7. Secondary Admission Kent resident parents will be able to apply for their child’s school place either online or using a paper form known as the Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF) SCAF is used as a means of expressing one or more preferences of secondary school. SCAF invites parents to express up to four preferences and to rank each school in order of preference

8. Secondary Admission 31 October 2016 is the National Closing Date for applications. Schools to be sent list of children that have applied online close to the closing date to allow schools to check that every child has applied. Children with a SSEN or an EHCP do not apply for schools for a place through the main round of admissions

9. Secondary Admission Entry to grammar schools is restricted to children who have been assessed as suitable through the relevant tests Receiving a grammar assessment in the Kent Test does not guarantee a grammar school place at offer day as they may be oversubscribed Registration for the Kent grammar school tests will open on 1 June 2016. Parents wishing their children to sit the tests are required to register with the Kent Admissions Team (either online or paper) no later than 1 July 2016

10. Kent test will take place in school on Thursday 8 September 2016 (Saturday 10 September for non Kent schools) By 6 July 2016 schools will receive a list of their pupils that have applied to sit the Kent grammar school tests. Schools have until 13 July to contact parents of children who are interested in grammar school and who have not yet replied In the following exceptional circumstances, where a child is unable to sit the Kent grammar school tests on the specified dates, arrangements will be made for testing to take place by the end of January 2017: o Illness on one or both test dates, confirmed by a doctor’s certificate o A move into the KCC area

11. Secondary Admission Assessment decision letters will be sent out by 1 st class post on 13 October 2016 Online applications will be sent an email after 4pm on 13 October 2016 No right of appeal against the assessment decision but parents/ carers may make an admission appeal to an independent appeal panel if their child is refused admission to any school, including a grammar school after 1 March 2017

12. Secondary Admission National offer day – 1 March 2017 KCC will send an offer email after 4pm to those parents who have applied online Send decision letters to ALL paper SCAF applicants and, as a minimum, all online applicants that did not receive an offer of their first preference

13. Secondary Admission By 16 March 2017 parents must inform the school whether they wish to accept or refuse the place offered on offer day All parents/ carers have the statutory right to appeal against any decision refusing them a school place and must lodge their appeal by 29 March 2017 for it to be considered as on time

14. Procedure for Entrance to Secondary Education 2017 (PESE) Any Y5 pupil must register for testing by 1 July 2016 to take part in the September tests. This includes children with a SSEN or EHC Plan. Registration opens on 1 June 2016 Pupils will be assesed on the basis of their performance in two nationally- standardised assessment tests – English and Maths Test and Reasoning Test. Pupils will also be required to complete a writing execise Three scores will be given for English, Maths and Reasoning

15. English and Maths test in multiple choice format lasting approximately 60 minutes – two separate sections each with introductory practice items, English first Reasoning test in multiple choice format lasting approximately 60 minutes – one Verbal Reasoning section and four Non- Verbal, separately timed with introductory practice items Pupils will also be required to complete a writing exercise under test conditions which will take 40 minutes At least a 20 minute break in between tests A familiarisation paper is available on the Kent website

16. Non-verbal reasoning tests involve reasoning with abstract figures. Test questions consist of abstract figures and not words. Administration instructions are read out to the pupils. Verbal reasoning tests mainly involve reasoning with words, and typically include question types principally concerned with the production of, use of and relationships between words. In some cases, these tests will also include questions that require the manipulation of letters and numbers.