Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

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

Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by mystery »

See the latest article on the campaign website - to fully enjoy it you need to read through the 7 letters between Weald and Andrew shilling. Nearly as good as a copy of private eye for bedtime reading and free of charge too.
U400JB9
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Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:29 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by U400JB9 »

Can you post a link? Please
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by mystery »

http://sevenoaksgrammar.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is the article with a photo of someone holding their finger over their lips at the top. You need then to click on "read more" and read on down right through the article and the links to the correspondence to get the full impact.

It could change though. Some of the previous articles have been edited. There isn't a phrase any more in another article the gist of which was that Invicta has much better results than WoK ... which might in part be explained by the fact that Invicta does not have TOGS close by.
Last edited by mystery on Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
U400JB9
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Location: East Kent

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by U400JB9 »

Thankyou.
U400JB9
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Location: East Kent

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by U400JB9 »

I like the fact the fact 2 voting options are

FOR Invicta
and
AGAINST WoK

Great choice :shock:
daddylonglegs
Posts: 66
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:44 pm

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by daddylonglegs »

I logged on last night and also read the seven letters between 7oaks Campaign and WOK.....it seemed to be getting quite acrimonious, so I am not surprised that when I just checked the website that the 7 letters have been removed (now there is just a link to one letter).
It seems to me that WOK are worried that an Invicta annexe in 7oaks will impinge on their catchment area and they are likely to have difficulties reaching their PAN if it goes ahead.
It looks like it is going to be quite a battle, and then if you add Trinity into the mix, the plot thickens even more!
U400JB9
Posts: 778
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 5:29 pm
Location: East Kent

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by U400JB9 »

That would be why I'm struggling to find the letters

I watch with fascination
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by mystery »

Oh that's a pity.

I don't think you are missing any information though really, other than that the head of Weald was seeking legal advice on the strategy of the sevenoaks grammar campaign, and the campaign sounded tetchy about this. Weald was also pointing out that if they had an annex in Sevenoaks it would be more like an annex than one from an even more distant school as they can move staff around etc, but Invicta is not going to move staff around. They both stretch the meaning of annex really.

For the closest we have to facts at the moment I think the only clear public documents around seem to be the KCC school places commissioning strategy produced last Autumn, and the appendix prepared by Weald in their letter to Mr Gove - which was also linked to from the Grammar campaign website unless that has been removed too.

Yes, it would be the duty of the head and governors of any school to be concerned if too many surplus places were to be introduced in to the school system, so presumably any school would wish to be sure of its facts before either plunging ahead with a huge expansion of their own school, or commenting on a planned new school / annex / expansions elsewhere.

If Weald were to lose significant numbers of children to either their own annex or someone else's annex it would be significant drain on a school's already strained budget. Presumably at this time of cutbacks in education it is preferable to send your child to a school that is busting full of children but on an even keel budget-wise, rather than to one which has a shortage of children and therefore funds with which to educate your child. Smaller classes and more space appear to be a good thing -- but not if the school does not have the adequate resources to fund the staffing and other things necessary to provide a good education and a broad curriculum.

The campaign must be a bit of a scary one for all the West Kent grammar headteachers as it always starts out by talking about the huge number of children who currently leave the Sevenoaks District each day to go to senior school -mostly grammar schools. If that number of children were to stop leaving the Sevenoaks District each day, where would that leave the West Kent grammars that are not in Sevenoaks District? Unless the population rises very long term by the amount that they would lose they would have to take children from further afield from comprehensive counties? Or drop their pass marks considerably to fill up with children from non-selectives?

The other scary thing about the campaign is that it is apparently a campaign run by lay people, but its decisions and wishes seem to become council policy also, and would appear to be backed by financial promises that apparently aren't on offer to West Kent grammars if what Weald of Kent says is true. I can't quite fathom it out. It's all too complicated for me. I just want to know there will be enough grammar places in Kent for the top 25% or so of the population if we are going to continue with a grammar system in Kent. Why apparently weren't the West Kent grammars asked again when the data apparently was revised and it became clear that there were sufficient children to support a 6 form entry annex in Sevenoaks rather than the 4 form entry annex which Weald says had been discussed with them last year.

The yes to Invicta / no to Weald voting instructions are rather good too. I agree UJB009 (sorry forgot your rather memorable user name!). The whole thing makes a jolly good read. It's a shame it keeps on changing.

As a member of the public and potential parent at any of the schools concerned I do not have a clue how to respond to the consultation documents which both offer yes / options only. I really don't know .... and also I don't want to say yes to something without knowing what the negative impact could be of it going ahead. Everything seems to come with an ultimatum -- a yes vote for Invicta seems to imply a no to the Christian School future, a yes to Weald could maybe mean insufficient grammar places in the future if it leads to no annex at all in the future and the West Kent grammars really can't expand closer to home (and there seem to be large differences of opinion on this), and a no to either of them could maybe mean insufficient grammar places in the future if a grammar annex in Sevenoaks is truly needed.

One thing is for sure, no one seems to have put together a real consultation document. They all just look like a ballot paper in a referendum vote and contain insufficient clear information to get back an informed yes / no / don't know.

And I still don't really know what was said at that meeting last Thursday that I couldn't go to. The summary on the campaign website is very brief and doesn't cover questions and answers etc either.

Never mind. Just hope it all works out well for our children in the end.
twellsmum
Posts: 349
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Location: Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by twellsmum »

I must admit I cannot see why Weald is particularly worried about its pupil numbers falling. At the moment, as I understand, it's catchment area is skewed so eg someone living three miles away in Southborough would not be considered for a place but someone 8 miles away in Sevenoaks would. Surely if there is a Sevenoaks grammar school it just puts its catchmetn back to a traditional circle one. TWGGS' catchment is so narrow that it is rare for girls in eg Bidborough and Pembury to get in on first allocation. Most of them do get into TWGGS but only by TWGGS going over PAN. There are also girls in TW who would probably like Weald for its language specialism but when I have looked round Weald in the past (have a daughter in Y10 and one in Y8) I was told that TW was not in the catchment so we did not even apply.

There is also Paddock Wood which is not part of the same scheme of education, I am sure there are plenty of children from over that area that would like to go to a grammar school but ATM don't get a chance. Edenbridge is not that far away on the train and there are usually children from there who get a grammar assessment yet don't get into a grammar school and so on.

JM2P!
bristols
Posts: 102
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 9:37 pm

Re: Gobsmacking article on sevenoaks grammar campaign

Post by bristols »

It's a very badly kept secret that the best kids that Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells have in their grammars are from Sevenoaks. The grammars all know full well that they will manage to fill their schools somehow (it's more likely to be the neighbouring comprehensives that will have empty places) but the calibre of pupils will go down if the Sevenoaks kids stay in Sevenoaks. This will have a knock on effect with the league tables. This is why Weald is so scared.

I have no idea why the kids in Sevenoaks are so much brighter than elsewhere. It could be all the tutoring to try and get the super selective scores or maybe there's something in the water! :lol:

Shame I missed those letters. Maybe the Campaign team were worried by the threat of the legal action by Weald written about in today's Sevenoaks Chronicle.
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