New Christian school in Sevenoaks has been approved by DfE
Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 3:15 am
The application under the free school legislation has been approved by the DfE. If you google "Christian free school sevenoaks" you'll find a website which says a lot about it.
The site is not definite, but they are clearly hoping to be able to use the Knole East site in Seal Hollow Road.
It's all a bit confusing as the approval is subject to a public consultation exercise but the school can take applications in October.
Does anyone know how the admissions process works for free schools? It says on the website that they hope to make offers on 1 March, and that parents can consider these alongside the others they receive on 1 March from the CAF process.
Will it always be a dual process like that, or is it just because it is the first year of the school? If it's always like that it won't help with perceptions on National Offer Day about places in Sevenoaks area, and it will involve quite a bit more shuffling with waiting lists etc. People might hold two offers for a long time as used to happen before admissions were co-ordinated across county boundaries. There are always people who are slow to turn down one of the offers, and sometimes it's not even clear until school actually starts in September which places are / are not going to be filled.
How do they manage this process in West Kent with independent schools? There must be people who go independent but who hang on to the state school offer for a very long time. Or is it only a tiny minority who do this so it isn't really a problem?
The site is not definite, but they are clearly hoping to be able to use the Knole East site in Seal Hollow Road.
It's all a bit confusing as the approval is subject to a public consultation exercise but the school can take applications in October.
Does anyone know how the admissions process works for free schools? It says on the website that they hope to make offers on 1 March, and that parents can consider these alongside the others they receive on 1 March from the CAF process.
Will it always be a dual process like that, or is it just because it is the first year of the school? If it's always like that it won't help with perceptions on National Offer Day about places in Sevenoaks area, and it will involve quite a bit more shuffling with waiting lists etc. People might hold two offers for a long time as used to happen before admissions were co-ordinated across county boundaries. There are always people who are slow to turn down one of the offers, and sometimes it's not even clear until school actually starts in September which places are / are not going to be filled.
How do they manage this process in West Kent with independent schools? There must be people who go independent but who hang on to the state school offer for a very long time. Or is it only a tiny minority who do this so it isn't really a problem?