11 Plus Exams Forum

Reading the KM the county chiefs have confirmed that they want to reduce number of places at 4 grammas in Dover and Folkestone to expand on west kent

However they didnt quite say when this will happen and naturally those in east kent arent very happy with the proposals. It seems more like a done deal now and just waiting to hear when they implement it. I doubt there is long to go before this happens

I may be being stupid but how does that work?
Just because there are less places offered in East kent, surely it doesn't follow that the West Kent grammars can physically fit in any more children.

Does anyone know how they are planning to implement this?

No, I think that this is just another of those plans that Kent hasn't thought through properly. Unless they are going to make the West Kent schools physically bigger or build another GS - both seem unlikely.

Secondly, can somebody with better knowledge than me of the procedure please look at my post under "2nd March round the corner" and come up with a reason why it takes so long here.

Sherry_d, what did the Kent Messenger say, and was it just meaningless twaddle?

It was mentioned on the news this morning. No information was given how it was all going to be implemented, and when.

pheasantchick wrote:It was mentioned on the news this morning. No information was given how it was all going to be implemented, and when.

Exactly how it was in KM, I kind of got the feeling they are trying to keep it under the carpet as so they dont upset some parents especially those in east kent as one MP was already compalining how unfair this is

sherry_d wrote:

pheasantchick wrote:It was mentioned on the news this morning. No information was given how it was all going to be implemented, and when.

Exactly how it was in KM, I kind of got the feeling they are trying to keep it under the carpet as so they dont upset some parents especially those in east kent as one MP was already compalining how unfair this is

I get the feeling that they are just trying to keep the parents on side for 2nd March.

I won't be holding my breath! If it takes them nearly 6 months to deal with the 11 year olds of the county for one year group can you imagine how long it will take them to rejig the whole system!! DS1 is waiting for 1st March, DS2 is Yr3 so it will be interesting to see if the changes are in place for him. I really feel sorry for the children in this county (not ignoring other counties but I have no experience of them) this whole thing needs to be sorted out.

Just wondering how they can move places from East to West without physically expanding the schools and allocating more resources to the West of the county - but what impact will this have on the East of Kent especially if all the talked about regeneration of Folkestone, Dover, etc etc happens.

especially if all the talked about regeneration of Folkestone, Dover, etc etc happens.

i am not holding my breath



Local news this evening had heads of Folkestone schools quoting number of OOC children who take up Kent places in West Kent

yoyo123 wrote:Local news this evening had heads of Folkestone schools quoting number of OOC children who take up Kent places in West Kent

Hi all
I can't help but noticing that there is a big "elephant" in the room that is being ignored!

When you have the pressures on capacity and resources we have in Kent, with heads from schools in Folkestone quoting OOC numbers, its obvious the time has come for KCC to deal with this "elephant" called Out of County applicants...

There needs to be a solution that takes account of the fact that Kent families live in a selective area and families from the London Boroughs, Sussex and Surrey unfortunately do not. All are free to move to an area that has the education system that suits there particular needs and aspirations.

I believe if restrictions were imposed on OOC applicants the problem would largely go away! Why should heads of GS's from Folkestone suffer and have to bail out GS's in West Kent when the problem would be eased with simple admissions criteria that favoured Kent children.

I understand OOC parents won't like to read this and if I were OOC too I would be angry, but KCC can't be responsible to service the educational aspirations of families outside it's jurisdiction, and must do the best for Kent based famileies to sort out this whole mess.

Thoughts and comments welcome
Villagedad