th June 2012 Halfway Houses Primary School Secondary Admissions Briefing for Parents

Key Dates for Parents Monday 2 nd July 2012Closing date for Kent Test Registration Tuesday 11 th / Wednesday 12 th September 2012 Kent Test takes place in Kent Primary Schools Wednesday 17 th October 2012 Kent Test assessment decisions sent to parents (to arrive 18 th October by post). If registered on line s will be sent after 4pm on the 17 th. Wednesday 31 st October 2012Closing date for submitting secondary school applications (online and paper) Friday 1 st March 2013Offer of one school place sent to parents April to July 2013Appeals are heard during this time.

The Kent Test (11+) The 11+ consists of 4 separate assessments  Non-verbal reasoning  Verbal reasoning  Mathematics  Writing Apply at Phone Secondary Admissions Team

Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) The Local Authority actively promote the Online Admission Website Primary schools will be only sent a few blank paper SCAFs. Parents must fill in their home authority’s SCAF or online application. Kent Parents are invited to express up to four preferences in priority order. Putting down one school only will not improve the chance of getting a place. A Kent Grammar school will not consider any child who has not named them as a preference

Testing If your child took the Kent Test the LA will write to you advising of assessment decisions on 17 October. Parents who registered online, and provided an address, will receive their child’s assessment by after 4pm on 17 October. Parents will have until 31 October to submit their online application or return their completed paper SCAF. There will be no parental right of appeal against the outcome of a child’s assessment, but parents may make an admission appeal after 1 March 2013 to the independent appeal panel if their child is refused admission to any school they applied for.

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 very oversubscribed or undersubscribed. The published criteria determine which children can be offered places. The order in which a parent named the schools on the SCAF only matters if more than one of the schools could offer a place. In that case, the LA looks back at the original order and offers a place at whichever of them the parent named highest on the form.

Offering School Places 1 March 2013 After 4pm those parents who applied online and provided an address will receive an advising which school their child has been offered. In addition, offer letters will be posted first class to all parents by the home LA to arrive on 2 March Letters will include an appeal form and a waiting list form. Soon after Schools send welcome letters to parents, asking them to accept or refuse the place offered.

Offering School Places (cont’d) 22 March 2012 (last year) Was the final date for parents to: 1. inform schools whether or not they are accepting the place offered. 2. make any appeal or 3. request to go on a waiting list. Information this year will be in the letter you receive From end March 2013 Schools offer any vacant places to pupils on their waiting lists, prioritised in accordance with their published oversubscription criteria. Appeals are heard and further offers made.

Appeals Parents have the right to appeal for any school which refuses them a place. They can also ask for their child’s name to go on a school’s waiting list (provided, if it is a grammar school, that they have been assessed suitable for grammar school). Enclosures in the 1 March 2013 decision letter will explain both options. At the end of March, schools can allocate vacant places to children on their waiting lists, in accordance with their oversubscription criteria. Once the school reaches its Published Admission Number it can only admit children as a result of Independent Appeal Panel decisions, or through a Fair Access Protocol. A school which is below its PAN must fill its spaces from the waiting list in priority order until it reaches the PAN. After this, children can only be admitted through the appeal process, or through a Fair Access Protocol. Parents who gain a place on appeal will need to tell the school they were originally offered that they no longer require the place: then it can be offered to someone else.

Online Admissions Parents can apply online at

Parents will need to register with the website before submitting their application. If you have previously submitted a Kent Test registration online, from September You can log on, pick up your previously submitted details and add your preferences, then re-submit the application rather than starting a new one. You will receive an confirmation of their registration/application if you provide an address. Parents can use their log on details to: edit their application at any time until the closing date for applications view their application online at any time view their offer details after the allocation date if they have not provided an address. Parents do not need to have an address to apply online. Parents can print off a summary of their application and, if they have provided an address, will receive an confirmation of their application which is a complete copy of their submission. This needs to be sent to us via or a paper copy supplied to the school office. Online Admissions

On 1 March 2013 parents who have applied online, and provided an address, will receive notification of their offer by . Only parents who apply online can receive their offer notification by , parents who apply on paper will need to wait for their formal letter. NB: Parents who apply online must not submit a paper SCAF as well. We will only accept one application, and checking duplicates will slow processing down. Online Admissions

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