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News Invicta to sponsor Swadelands
THE Valley Invicta Academies Trust (VIAT) is set to take over struggling Swadelands School. VIAT chief Dr Phil Limbert con- firmed the regional schools’ com- missioner has requested that the Lenham non-selective school be- comes part of the trust which in- cludes Invicta Grammar School (IGS) and Valley Park. Swadelands was put into special measures in February, after being given the lowest Ofsted rating. Dr Limbert said: “The regional schools’ commissioner has re- quested VIAT takes Swadelands School through to become a spon- sored academy under the trust.” He said parents had been in- formed. Parents of IGS pupils were told:
“Our academy status and outstand- ing Ofsted achievements have high- lighted the excellent practice at Invicta. As a result, Valley Invicta Academies Trust (VIAT) have been asked to sponsorSwadelands School in Lenham. “This is another exciting opportu-
nity for the students and parents of Maidstone, and one that I look for- ward to informing you of our devel- opments in building VIAT into a successful established multi acad- emy trust (MAT).”
Interim executive head Harry Ing-
ham and head teacher Chris Fore- man have been appointed at the 650-pupil mixed school. Ofsted carried out an inspection in December 2015 and it was deemed inadequate in four of the five key categories – teaching quality, leader- ship, personal development and pupil outcomes. Inadequate is the lowest rating on the Ofsted scale. Study programmes for 16-19 year-
olds “require improvement”, ac- cording to the Ofsted inspectors. In a letter to parents in February,
the Swadelands management said: “The key finding of the report is that
Swadelands School was judged in- adequate and requires special meas- ures to enable it to provide an improved standard of education.” The Ofsted report said at the time
of inspection that Swadelands’ teaching did not motivate pupils and expectationswere low, even among its brightest students. Attendance was below average and the leader- ship had “not ensured that assess- ments of pupils’ work and progress are accurate”. Low-level disruptive behaviour
was common and led to lessons being disturbed. Swadelands man- agement declined to comment.
More pressure on primary school places
THE number of youngsters needing a place at primary schools in the area has leapt again for the ninth consec- utive year. But while applications for places in
Kent rose by 591 to 18,006, the county council says 15,705 were of- fered their first choice of school – up 762 on last year. Roger Gough, KCCcabinetmember
for education (pictured), said: “Local authorities across England continue to face significant challenges because of a lack of primary school places. In
Kent, however, the combination of careful planning and close working with schools means we are able to sustain a high pro- portion of children starting at a school of their preference. “We also continue
to see improvements in the quality of Kent primary schools, with
86.4% rated as good or outstanding by Ofsted. “A small minority of pupils have not
got a school of their preference and I would like to reassure parents that a KCC team is on hand to help.” In February last year, it was an- nounced that KCC would receive an extra £92m to help address demand for extra school places until 2018. The funding from the Department
for Education is in addition to £27m allocated for the 2015-17 period. Details of how parents can appeal are available at
www.kent.gov.uk/pri- maryadmissions or by calling the ad- missions team on 0300 412121.
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