development building on government and KCC policy, is that over half of all Kent grammar schools now offer some priority in admissions to pupils on Pupil Premium or Free School Meals. In Medway just Rainham Mark Grammar appears to be considering the same priority and no non-selective school in either Authority has proposed such a preference. I shall look at this further in a later article. 

A number of the proposals are currently non-controversial as the secondary schools have vacancies for local children, as explained below but, with secondary numbers rising more will come into effect causing considerable unfairness on a greater scale.  

The stated rationale behind several of these situations is continuity of teaching and learning style, but the major consequence is to leave parents in confusion. Should they make choices for their children entering primary schools at the age of four/five, on the basis of a linked secondary school when its popularity and circumstances seven years hence are unforseeable? My very rough rule of thumb is that it takes one year for poor leadership to damage a school's reputation, and up to five years of good leadership to restore it. The reality is that secondary school choice is now becoming much more of a lottery than it should be in Medway, as Academy Trusts look to their own interests rather than that of the children they exist to provide for. 

All schools give priority to Children in Care, and most give priority to children with health reasons that need attendance at a particular secondary school, and most to siblings of children already in the school in question.

There is already considerable uncertainty caused by the Holcombe Grammar proposal to become co-educational, still under consideration by the Regional Schools Commissioner, which would create waves for boys on the Hoo Peninsula as explained below. 

Note: There are several references below to Fair Banding Tests in the individual school comments, explained at foot of article.  

Two complaints to the Adjudicator about Medway grammar schools in 2016 differentiate clearly between under and oversubscribed schools, and can be regarded as guidance on what to expect from a complaint this year, although there are of course other factors taken into consideration and each case is considered on an individual basis. The two cases are outlined below, along with the proposals or current status of all Medway secondary schools. You will also find a table of all showing the primary schools belonging to all Medway Trusts with secondary members at the foot of this article. The name links are to the proposals for 2019 admission.

The 2016 proposal of the school setting out new criteria for admission was rejected on a number of grounds, the key one giving priority to boys attending Trust primary schools being summarised by: ‘I then considered this criterion against the Code’s requirement in paragraph 14 that arrangements are “fair” and concluded that this criterion disadvantaged boys who live on the Hoo peninsula and who do not attend one of the trust schools. In this respect I have concluded that the arrangements are unfair.’ The objection was upheld.

SJWMS is heavily oversubscribed and, recruiting on distance grounds, draws most of its students from a tight urban area around the school. This results in virtually no boys, apart from siblings, from the rural Hoo Peninsula being offered places without appeal for some years. Along with the normal oversubscription criteria, the new proposals include: “Children who at the time of application attend a primary school within The Williamson Trust”, which is identical to thatrejected in 2016. Perhaps they are simply hoping there will be no complaints to the Schools Adjudicator from Medway Council, from other local primary schools who may lose pupils to the 3/5 Trust primary Schools, or from those parents who are now given difficult choices for children aged five or  those who can see their children being discriminated against.

The 2018 criteria which went unchallenged, as well as prioritising children of Trust Primary schools, expanded the common priority of staff children to those with a parent working at any Trust school, which is not in the Admission Code that allows priority for ‘children of staff at the school‘. Whilst Holcombe Grammar was heavily oversubscribed with overflow from London children for 2017 admission, I am confident that all local boys who were grammar qualified and sought places at the school were offered these. Holcombe is one of just two Medway secondary schools whose proposed or established admission criteria for 2019 are not published on the Medway website. This will be because of the continued uncertainty of the school’s proposal to become co-educational, which has still not been ruled upon by the Regional Schools Commissioner, nearly a year on from its submission, as discussed here and previously. If the proposal is upheld, there will be a shortage of boys’ grammar places in Medway, and so the objection will come into place with meaning.

Currently, the school is the only option for most children on the Hoo Peninsula (the case for SJWMS prioritising some Hoo schools!), but if it were to go co-educational this could close down as many Hoo boys would be excluded on distance grounds, leaving the only grammar school route via a Williamson Trust primary school.  Now that is a recruitment incentive attracting pupils for the Williamson Trust schools away from those who are not in the Trust!

Fair Banding Tests: These are set for all applicants for places in some  schools which are potentially oversubscribed. Then a proportion of pupils in each ability band in ratio to the whole population are offered places, aiming to replicate those ratios, and produce a good ability spread. I suspect that where there are grammar schools this has the effect of selecting a higher proportion of the top ability level children applying.