28 September 2016 weekly update

Dear Colleagues

School Places and Admissions

It is good to be able to report that we have been successful in securing the necessary additional school places required for admission to Primary and Secondary school in September 2016, so that every child has a school place. For this September across Kent as a whole the target was achieved in ensuring there are 5% surplus school places in both the Primary and Secondary sectors. There are fewer Districts with less than 5% surplus capacity in Year Reception than in previous years.

Our forecasts in 2015/16 were accurate to within 0.2% for both Year Reception and Primary school rolls, and 0.6% for Secondary school rolls. Year 7 forecasts differed from the actual roll by 2 pupils out of a cohort of over 16,000.

The proportion of parents securing their preferred schools has increased. For admission in September 2016 over 81% of parents secured their first preference Secondary school, higher than in 2015. Primary school place offers saw 87% of families securing their first preference school (up over 1% on the previous year), which exceeded the 85% target. As we achieve more and more good and outstanding schools parents are having more choice and the number being allocated places in their preferred schools is increasing.

There have been significant increases in the numbers of pupils on roll in Kent schools. As you can see from the table below, there are now more than 3000 additional pupils in Primary schools compared to last year, including 488 additional pupils in Reception. At the same time there are 1,251 more pupils aged 11-16 in Secondary schools including an additional 348 pupils in Year 7.

In Reception 601 additional places were created through 19 schools offering at least an additional 15 places. In total 20 additional Reception classes were delivered and 79% of the places were in in schools rated good or outstanding. It is worth noting that 38% of the additional places were in Dartford and Gravesham, where there is particular pressure on school places and significant migration into Kent from London.

In Year 7, 447 additional places were created through 15 schools offering at least an additional 15 places. In total 15 additional classes were delivered and 93% were in schools rated good or outstanding. Similarly 36% of the additional places were created in Dartford and Gravesham

We continue to have significant growth going forward and big challenges to create all the school places we need for the future. I am very grateful to all the schools that have expanded their provision this year to accommodate all the pupils who need a place.

For 2016-17 there are 35 capital projects underway to deliver the required number of additional places. These include two new Primary schools, 27 Primary school expansions and 6 expansion projects in Secondary schools.

We will be publishing the next version of the Education Commissioning Plan later in the autumn and as usual it will set out our growth plans for the next few years, and the plans for 2017 and 2018 in more detail.

For any queries about future growth in school provision please contact your Area Education Officer.

North Kent: Ian.Watts@kent.gov.uk

West Kent: Jared.Nehra@kent.gov.uk

South Kent: David.Adams@kent.gov.uk

East Kent: Marisa.White@kent.gov.uk

Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director Education and Young People’s Services