WoK - which site will you be giving preference for?

[chimera-ma]

Paul Carter, Leader of Kent County Council, announced in September that they will go ahead with expanding the annexe new-build to the original 6 FE design, so, if I had a DD who was a prospective WoK student, I would be asking WoK what they understand the implications to be for both the Tonbridge site and the annexe.

He did say that if Mrs May's proposals for new grammars don't get the go-ahead, they'll use the extra space for adult education!

Will WoK consult again about going co-ed? Will the extra section of the Sevenoaks grammar building also be finished by next September or will the new girls - and the long-suffering Trinity community - have to put up with further construction noise?

Don't forget too that WoK does already intend some sort of sixth form provision in Sevenoaks from 2018 - which will be mixed-sex like the Tonbridge site - so the 2017 Year 7 intake should only be 'rattling around' on their own for one year.

[mystery]

Thanks Chimera-ma. We put WoK on the CAF so, yes, will be interested in knowing that kind of thing.

Chimneys - nice to hear from you again. I thought you had disappeared in a puff of smoke.

[JJ123]

Just received our letter confirming our DD has been allocated the WoK Tonbridge site, and joining her big sister there in September.

We live in central Sevenoaks and i just wondered how many other Sevenoaks parents got Tonbridge - if it was their first choice and without sibling priority ?

I'd love my DD to be travelling on the bus with local girls too.

[woollywomble]

That must be a relief for you. I'd be interested in knowing this too - has it all worked out okay for everyone? We are on the waiting list but would need the Tonbridge site, as we can't get to Sevenoaks, so wondering how it's all going and if people are getting their first choice of site?

[JJ123]

Yes i know of quite a few locally who want Wok Tonbridge but have gone on wait lists for Twggs just in case they get allocated Sevenoaks annex - its going to cause a bit of a bottle neck for a while.

Really hope you get your preference. My eldest is so happy at Wok ( and to keep a 15 year old happy is no easy thing )

[mystery]

You know people in central Sevenoaks who would prefer TWGGS to the Sevenoaks annex site ( and once per fortnight in Tonbridge)?

Does TWGGs get much movement on the waiting list?

[pushydaddy]

We've just got an appeal place for WoK (yay us!), we live in Tunbridge Wells and have DD1 at TOGs, so the Tonbridge site would be much more convenient. However DD2 really likes the idea the annex, no big girls, actually slightly smaller than her primary school (for the first year anyway) and I've visited a number of new build schools in the recent past and have heard staff and pupils alike praise talk the virtues of being in an excellent building, as it raises spirits of all who spend time in it.

So despite the added hassle for her of commuting to sevenoaks and getting to the school from the station, we're probably going to select Sevenoaks, which is lucky as I think we'd get it anyway as that is where the new form is going to be.

I was really surprised to find this thread and see that people in Sevenoaks would opt for Tonbridge.

[ToadMum]

We've just got an appeal place for WoK (yay us!), we live in Tunbridge Wells and have DD1 at TOGs, so the Tonbridge site would be much more convenient. However DD2 really likes the idea the annex, no big girls, actually slightly smaller than her primary school (for the first year anyway) and I've visited a number of new build schools in the recent past and have heard staff and pupils alike praise talk the virtues of being in an excellent building, as it raises spirits of all who spend time in it.

So despite the added hassle for her of commuting to sevenoaks and getting to the school from the station, we're probably going to select Sevenoaks, which is lucky as I think we'd get it anyway as that is where the new form is going to be.

I was really surprised to find this thread and see that people in Sevenoaks would opt for Tonbridge.

I don't know what a Venn diagram of everyone concerned (not just posters on the forum ) would look like, but I suspect that there are those who have long wanted grammar provision in Sevenoaks and will embrace its arrival by choosing the new site regardless, those who want the provision but won't choose the site because they don't want their DD to be 'not on an established site' and so won't choose it even now they've finally got it, those who 'don't believe in grammar schools' yet who have their DD sit the test and will send them there anyway, those who never cared about and will just ignore it - and all shades around and between?

[mystery]

Well done Pushdaddy. They'd struggle at appeal to say they hadn't got room for 3 extra forms at the annex wouldn't they? The problem over the years will be the issue of the children at the annex having to be educated at the main site for 1 day a fortnight? That place will pop surely as the numbers at the annex increase over the years and it does not become a grammar school in its own right in the way they must have been counting for the last year or so until this recent election?

[pushydaddy]

I am not sure that the 1 day a fortnight issue will break anything. Even if there were 5 years of 4 form entry. that is only 20 forms. The Tonbridge site would only have to have provision to accommodate 2 forms per day, which I presume they could handle from September.

I am not sure how sensible it is moving loads of kids from a spacious building to a cramped building, when moving teachers would be significantly less hassle and cost. I imagine that the kids will find the day at a difference site is a bit a break of the monotony. But we'll see.

I'd also be surprised if any head teacher would plan a new annex on the off chance that a government would be capable of creating new Grammar school.