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School selection - Wilmington Girls from Sevenoaks.

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 3:47 pm
by Badger
The next challenge after this year's results will be the choice of school!

When I and other local Sevenoaks children (Halstead, Badgers Mount and Knockholt) were given Wilmington Grammar School for Girls earlier this year we didn't realise that KCC hadn't put any 'normal' school transport plans in place!

Our children were expected to use a taxi + train + bus twice a day :shock:

Information about KCC's proposed school transport to Wilmington wasn't available this time last year; so I'm trying to help other parents that may find themselves in a similar situation - as well as try to improve our children's school travel.

I've contacted the KCC Councillors for Halstead and Knockholt (Richard Parry) and Badgers Mount (Roger Gough) asking if KCC will be allocating Wilmington again for the next school intake, and if they are what travel plans will be available.

All the other schools used by local children (grammar and non-grammar) have a bus or coach they can walk to!

When I have their reply I will update this post.

For any parents that need more info please see my original post.

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:01 pm
by Tolstoy
Badger did you get something sorted in the end? I followed your post over the summer and was horrified that your daughter could have been left stranded and possibly alone at a train station if the train was late. Nights are already drawing in.

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:12 pm
by Badger
Hi Tolstoy,
We are still in 'dispute' with KCC.

I'm trying to get some help from our Councillors (Roger Gough and Richard Parry). Michael Fallon (our MP) has been sympathetic and has also made representations to KCC.
But nothing has actually changed from when KCC first told us of their plans... (or lack of!)

We are currently paying for the NKST (North Kent School Tranport) private coach which works well for the girls. But apart from the costs is a 2 mile drop off.

The two families that had faith in KCC's choice of school and their transport provision seem to have come off rather badly - all the other families appealed (this was before the transport issues raised their head) and went to the normal Tonbridge based grammar schools for our area - so can walk to the bus...

The good news is that my daughter and her friend are enjoying Wilmingon! :D

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:05 pm
by Tolstoy
The good news is that my daughter and her friend are enjoying Wilmingon!
That must be a huge consulation.

Penalised for compliance. It begs belief that the person making the descision can't see the injustice which is so blatently obvious to any person with an ounce of common sense. I do hope it gets sorted.

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:21 am
by Tracy
Badger, your posts are very informative for the next round of parents. Thankyou.
Subject to passing the test :roll: , we might be interested in Wilmington, could you pass on your thoughts/your dd's thoughts on this school. Thanks again. x

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 1:32 pm
by Badger
Hi Tracy,
It's still very early days (only 2 and a bit weeks in) - but so far all good with Wilmington :D

DD seems to have settled in fine - getting a bit tired as I'm sure most children starting secondary school will be to start with, as it's quite a change for them.

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:20 pm
by Tracy
Badger, I'm sure somewhere that you put Wilmington as your 3rd choice. Without wishing to pry, are you able to tell us why this was? Simply that other schools were closer?

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:59 pm
by Badger
It was actually 4th choice! This was due to ALL the children from around Badgers Mount and Halstead previously going to Weald, TOGS, etc.

Parents who included Wilmington or not on their application form all got allocated Wilmington this year - for the schools we have contact with this has never happened before. We don't know anyone that goes to or has been offered Wilmington from our area in the past. So it seems KCC have a new system for using Wilmington for children in our area - hence the reason for this post and asking our Councillors to get some information for the next school intake.

All the families apart from us and one other appealed and were all given the normally allocated schools for our area (with simple free school transport!!!).

After making some enquires about Wilmington we couldn't find anyone with a bad word to say about it! (and I asked a lot of people...)
So the only reason it was last on our list was because it was an unknown for our area - and because it's obviously (to us) hard to get to from our area! Something KCC didn't seem to realise...

So we were happy with KCC's choice of school - just didn't realise they would completely let us down on the school transport front!

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:10 pm
by Tracy
Thanks Badger, nice to hear you are happy with the school.

Re: School selection - Wilmington Girls from Sevenoaks.

Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:24 pm
by Badger
Badger wrote:When I have their reply I will update this post.
After MUCH CHASING :evil: as far as I can make out from the replies from our KCC Councillors, children in Badgers Mount, Halstead, Knockholt and surrounding Sevenoaks villages could well be allocated Wilmington schools again for next year.

So my advice to parents of children who live in these areas and have been allocated Wilmington schools would be to contact your Councillors and ask how will your children will get to school :?: :!:

Roger Gough: KCC Councillor
http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-demo ... -gough.htm

Richard Parry: KCC Councillor
http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-demo ... -parry.htm

Just to clarify.
I'm happy (and so is my daughter!) with Wilmington Grammar School for Girls - but feel totally let down by KCC and their school travel proposal for eleven year old girls of taxi + train + bus.