Medway Non-Selective places to follow shortly.
Kent Allocations to follow as soon as I receive data.
157 new places have created in Medway grammar schools for entry in 2018 over and above original 2017 figure of 942, and 15% of the total. However, the 994 places allocated to children at the six grammars has fallen slightly from the 1003 of 2017, as explained below. Meanwhile the proportion and number of Medway children eligible for grammar school dipped sharply to 23.4% against a target of 25%, the gap totally explained by the failure of the Medway Review process. Just one school, Chatham Grammar Girls, has vacancies, with the number of offers for the school at this stage nearly halved whilst four other schools, headed by The Rochester Grammar School and Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School, are heavily oversubscribed with first choices. I look at the situation for each grammar school individually, below.
![Chatham Girls]()
Just 12 children attending Medway state schools were successful at Review out of the 161 who applied. This amounts to a total of 0.37% of the cohort against a target of 2% being added to the original 23% who passed directly, with none from private or out of Medway schools. This means that the this highly stressful and flawed process of Review is now becoming almost meaningless, and 52 Medway children have been deprived of grammar school places at this stage, the empty spaces being filled by out of county children.
![Rochester Grammar]()
![SJWMS1]()
Strangely, Medway Council is unlawfully blocking Medway children who did not apply for grammar school places initially, from making late applications or taking the Medway Test. This shows clear discrimination against its own children, as it allows out of county children to do so, with a large amount of late testing currently taking place. Surely Medway Councillors must sometime take responsibility for the operation of the education department for which they are accountable, with so many failures documented on this site.
You will find preliminary information on Medway allocations here, and last year's article here.
Medway Council Policy on Late Entry to Grammar Schools
Medway Council has a policy that Medway children who did not apply for grammar school during the normal admission time are not allowed subsequently to take the test, and so cannot apply late. This is unlawful as the Schools Code of Admission states: 'Anyparentcanapplyforaplacefortheirchildatanytimetoanyschooloutsidethenormaladmissionsround'. The Admissions Code rule is applied in Medway to out of county (ooc) children however, with a large number of candidates shortly to take the Medway Test. Of course, this means serious and unlawful discrimination against Medway children. Each year I am approached by families caught up in such muddles created by Medway Council. Bizarrely, I wrote last year of seven boys, mostly from Medway, who applied late to Holcombe Grammar and were allowed to take the Test late, which appears to contradict this year's interpretation!.
Kent Test
The two Chatham grammar schools chose to accept a pass in the Kent Test as an alternative admission criterion some years ago, with just five being offered places at Chatham Girls and 16 at Holcombe Grammar. Again one has to ask if this is a worthwhile exercise especially as many if not most of these children will be ooc.
Medway Numbers and Review
A previous item established that 756 children who attended Medway state schools, or exactly 23.0%, passed the Medway Test, another 34 coming from local private schools. The stressful and flawed Medway Review process, explained here added another 12 children from Medway schools (eight girls and four boys), with none from private schools or outside Medway. Not for the first time I have been shown two Review sheets containing identical written comments, prepared for children from different schools, presumably in the hope they would not be caught out.
| Medway Test and Review Outcomes 2018 |
| | Cohort | Passed Test | Passed Test % | Entered Review | Passed Review | Passed Review % |
| Medway | 3286 | 756 | 23.01 | 161 | 12 | 0.37 |
| Medway Private | | 71 |
| 10 | 0
| 0 |
| Outside Medway | | 659 | | 44 | 0 | 0 |
Individual Grammar Schools
Chatham Grammar School for Girls
The school has had a recent roller coaster ride with admissions. Three years ago, they admitted just 93 girls into Year 7 although it had an intake figure of 142, after a disastrous decision to limit the school to three forms of entry, placing a cap on appeals. That cohort number has now fallen to 85. In 2016, the intake rose to 114, then for 2017 admission the school was adopted by London families as a stop gap grammar school who found nothing nearer, and its Year 7 roll is currently standing at 183 girls. However, for 2018 entry, there is no sign yet of these out of county girls applying for places under the Kent Test alternative route, or via late testing even though the school has raised its Planned Admission Number (PAN) to 180 to cater for them. The school has now made just 83 offers, its lowest figure for many years. Fewer than half of these were first choices, so some may well fade away. I am guessing that a larger number than usual may be successful at appeal! Meanwhile, the school, having given responsibility for admissions to Medway Council, is unable to accept much needed late applications from Medway girls although this decision is unlawful - what a mess!
Fort Pitt
I think FP is the only grammar school in Kent or Medway which has resolutely refused to increase its PAN from the 120 it has maintained for many years. The school should certainly have space to expand so if it wished, having reduced its PAN from 192, around ten years ago. It has been steadily losing popularity recently, but still turned away 17 grammar qualified first choices this year, down from 33 in 2017. The Independent Appeal Panel has never upheld more than four appeals in recent years.
Holcombe
Raised its PAN from 120 in 2017 to 150 this summer, following last year’s influx of out of county boys. It has just filled the 150 places, but with only 79 first choices, tailing away to 20 boys who placed it in 4th-6th place. It will inevitably lose some of the ooc places to schools nearer London, and others to Sir Joseph Williamson’s on appeal (see below). Has been mired in controversy over three issues in the past year. Given the numbers at Chatham Girls, this shows the failed proposal to become co-educational rejected by government last year was certainly not viable in the context of events elsewhere in Medway.
Rainham Mark
This is the first year of the school’s switch away from super-selective to giving priority to local children. The number of first preferences has gone up and, pleasingly for school and local families I am sure, the number of disappointed first preferences has halved to 33, helped by the school increasing its intake from 205 to 235 children. With 226 first choices offered places and nine second, this is certainly a different pattern form previous years, which saw considerable numbers of ooc children gaining places. Appeal Panels have rarely awarded places to more than six children, almost exclusively those who have passed the Medway Test. Will they come up with a different approach with the new admission priorities?
Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School
Maintained last year’s increase on PAN from 180 to 203, turning away 54 grammar qualified first choices. It also gives priority to those living nearest, so it is no surprise that it offered to 192 first choices and 11 second. There is a usual pattern at appeals of around 20 boys being offered places and, with an admission pattern close to 2017, although the number of first choices has risen, I would anticipate a similar outcome.
The Rochester Grammar School
Has kept its intake at 205 girls, as in 2017, 30 places above its PAN, and normally allowing a neat maximum of five places for appeal. Perhaps there is a growing sense of realism around as the level of first choice oversubscription has fallen from 87, to 55, but still the highest of the Medway grammars. The tail off of offers to the lower preferences up to number five, after the 186 first choices accepted, suggests the London effect is still there, but appears to hold for RGS.
