First grammar in 50 yrs: campus in Sevenoaks proposed

[Villagedad]

Hi all

A couple of interesting articles below with regards to opening a Grammar satellite campus in Sevenoaks:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... anges.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/ed ... emand.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thoughts please. And is it now possible with the changes Gove has made, with successful schools able to expand?

Thanks
Villagedad

[2d12go]

There were also two articles in the Sunday Times. One article about Kent and Sevenoaks in particular and another suggesting that the extention of Grammar's could be a good thing. Additionally there is a series of TV programs about the history of Grammar schools on on BBC4. They all seem to be suggesting that Michael Grove as quoted in the Sunday Times "has his foot poised on the accelerator pedal for the expansion of Grammar schools"

Who knows how long it will all take though and there is still an awful lot of opposition from different quarters. However there seems tol be a lot of political noise just now which has not been around for a very long time.

[Sevenoaks Anon]

If you would like to sign the petition for the Sevenoaks grammar, please follow the link below

http://democracy.kent.gov.uk/mgEPetitio ... ID=3819864" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here are the details of the petition in full:

"Sevenoaks does not have a grammar school at present. Instead, every day, 1150 Sevenoaks children travel to grammar schools in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, a round trip of up to 25 miles. Many of these children spend up to two hours commuting each day from a young age. This has a negative effect on their learning, on their opportunities for hobbies and sport, on their opportunities to develop friendships, and on the time they spend with their families.
In November, the law was changed to enable grammar schools to expand and to establish new sites in nearby towns. We urge the Council to take advantage of the new law by establishing a grammar school in Sevenoaks, to provide a local grammar education for local boys and girls"

[Sevenoaks Anon]

The Sevenoaks Grammar campaign has a new online home - please check for regular updates & more articles

http://sevenoaksgrammarschoolcampaign.blogspot.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mystery]

I asked a child who travels from Sevenoaks to a Tunbridge Wells Grammar School what they thought. Said child indicated that it doesn't take long down the A21 on the school bus. The time taken is much shorter than for some children going to much closer schools they told me. It's the journey time plus the time the bus departs that makes the difference not the actual distance is what this child told me. They also wondered why any of the current grammar heads would wish to have children split across two sites, and how this would work out financially for the schools concerned. They were also puzzled about the co-educational issue. Would a single sex grammar wish to run a co-ed annex which would have taken pupils from its brother or sister school? Has any of this been thought about yet, or perhaps they should throw it out as a problem solving exercise for the grammar school children concerned?

In a county that already provides places for 25% of the population to go to grammar it seems an expensive manoeuvre to split up existing schools. It has to be more expensive than the travel involved. Anyhow KCC could change the way transport costs are paid and this would provide an incentive to attend the existing schools in Sevenoaks. Anyone in Sevenoaks who doesn't want to travel down the A21 to Tonbridge or Tunbridge Wells, on the train to Tonbridge or along the A25 east to other grammars could use the new academy in Sevenoaks. That might help to raise standards there.

Of course it would be lovely for the people of Sevenoaks town if there was a grammar school on their very doorstep but there are plenty of other towns in Kent where children have to travel to grammars. This will always be the case in a large and relatively thinly populated county (compared with a metropolian area for example) operating a grammar school system county-wide; Sevenoaks would appear to have a lot of very noisy parents relative to these other towns (some of which do not have a secondary school at all), and a primary head and MP who seem happy to change their arguments. This seems to me to be the campaign for the super-selectives to stop being superselective raising its head again in a different guise. The argument then was that Sevenoaks children were having their grammar school places taken away by children with higher scores who lived over the county boundary. Now there no longer seems to be the argument that there are insufficient places at grammars for Sevenoaks children but that Sevenoaks children are unable to travel unlike the majority of children in the rest of Kent.

What are the grammar heads themselves saying? It couldn't be a superselective as this proposal is to stop all grammar school children in Sevenoaks having to travel. So the schools in question would be TWGSB, TWGSG, or Weald. Or are there some others such as the Maidstone grammars for whom the Sevenoaks campus would be closer? Out of the three I have thought of, for TWGSG it would be the biggest expansion of the school overall as they don't have any Sevenoaks children attending, so they would take Sevenoaks residents out of TWGSB and Weald of Kent. For the other two it would just be the Sevenoaks children of the opposite sex they were poaching, and just shifting the Sevenoaks children off their main sites. It would leave the main sites a bit depleted.

[scarlett]

Goodness Mystery ! what a lot of writing...I hope you're resting your hand on a big pillow .

My son spends longer then 2 hours travelling per day......2 hours and 30 minutes, longer if the bus breaks down whilst performing it's daily u turn up an embankment.

The question isn't really how far away these schools are , but if there are enough places for children who pass the Kent Test. Do we have any stats on children who passed but weren't allocated a GS ?

[SSM]

I wish people would realise that Sevenoaks parents and children are special and they should have whatever they demand, and surely a good GS in the town is a necessity for little Johnny (I speak as a parent living in Sevenoaks with children travelling to TW to attend GS)

Mystery, I think KCC have already changed they paying for travel criteria. There was definitely something proposed along the lines of they would only pay for travel to nearest school, as long as it is more than 3 miles away. As opposed to the nearest appropriate school, and if a child passsed the 11+ this would constitute a GS.

I think what annoys me about the argument of having a GS in Sevenoaks, is that people want it both ways. If you believe in selective education then you shouldn't expect to have a GS on your doorstep.

It could also be argued that by moving Wildenesse site to the Bradbourne site it has made very inconvenient for a lot of the boys that used to travel to Wildernesse and now have to travel the extra couple of mile to the Bradbourne site, so should there not be a new school on the site for these unfortunate children?

Maybe the GSs should look at opening an All Ability school on the old Wildernesse site. That I would wholeheartedly support.

[pheasantchick]

Mystery - good summary of arguements.

My son travels 12 miles to a more distance grammar. Children who travel 4 miles away leave t the same time. Distance isn't he problem. The public transport system is!

[mystery]

Just trying to liven up the Kent forum again. Hope I haven't offended anyone!!

I have also heard tell of a campaign for a church school on the old Wildernesse site under the Free Schools legislation and for a very large Harris Academy in Edenbridge. Anyone know anything about either of these?

In answer to your question Scarlett I think that there are still enough grammar places in Kent (at the moment anyway, I don't know if the large birth years in some areas lower down the school years will cause a problem). The issue in Sevenoaks is that on 1 March a lot of people get a far flung grammar and then have to wait for waiting lists and appeals to get a closer grammar (same where we live). The Sevenoaks MP and head of Amherst wants to get a place on 1 March and not suffer the angst, and now they don't want them having to go down the A21 on a fast bus either.

I guess really though that the problem is that Sevenoaks and its citizens are so nice that they don't want their children to be educated in another town, as most other places are "rough" compared with Sevenoaks - wrong brand of shades tipped back on head in Cafe Nero etc.

[Minty]

Well, another one here living in Sevenoaks and with a child at a T Wells grammar - very happy with the school and no problem at all with the travel (about 40 mins each way).
To be honest, I don't think Sevenoaks itself needs a new Grammar - most children with passes do get a place and transport connections are very good, but in the past many children from the villages further out - Otford, Kemsing, Wrotham, Westerham etc have had great difficulty, as without a super-selective pass there is little hope of a place on distance. Some of these then gain places in Maidstone, Bexley, Dartford or Medway, but that really is a long way to travel and generally not very easy, so the proposed new school might be of more benefit to them and perhaps ease pressure on Weald and Twgsb who have been forced to take on extra classes in previous years?