The Press releases of both Kent County and Medway Councils celebrate the good news that record proportions of pupils have received offers of Primary School places meeting their preferences. Unfortunately, both omit to mention this is because of a sharp fall in the number of children in their current pre-school cohort.
Kent County Council's Press Release regarding Primary School allocations this week rightly acknowledges the good news for most families:'A record number, 97% of Kent children will be offered one of their preferred primary schools on Primary offer day 18 April. This is the highest recorded percentage achieved since coordinated primary admissions began'.
You will find a full breakdown of the data for 2017 and previous years below. Whilst this is no consolation for everyone, it is still excellent news for most with the proportion of first choices at 89.1% being above the national average of 88%.
Medway Council (Serving You) as usual has sent out an opaque press release on allocations, this year even thinner and vaguer than usual. With so little to go on, I have only been able to quote general percentages in the table below. Once again the Portfolio Holder for Children's Services, said: 'It is wonderful to see so many children in Medway offered a place at one of their preferred schools, and such a high number at their first preference school'. A great pity he forgot to mention that this improvement in the percentage of pupils gaining schools of their preference is purely down to a reduction of 162 Medway children looking for places.
I will publish further details on oversubscription and vacancies at Reception Level and at Junior schools in Kent and Medway when I receive them, hopefully next week, but you can see a flavour of the situation from my 2016 article on Kent oversubscription and vacancies here, and for Medway here.
The continuation below begins with some advice on next steps if you have not received the school of your choice. You will find informaion and advice on appeals here.
A large , number of children are offered places off waiting lists, each 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 chilwish. Sadly, chances of success at appeal are negligible in nearly all cases, as explained below.
| Kent Primary Schools: allocation of Kent children to Reception Classes April 2017 | ||||||||
| Offers to Kent Pupils | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | ||||
| No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | |
Offered a school on the application form | 16855 | 97.4% | 17400 | 96.6% | 16691 | 95.8% | 16301 | 95.3% |
Offered a first preference | 15429 | 89.0% | 15705 | 87.2% | 14943 | 85.8% | 14516 | 84.9% |
| Offered a second preference | 1077 | 6.2% | 1229 | 6.8% | 1272 | 7.3% | 1239 | 7.3% |
| Offered a third preference | 379 | 2.2% | 466 | 2.58% | 476 | 2.7% | 546 | 3.2% |
| Allocated by local authority | 444 | 2.6% | 606 | 3.4% | 724 | 4.2% | 796 | 4.7% |
| Total number of offers | 17329 | 18006 | 17415 | 17097 | ||||
The numbers in the table below are not always consistent as data provided by Medway Council is not always easy to understand. Quoted percentages are not always accurate - with 'just under's" often proving misleading. |
| Offers made by Medway Primary schools | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | |||||
| No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | No of pupils | % | |
Offered a school named on the appln form | 97.3% | 3360 | 96.2% | 3396 | 96.4% | 3171 | 95.5% | 3058 | 96.0% | |
Offered a first preference | 89% | 3039 | 87.1% | 3067 | 87.1% | 2847 | 85.7% | 2803 | 88.0% | |
| Offered a second preference | 6% | 220 | 6.3% | 256 | 7.3% | 231 | 7.0% | 189 | 5.9% | |
| Offered a third preference | 1.5% | 61 | 1.8% | 55 | 1.5% | 78 | 2.4% | 48 | 1.5% | |
| Offered a fourth preference* | 27 | 0.8% | 20 | 0.6% | 15 | 0.5% | 18 | 0.6% | ||
| Medway children allocated by Council | 3% | 134 | 4.0% | 126 | 3.6% | 151 | 4.6% | 129 | 4.1% | |
| Total number of offers | 3490 | 3522 | 3322 | 3187 | ||||||
*This also includes a small number of 5th and 6th preferences.
| Kent and Medway Primary School Appeals 2016 | ||||||
| School | Appeals Submitted | Appeals Heard | Upheld | Not Upheld | Place Offered | Withdrawn |
Kent Reception Infant Legislation | 381 | 245 | 12 | 243 | 27 | 102 |
Kent Reception other | 46 | 37 | 23 | 10 | 3 | 6 |
| Kent Junior | 11 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Medway Reception | 139 | 70 | 2 | 68 | 28 | 39 |
| Medway Junior | 10 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
This table is for appeal Panels organised by KCC. A small number of primary appeals are managed by other organisations. Commentary here. You will find further information here.
You will find two personal commentaries on Medway appeals here and here.