1. Admission to Secondary School in Kent September 2020

2. Key Dates for Parents 17th October 2019
For those children who took the 11+ assessment decision will be ed/sent 1st class to parents
31st October 2019
National closing date for application forms (SCAF)
2nd March 2020
National Offer Day: s sent after 4pm and letters sent 1st class
4th March 2020
Secondary schools can send out welcome letters from this date
16th March 2020
Date by which parents should accept or decline secondary school offer of a place
Deadline for late applications and waiting list requests to be included in the Kent County Council reallocation stage
19th March 2020
Date KCC will send schools reallocation waiting lists for ranking against their over-subscription criteria
26th March 2020
Secondary schools to send their ranked reallocation waiting list and acceptance and refusals to KCC
27th March 2020
Parents deadline for lodging appeals
22nd April 2020
KCC to reallocate places that have become available from the schools’ waiting lists. After this point, schools will take back ownership of their waiting lists

3. Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF)
The majority of applications are now received electronically and parents are encouraged to apply using this method.
Primary schools will be only sent a few blank paper SCAFs.
You are invited to express up to four preferences in priority order. If two schools can offer a place your higher preference will be offered. Putting down one school only will not improve the chance of getting a place and the panel may look unfavourably on your application if you have to appeal.
Only one application per child – don’t submit an electronic form and a hard copy

4. SCAF
Give reasons for each preference including details of any siblings that will still be on roll at the preferred school at the time of the child’s admission.
Parents of looked after and previously looked after children should send KCC evidence that supports the request for consideration under either criteria by 13 December 2019.
Parents of pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan do not apply to schools for a place through the main round admissions process. KCC will make direct contact with you to suggest the most suitable schools.
If your child did not pass the grammar school test and you are thinking of appealing you must name a grammar school on your SCAF.

5. Supplementary Information Forms
Some schools, especially church schools, ask for additional information and have an extra form you must complete and send back to the school. This does not replace the SCAF but is an additional form that needs to be completed.
Those schools requiring a supplementary information form are clearly identified in the ‘Admission to Secondary School in Kent 2020’ book.

6. Kent Selection Test
There will be no parental right of appeal against the outcome of your child’s assessment, but you may make an admission appeal to the independent appeal panel if your child is refused admission to any school you applied for. Appeals should be lodged after the 2nd March 2020 and by 27th March 2020.
A grammar school assessment does not guarantee a grammar school place.
The allocation of places rests on each school’s published oversubscription criteria.

7. Allocating Places The LA operates an “Equal Preference” scheme.
The LA tells schools who has applied for places, not whether they were named first, second, third or fourth, and the schools place their applicants in a rank order based on their oversubscription criteria.
All applicants must be ranked, even if the school is oversubscribed or undersubscribed.
The published criteria determine which children can be offered places.
If more than one of the schools named on your SCAF offer a place the LA looks back at the original order and offers a place at whichever of them you named highest on the form.

8. Offering School Places
On the 2nd March 2020 Kent County Council will:
(a) send an offer after 4pm to those parents who have applied online and provided a valid address. The will include:
1. The name of the school at which a place is offered.
2. Information about the right of appeal against the decisions to refuse places at other named schools.
3. Information on how to request a place on a waiting list for schools originally named as a preference, if you want your child to be considered for any places that might become available.
The letter will include:
2. The reasons why the child is not being offered a place at each of the other schools named on the SCAF.
3. Information about the statutory right of appeal against the decisions to refuse places at the other nominated schools.
4. Information on how to request a place on a waiting list for schools originally named as a preference on your SCAF, if you want your child to be considered for any places that might become available.
5. Advice on how to find contact details for the school, the Local Authority and details of schools who are their own admissions authority so you can lodge an appeal with the governing body.
You cannot ask for your child to go on the waiting list for a Grammar school unless the child has been assessed suitable for Grammar school.

9. Acceptance/Refusal of Places - 16 March 2020
By 16 March 2020 you must inform the school whether you wish to accept or refuse the place offered on offer day.
Refusals should be made in writing or via to provide an appropriate audit trail.
If a response has not been received by 16 March 2020, the secondary school must remind you in writing of the need to respond within a further seven days and point out that the place will be withdrawn if no response is received.
If you fail to respond by this date, a final letter will be sent that the offer has been withdrawn.

10. Waiting Lists - Appeals
Kent County Council will collect a reallocation list for all schools up to
16th March This will include details of the following:
(a) all applicants who named the school on the SCAF and were not offered a place on 2nd March 2020 and who have asked to be included on the school’s waiting list;
(b) late applicants who named the school on their applications which were sent to Kent County Council by 16th March 2020.
By 19 March 2020 Kent County Council will advise all Kent Secondary schools of the full details of all waiting list requests and late applications (reallocation list) for their schools to enable them to apply their over-subscription criteria.
On 22 April 2020 KCC will re-allocate any places that have become available since offer day. Applicants will be sent a letter by 1st Class post that day.

11. Waiting List or Appeal?
You can do either or both for the same school or for different schools. For example, you can appeal for one school and put your child on the waiting list for another.
It is recommend that you still accept the place your child has been offered. This will not affect your waiting list position or your appeal.

12. Home to School Transport
Home to school transport is a consideration for many
parents of children that are transferring to secondary
school.
The criteria to receive home to school transport are
that the child must be attending the nearest
appropriate school for transport purposes AND the
distance between the home and school must be more
than three miles via the shortest available walking
route.

13. Transport Entitlement
A list of areas and parishes are under each school entry in the ‘Admission to Secondary School’ Booklet
The most appropriate school for admissions may not necessarily be the nearest appropriate school for transport purposes (i.e. if you have chosen a single sex school)
Children will not automatically receive travel assistance to any school that offers them a place

14. Transport for children from low income families
To qualify to receive transport assistance under the low income criteria, your child must be entitled to receive free school meals or you must be in receipt of one of the benefits listed below:
• Income Support; • income based Jobseekers Allowance; • Child Tax Credit (without Working Tax Credit and with an annual income of no more than £16,190); • guaranteed element of state pension credit; • income related employment and support allowance; • maximum level of Working Tax Credit; • Universal Credit where children are also eligible for free school meals.

15. In Summary
Apply
A simple, fast, convenient process which opens at 9am on 2 September 2019 and closes at midnight on 31st October 2019.
Processing
confirmation reassures you that your application has been received.
You can log back on at any time to view the information you entered.
Offer day
On offer day (Monday 2nd March 2020) – an will be sent to you after 4pm, telling you which school you have been offered.
Accept or decline
You must accept or decline the school place you’ve been offered between
3rd March and 16th March 2020.
If it has not been possible to offer your child a place at one of your preferred schools, you have the right to lodge an appeal between 3rd March and
27th March 2020.

16. Thank you for coming along this evening
Please remember that your child is the most important person in this process but the school choice has also got to work for you as a family.

17. Any questions?