FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS
Thank you to all of
our fantastic supporters for providing their helpful feedback to our recent
newsletter where we set out details of our plan for a Sevenoaks Grammar School. Many of you
raised excellent questions, and we have reproduced these
below.
The Wildernesse
Site
Q:
Can the Sevenoaks Grammar School and the proposed
Christian School both share the
vacant Wildernesse site when the schools open in September
2013?
A: Unfortunately, no. Two new schools would be great news for Sevenoaks. However, as
the Sevenoaks
Grammar
School is
likely to be a large KCC funded school catering for up
to 180 Sevenoaks
area children per year*, it will clearly be impractical for the two
schools to share the Wildernesse site as there will be insufficient space from
September 2013.
In addition, it will be legally
impossible for the two schools to share the same site. This is because the Grammar School will be funded by KCC, whereas the
Christian School will be funded
by central government. In addition, both schools will operate under completely
different legislation and will be under different ownership. Therefore, as a
matter of law, only one of the schools can occupy the Wildernesse site which,
significantly, is owned by KCC rather than by central
government.
Other
Sites
Q: If the Wildernesse site is taken over by the Grammar School in September 2013, will there be another site available for the Christian School in Sevenoaks?
Q: If the Wildernesse site is taken over by the Grammar School in September 2013, will there be another site available for the Christian School in Sevenoaks?
A: At present,
nearly three times more Sevenoaks children
attend grammar schools in
Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells than attend the Christian faith schools in
Tunbridge Wells*. The Christian School in
Sevenoaks
is therefore likely to be much smaller than the Sevenoaks Grammar School.
The Christian team say that there is another temporary
site available in Sevenoaks for their
school. This will presumably be a small site as it will
only need to cater for Year 7 children initially. However, it is not clear where
this site is, nor whether it will be available for opening in September
2013.
It is also not clear where the Christian school's much larger permanent home will ultimately be (which will need to cater for children from Years 7-13) given that the KCC-owned Wildernesse site is very unlikely to be available at that time.
To clear up this matter, we hope that the Christian team can provide details of their temporary site, and also provide details of their eventual (and much larger) permanent home, as this will enable Sevenoaks parents to have all of the available facts when determining which school or schools to support.
*In relation to the Sevenoaks area children who were offered places at secondary schools in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells for 2011/12, 204 were offered grammar school places in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, and 70 were offered Christian faith school places in Tunbridge Wells.
It is also not clear where the Christian school's much larger permanent home will ultimately be (which will need to cater for children from Years 7-13) given that the KCC-owned Wildernesse site is very unlikely to be available at that time.
To clear up this matter, we hope that the Christian team can provide details of their temporary site, and also provide details of their eventual (and much larger) permanent home, as this will enable Sevenoaks parents to have all of the available facts when determining which school or schools to support.
*In relation to the Sevenoaks area children who were offered places at secondary schools in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells for 2011/12, 204 were offered grammar school places in Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, and 70 were offered Christian faith school places in Tunbridge Wells.
Approval
Timetable
Q: When will we know whether the Sevenoaks Grammar School proposal has succeeded?
A:
The Grammar School approval process
has been designed to move extremely quickly so that, if approved, the Grammar School can open in September 2013, and thereby be
available to children currently in Year 5. The final decision on whether to proceed with the Sevenoaks Grammar School will be taken by
KCC at their full council meeting on 29th March at County Hall in Maidstone.
KCC’s decision on
whether to proceed with the Sevenoaks Grammar School will be taken
four months before central government's decision on whether to approve the
Christian School (which will be
announced by the end of July). An assessment of whether a suitable school site is available will form an essential
part of central government's decision on whether to approve the Christian School.
School Ethos
Q: What will be the ethos of the Grammar School, and how will this be determined?
A: If the Grammar School is approved by KCC on 29th March then it will be funded and sited by KCC, and it will be designed (in relation to its curriculum, ethos, academic standards, size and admissions policy) by Sevenoaks area parents, KCC, and the two expanding (boys' and girls')grammar schools from nearby towns.
KCC is our local education authority and so has a proven track record of establishing and running successful schools in Kent. Our teaching staff will be recruited by (and from) the two expanding grammar schools based on the candidates' knowledge and teaching abilities without regard to their religious faith.
As parents, our aim is that the ethos of the Grammar School will to be to serve the needs of local community by providing a broad and balanced evidence-based academic curriculum using established scientifically and/or historically proven facts, to facilitate the pursuit of knowledge and to enable every child to achieve their full potential. As a specific example of our aims, we will ensure that the Grammar School's curriculum teaches evolution as a scientific fact rather than as a theory (evolution being no more of a "theory" than gravity). An e-petition addressing this issue has been established on HM Government's website, and has received over 21,000 signatures:-
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1617
School Ethos
Q: What will be the ethos of the Grammar School, and how will this be determined?
A: If the Grammar School is approved by KCC on 29th March then it will be funded and sited by KCC, and it will be designed (in relation to its curriculum, ethos, academic standards, size and admissions policy) by Sevenoaks area parents, KCC, and the two expanding (boys' and girls')grammar schools from nearby towns.
KCC is our local education authority and so has a proven track record of establishing and running successful schools in Kent. Our teaching staff will be recruited by (and from) the two expanding grammar schools based on the candidates' knowledge and teaching abilities without regard to their religious faith.
As parents, our aim is that the ethos of the Grammar School will to be to serve the needs of local community by providing a broad and balanced evidence-based academic curriculum using established scientifically and/or historically proven facts, to facilitate the pursuit of knowledge and to enable every child to achieve their full potential. As a specific example of our aims, we will ensure that the Grammar School's curriculum teaches evolution as a scientific fact rather than as a theory (evolution being no more of a "theory" than gravity). An e-petition addressing this issue has been established on HM Government's website, and has received over 21,000 signatures:-
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1617
Academic Selection
Q: Should Kent's schools become fully
comprehensive to avoid the pressure that is being put on children to pass the 11
plus exam?
A: Kent has had a countywide selective
education system since 1945, and nothing we do or say in Sevenoaks is going to
change that. We therefore need to make the education system that applies to our
children in Sevenoaks work better
for us. We also need to urgently deal with this issue in the light of a rapidly
increasing local population.
It is worth noting that 50%* of
Sevenoaks town children pass the 11 plus exam, and so the number of children that currently gain admission to a grammar school is much higher as a proportion of the population than it was in the 1950s when only 20%-25% of
children countrywide attended grammar
schools.
We also hope that the existence of a grammar school in
Sevenoaks
will improve social mobility in the
area as it should inspire many more local
children to attempt the 11 plus exam, and encourage their primary schools to
support this endeavour. In particular, we wish to inspire those children whose
families cannot afford the long, expensive journey to the Tonbridge and
Tunbridge Wells grammar schools, and
those children in villages to the north of
Sevenoaks
who are not currently in grammar school catchment areas
but would be within a Sevenoaks Grammar School catchment area, to apply for a place at
our Sevenoaks grammar school.
*There are 10 state primary schools that serve children from Sevenoaks town (Amherst, Weald, Sevenoaks, St Thomas', Chevening, Otford, Lady Boswell's, Dunton Green, Seal and St John's). In 2010/11, these schools had 337 pupils in year 6, and 167 (50%) of these children passed the 11 plus exam.
*There are 10 state primary schools that serve children from Sevenoaks town (Amherst, Weald, Sevenoaks, St Thomas', Chevening, Otford, Lady Boswell's, Dunton Green, Seal and St John's). In 2010/11, these schools had 337 pupils in year 6, and 167 (50%) of these children passed the 11 plus exam.
Tonbridge & Tunbridge
Wells
Q:
How will a Sevenoaks Grammar School affect Tonbridge
and Tunbridge Wells?
A: 1150
Sevenoaks
area children travel to grammar schools in
Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells every day. Therefore, if a Sevenoaks grammar school were to be established, then a very large
number of grammar school places in
Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells would become freed up for local Tonbridge and
Tunbridge Wells children, which would be to the considerable benefit to the
people of those towns and nearby villages. It will also considerably reduce rush
hour congestion near to the Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells grammar schools as the buses from Sevenoaks will largely be replaced by local children
walking to school.
Single Sex Lessons
Q: Will mixed sex classes operate at the Sevenoaks Grammar School?
A: Initially the law will require us to
establish annexes of two existing grammar schools (both a
boys’ school and a girls’ school) on the same
site in Sevenoaks. The law will initially require these two annexes to
operate separately, meaning there will be single sex lessons only. However, over
time, the law may be relaxed and if the parents, teachers and governors agree,
the two school
annexes may be able to work more closely together in future, and may
start to introduce more mixed lessons. The ultimate aim could be to have two
schools operating like the two grammar schools below in Ramsgate that have many
shared (mixed) lessons.
http://www.ccgrammarschool.co.uk/
http://www.ccgrammarschool.co.uk/
