Kent Test: plans and preparations

On Monday the KCC Cabinet received a report on the experience so far of the return to school; you can find the report here. The webcast of the meeting can be found here, with the item on return to school starting at around 46:30 minutes in to the meeting.

One of the many issues arising from this year’s unique circumstances has been how this year’s Kent Test will be conducted. As previously reported, the Council set out our plans for the Test in the summer, with a delayed date of 15 October. However, the continuing impact of COVID-19 on schools, with some students having to self-isolate, has raised further questions as to how the Test should be managed under these circumstances. 

This week KCC sent advice to schools regarding the overall approach:

• Any child exhibiting Covid symptoms, or partway through a period of self isolation, will not take the test on the prescribed day

• If an individual child (or a small number of children) is unable to attend due to Covid, The remainder of the registrants will take the test and the child(ren) will be given an opportunity to sit it on their return

• If a class within a year group cannot sit the test, the same approach applies

• If the full year group cannot sit the test, they will do so on their return

• Schools have been advised to allow children (where possible) to settle back in before taking the Test, but not to delay too long as another period of isolation could be required. In particular, schools have been advised to contact KCC to help them apply variations appropriate to their individual circumstances

The County Council will continue to apply this approach of setting a pragmatic general framework while working with schools to take account of individual and local circumstances as we approach the Test.

Kent Test delay to October confirmed

Kent County Council's Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Richard Long, has today confirmed the proposal put forward by KCC officers some weeks ago to delay the sitting of the Kent Test until Thursday 15 October (Saturday 17 October for Out of County applicants). This delay of about a month will give students the chance to acclimatise back to school after the Covid crisis closure of schools to most students (for most children starting Year 6 in September, this will come after almost six months out of school).

The County Council has sought to give parents as much information as possible about the proposed direction of policy by highlighting the earlier stages of the decision-making process. Now Richard Long's decision - made after careful consideration of the representations by schools, parents and others - gives much greater certainty. The County Council has always emphasised that there can never be complete certainty, given the possible impacts of a return of the pandemic in the autumn, but this sets as clear a course as possible in these most uncertain times.

You can find the KCC media release here.

October date proposed for the Kent Test

The many uncertainties over how long children, and in particular the current Year 5 cohort, will stay out of school has raised questions over the best approach to this year's Kent Test for grammar school entry.

The Kent Test has for over a decade been sat in September, soon after the new Year 6 children return to school. As soon as schools closed to the majority of pupils in March, the question of whether this timeline could be sustained was raised. Recently, it has become increasingly clear - and subsequently confirmed - that the children currently in Year 5 will return to school only at the start of the school year in September.

On Friday, KCC announced that a proposal has been submitted to Richard Long, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, to delay this year's Kent Test by a month until 15 October (for children in Kent schools). The proposal from the Children, Young People and Education directorate, recognises the major impact of school closures on children's learning (and on some more than others) and will allow pupils to settle back into the classroom before taking the Test.

The Test was sat in September so that families could know its outcome before making their choices on the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) at the end of October. Under the proposal, that would not be possible and so it proposes that the number of schools that parents can name on the SCAF form is increased from four to six for one year only. Families considering a grammar school for their child should ensure that they register them for the Test by the deadline of Wednesday, 1 July.

You can find our media statement about the proposal here. The proposal will be considered over the coming weeks, and a formal decision made by the end of term; however, in setting this out, we hope to ease some of the uncertainty confronting families considering a grammar school for their child.    

Eynsford resurfacing and the Kent Test

The resurfacing works in High Street in Eynsford - between the Baptist Church and Mill Lane - are due to go ahead. That is the good news.

Less good news is the timing. The works were due to be carried out over the summer holidays (post of 31 March), which would have made obvious sense. However, delays built in in getting a contract (covering a wide range of works) agreed between Kent Highways and a contractor.  The works will now take place over night on 8 and 9 September - just before the Kent Test on 10 September.

When I was alerted to this, I contacted Kent Highways in an effort to get the date moved but have to admit that this proved unsuccessful.  The resurfacing timetable is full until the arrival of winter makes it impossible to carry out works, so that moving the date is, it appears, not an option; and not carrying out the works at all would leave the road in a vulnerable condition before winter even started. 

I did seek to get some assurance that the impact would not be too disruptive on those children living nearby and about to take the Kent Test. This is, after all, already a stressful time for them and for their families. I am told that the noisiest works will take place on the first night, and in the earlier parts of the evening. It should not, I am told, be a case of loud noises going on all night, both nights. If I get further information, I will update on this blog.

Grammar school places for Darent Valley children

Many children from Darent Valley, especially to the north, have gone to the Dartford and Wilmington grammar schools for their secondary schooling. It has always therefore been a cause of concern that some or all of the schools might move to admission procedures that would be less favourable to local children, such as a focus on ‘super-selection’ (essentially, taking children simply on the basis of the highest test scores) or strengthening the focus on distance rather than named parishes, which would in some cases favour children from across the London border in Bexley over many Kent children.

The issue has been rumbling on for some years, with proposals brought forward, shelved and brought forward again. The County Council has a strong interest in this, given its responsibility to ensure access to education for Kent children, and our Admissions Team have worked hard on the issue, responding to proposals and arguing the case for local children. I have been involved both as local County Councillor for Darent Valley and, in the last year, as Cabinet Member for Education. All the schools have brought forward proposals for 2015. While the debate on these proposals remains live, there has on the whole been movement in a positive direction for Kent children and those from Darent Valley.  

Here is where things stand at present:

Dartford Grammar School (admission number: 180)

The school has hitherto operated a system of giving priority (after Looked After Children) to boys from a series of wards in Dartford (Zone A) who have passed the Kent Test. None of these wards is in Darent Valley. Once qualifying Zone A boys are admitted, all remaining places are allocated on the basis of test score, with distance from the school as a tie-breaker. The new proposals, which can be found here, modify this by putting a cap of 90 on the number of boys admitted from Zone A, thus strengthening somewhat the super-selective element.

Dartford Grammar School for Girls (admission number: 160) 

This currently operates the following system of priority for those who pass the Kent Test: Looked After Children; siblings of those attending the school; those living within a mile of the school; those living within the Borough of Dartford or one of a set of ‘named parishes’; all others on the basis of score, with distance as the tie-breaker. The ‘named parishes’ include Crockenhill, Eynsford, Farningham, Horton Kirby & South Darenth and Swanley from within Darent Valley. New proposals can be found here. As with Dartford Grammar, the new proposals would cap the number from 'named parishes' at 100. They would also remove preference for siblings and those within a mile of the school.

Wilmington Grammar School for Boys (admission number: 150)

This gave priority to: Looked After Children; those with a sibling at the school; those with a sibling at Wilmington Girls; those with combined scores in the top 10%; those nearest the school. The revised criteria for 2015 can be found here; they preserve the priority for Looked After Children and siblings at the two schools, but then add 15 governor places for those achieving the highest combined scores in the Kent Test, followed by priority for those within 1.5 miles of the school or in named parishes which cover the whole of the Darent Valley division (including Shoreham). Any remaining places are allocated on a distance criterion.

Wilmington Grammar School for Girls (admissions number: 120)

This was very similar to the boys, prioritising Looked After Children; those with a sibling at the school; those with a sibling at Wilmington Boys; the top 12 scoring girls in Mathematics; those living nearest the school. The 2015 proposals are very similar to the new proposals for Wilmington Boys. The 12 Governor Places will be the awarded to those with the highest Mathematics scores, while the named parishes will extend as far South as Sevenoaks, easily incorporating the whole of Darent Valley.

Thus the overall effect is that the 2015 criteria proposed for the two Wilmington grammar schools are much more favourable to Darent Valley children than those in operation up until now. The criteria for Dartford Grammar School represent a partial shift towards super-selection with some disadvantage to Kent children (in Dartford, though not in Darent Valley). The Dartford Grammar School for Girls are making a similar shift, in this case affecting Darent Valley children. However, this represents a significant modification of initial proposals that were much more purely super-selective. The number of places for named parishes was revised up in the course of consultation and is now quite generous.

I understand that the Dartford (but not Wilmington) schools' proposals have had challenges brought before the Schools Adjudicator. This may take some time to resolve, but the overall outcome for children in Darent Valley looks likely to be quite a good one.