Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

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mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by mystery »

Really? :( It's feeling a little stale to me now.

http://www.sevenoakschronicle.co.uk/Fre ... story.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This article was written ages back. Esther Larner's letter quoted was penned on 14 April.

Do any of you have Roger Gough as your councillor? Does he tell you what is happening?
JJ123
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Location: kent
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Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by JJ123 »

WOk parents have just been sent a consultation form asking if they would be happy for WOk to expand into Sevenoaks in a 11-16 girls + mixed 6th form capacity.

Forms to be returned by 22nd September. "Governors and staff which to assure parents this would not impact on schools ethos and high standards"

Mmm not sure how feasible that is with a headmistress and/or teachers up and down the A21 or how that would impact on future siblings.... again Wok parents are asked to comment with very little information on the impact to them.

Here we go again ....
chimera-ma
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Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:57 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by chimera-ma »

Have the governors said they will be guided by the majority view of parents?
JJ123
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Joined: Tue Nov 03, 2009 5:22 pm
Location: kent
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Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by JJ123 »

Just says "we are keen to gather your views"

Not really sure how we can give views pro or otherwise with such limited information.

On the face of it i cant see how this can be a good thing for Wok (in Tonbridge that is) but if work is underway on the building in Sevenoaks i'm guessing its going ahead in any event ??
chimera-ma
Posts: 304
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:57 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by chimera-ma »

There is nothing happening at the Sevenoaks grammar/Trinity site at the moment; the hard-hat wearers and digging equipment disappeared as suddenly as they arrived.

The next key event is likely to be the KCC Education cabinet meeting on 24th September, just two days after your WoK consultation is due to end. The agenda for the meeting hasn't been posted on KCC's website yet, but at the last meeting it was agreed that a revised medium-term education plan would be presented in September to take account of greater demographic pressures on secondary places than the existing plan predicted for this year and going forward.

Do you know when WoK governors are next scheduled to meet? Kent may have asked for feedback from the school by the 24th.

Has anyone heard rumblings at TWGSB or anywhere else re: boys' provision at Sevenoaks annexe since the school year started?
mystery
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Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by mystery »

Oh this does drag on. Couldn't a brief letter like that have been drafted last term? I suppose it wouldn't have looked good at the planning meetings if there had been another rejection of the expansion by WoK parents.

I wonder how many people care now about this grammar annex in Sevenoaks - there are surely more who want to know that the Trinity School will be built in time, furnished, in working order, set up appropriately by teaching staff before the start of term in September 2015.

What is being said to current Trinity parents? Aren't there any reading these fora?

This has always fascinated me on the Decision Notices section of the Information Commissioners Office website:

Kent County Council
Case Ref: FS50484122
Date: 03/07/2013
Summary: The complainant has requested information relating to Kent County Council’s (“the Council”) consideration of a proposed grammar school annexe in West Kent. The Council confirmed it held relevant information but considered it exempt from disclosure on the basis of section 36(2)(b)(ii) of the FOIA. The Commissioner’s decision is that the Council correctly applied the section 36(2)(b)(ii) exemption and the public interest favours withholding the information.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 36 - Complaint Not upheld
View a PDF of decision notice FS50484122

http://ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/dec ... 84122.ashx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
chimera-ma
Posts: 304
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:57 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by chimera-ma »

The secretiveness of the Council is really disappointing. No wonder there's been no transparency these past few months about the building timetable for the Wildernesse site and whether Trinity and a grammar annexe will be built concurrently!

Yes, there is still a huge interest in having a grammar school or annexe here in Sevenoaks - I think the number of viewings of relevant posts on this forum attests to that - but no-one I know has expectations for 2015.

Trinity alone will not meet local need and its sixth form offering will be limited, given the school's small size, without the opportunity to collaborate with a grammar school neighbour.

You sound rather weary, Mystery, which is not surprising...
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by mystery »

No, it's too late for any children to be admitted in 2015, but if a trinity building is possible on that timescale, so is an empty grammar annex.
doodles
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Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by doodles »

mystery wrote:Oh this does drag on
I'm afraid the question of secondary education provision in this area has been rumbling on for the last 35 years to my knowledge. It was a hot topic for my parents :shock: :shock: so I'm not holding my breath and unfortunately would not be surprised if the whole thing got shelved again.

Surely there would also have to be provision for boys too or the equality lobby will be jumping up and down :?:
chimera-ma
Posts: 304
Joined: Sun Apr 27, 2014 3:57 pm

Re: Fresh deal on Sevenoaks grammar expected soon

Post by chimera-ma »

I'll be jumping up and down too; it's boys' provision that is the bigger problem and, having a DS and living close to the Wildernesse site, I'd be livid if KCC failed to deliver for local boys. :evil:

For Trinity to start building, a site leasehold agreement would need to be finalised first; and given the intention that Trinity and the grammar share areas of the site and some facilities, the contract must surely particularise aspects of shared arrangements including each party's undertakings and obligations. That will bring the reality of a grammar annexe much closer.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the perplexing delay to Trinity's building programme is lack of agreement on the contract?

I think KCC will want WoK in the annexe regardless of whether a boys' sponsor school is secured and will seek to introduce boys later - either after liberalisation of statutory provision for grammars, so that the WoK annexe is converted to a standalone co-ed grammar or, as I've suggested in a different thread, by WoK consulting all parents again on the co-ed issue in a year or two, when the girls' annexe is established and more Sevenoaks parents are part of the parent body of the school.

Of course, WoK have already changed their admission criteria so that, for 2015-16 entry, Sevenoaks children are given equal category A location priority (or whatever they call it). Sevenoaks parents will therefore be a bigger group next year anyway, and I am sure some will represent the needs of Sevenoaks boys in future consultations if nothing at all happens as a result of the current consultation.

I just wish that WoK governors would present you and other current parents, JJ123, with a clear outline of the pros and cons from their perspective. Perhaps you or parent rep's could request that? The governors and school management team must have been through a considered evaluation process at the time of the first consultation; so providing you with a written outline of their considerations should not take too long.
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