News | Education
downsmail.co.uk
School selection revealing trends New Line path
THE most desired secondary schools in the area have been revealed – with one school in Maidstone receiving almost 200 more first-choice ap- plications than it has places. With almost 2,000 youngsters
moving up to secondary education each year, it can be a stressful time for parents as they try to secure the best place for their child. But some schools find themselves
oversubscribed on first-choice picks alone,while others fall signif- icantly short. In Maidstone, Valley Park is the
most popular school, with 433 pupils opting for it as their first choice for the 2018 intake.With 240 places up for grabs, itmeans almost 200 of themwere disappointed. In total, once every preference
had been totted up, more than 1,000 youngsters had applied to at- tend the school. That is in contrast to New Line
LearningAcademy,which came up significantly short of filling their in- take of 210,with only 85 pupils opt- ing for it as a first choice. But, as Peter Read, an independ-
ent schools adviser, explains, the process in the county can be a com- plicated one. “You must not assume that first
choices get places,” he said. “Kent operates an equal choice systemso that the people who are, for exam- ple, closest to Valley Park who don’t put themfirstmay get places ahead of thosewho have it as a first choicewho live further out. “If you take Valley Park for the
2017 intake, of the 270 places of- fered, only 245 of themwent to first choices – so 25 people who didn’t put themas first choice got places. “The selective system does com-
plicate things. But the good news for parents at non-selective schools is that there is a high rate of success at appeals forMaidstone grammar schools, which will free up a large number of places on reallocation at these schools in June.”
STATISTICS provided by the official Kent Education Learning and Skills Infor- mation (KELSI) clearly demonstrate the winners and losers in education. The left-hand column
shows the number of chil- dren each school plans to accept, while the next two show the number of first preferences and total pref- erences it has received. The entries on the right
show the first choice pref- erences over the capacity as a percentage. For
Park’s popularity means there are 80% more appli- cants than places while New Line Learning Acad- emy is 60% short.
8
Securing a place for your child at secondary school can be stressful for par- ents. The Malling School head teacher Carl Roberts (above) is proud of his school’s achievements in becoming a popular non-selective school
InvictaGrammar School remains
the most popular first preference for selective pupils. In Malling, The Malling School
has continued its rise to again be the most popular non-selective choice, with some 214 naming it as their first choice,with 159 places up for grabs. The school’s continued improve-
ment is something head teacher Carl Roberts is incredibly proud of. He said: “When I joined in Sep-
tember 2008, the school was one of the least popular schools in Kent with around 50 pupils joining in year 7 that year. Although I didn’t let on, I knew that the school was unviablewith those numbers. “I brought withme a new senior
team,who are stillwithme, andwe set about making the changes that were necessary to deliver a great education to our pupils. “Once we sorted that out, our reputation improved and the school
went fromstrength to strength.” Valley Park is part of the Valley
Invicta Academies Trust, with In- victa and four local primary schools, and have plans to open a School of Science and Technology at Vinters Park in the town. Valley Park head Vic Ashdown
said: “It’s fantastic but, of course, it does come with its frustrations be- cause obviously many of them are left disappointed. What it does do is highlight the need for the school of science. If that had been ap- proved then in September we would have had an extra 180 places for those pupils, so the sadness is that the planning committee have rejected the proposal and forced us to appeal that decision. “We have done all we can to di-
minish the pressure on places and make sure there are fewer disap- pointed people.” Invicta Grammar School rated best in town, page 36
Top choices of parents for secondary education School name
Intake 1st pref Total
Valley Park School The Malling School
Maplesden Noakes School St Simon Stock Catholic School St Augustine Academy Lenham School
Cornwallis Academy
Aylesford School – Sports College Holmesdale School
instance, Valley New Line Learning Academy Invicta Grammar School
Maidstone Grammar School
Maidstone Girls’ Grammar School Oakwood Park Grammar School
Malling January 2018
240 159 180 180 150 150 255 180 180 210
192 205 180 160
433 214 228 198 130 92
126 80 75 85
200 208 134 85
1080 429
1024 630 537 266 364 275 198 162
466 412 471 349
180 135 127 110 87 61 49 44 42 40
104 101 74 53
is still not clear THE challenges are great for schools at both end of the admis- sions spectrum, independent edu- cation adviser Peter Read insists. Mr Read, pic-
tured right, who specialises school
in appeals
and admissions, has seen a lot of changes in his 43 years working in education in Kent. He knows that
admissions is one of the biggest is- sues for schools in the area. “For example, with the 2017 in-
take, New Line Learning Academy, had 61 of its 210 places on alloca- tion in March, a figure that will have increased considerably after grammar school appeals,” he said. “There are good schools out there
but people will avoid New Line and they seem to be deserting Cornwallis Academy as well, which used to be one of the most popular schools in the area.” Mr Read admits he fears for the
future of the New Line Learning Academy. Founded in 2007, after a merger
of Senacre Technology College and Oldborough Manor Community School, the Future Schools Trust fa- cility has struggled with reputation and Ofsted reports, and although the school feels it is moving in the right direction, Mr Read is not so sure. “New Line Learning Academy
replaced two struggling Maidstone schools and has never established itself in the public mind as a school of choice,” he said. “Its viability must be in doubt,
especially if the new Maidstone School of Science and Technology becomes a reality.” Paul Murphy, pictured right,
is
Ist choices/ capacity %
head of New Line Learning. He said: “The school has historically been one of the less pop- ular choices – long before its current academy status – and we are working hard to change both the image and reputation of the school, as was recognised in our recent Ofsted inspection report. “Today at NLL, we set high stan-
dards and are in the process of set- ting up partnerships which will offer our students opportunities not yet available at most other schools in the area. “We are confident that these
measures and our commitment to offer our pupils the best outcomes, will see a shift in perceptions.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
