Weald of Kent consultation: a setback, but options remain

Towards the end of last week, the Governors of the Weald of Kent Grammar School reported back to parents and staff, while also writing to Kent County Council, about the results of their consultation on the school moving to becoming co-educational (post of 11 March).

Following a response from parents that showed limited support for the move to co-educational status, the Governors decided to step back from this proposal. This has clear implications for the Sevenoaks grammar annexe, since back in December the Education Secretary's sticking point had been that WoK's (and Invicta's) earlier proposals had been for a co-educational annexe in Sevenoaks, with the original schools remaining single sex - which, in the eyes of the DfE, meant that what was proposed was a new grammar school, prohibited under current legislation.

Nonetheless, the Governors also stated that they remained strongly interested in provision in Sevenoaks, and wished to work with KCC and others to find alternative ways forward.

There are two main possibilities. The first is to address the concern, felt by many Weald parents, that the creation of a 6FE (Forms of Entry) coeducational annexe in Sevenoaks, while moving the existing 6FE of girls provision in Tonbridge on to a coeducational basis, would create large-scale extra provision (an additional 6FE) for boys in West Kent, but none for girls. KCC's view was that this would not necessarily be the case - coeducational schools do not always split 50-50 on gender lines - but this concern must nonetheless be addressed more fully and systematically than hitherto.

Secondly, it might be possible for WoK to expand its girls provision on the Sevenoaks site, and look for another school as a partner in providing boys' places. Many of these options were examined when - before I took on the Education portfolio - KCC discussed the Sevenoaks issue with grammar schools across West Kent. Nonetheless, it is well worth pursuing again.

Thus, as I emphasised in the media interviews I gave on Friday, the news from WoK undoubtedly represents a setback for the proposals for a Sevenoaks grammar annexe, but it is most certainly not the end of the road.