Time to choose a new school for next year

By the end of next week, the school summer break will be over and the newbies at infant, junior and secondary school will be settling in. But already it’s time for some parents to think ahead to next year, and decide on where to entrust the future education of their offspring.

Some 10-year-olds will have spent some of the summer preparing for the Kent Test, which will be taken on 14 and 15 September, under the ‘optional selective’ education system operated in this county. Junior school children who opt to take the Kent Test will sit exams in verbal reasoning, non-verbal reasoning, English and Maths and then get the results a month later. If successful, they can then apply to a grammar school. The three nearest to Whitstable are Queen Elizabeth’s at Faversham, Simon Langton Girls’ and Simon Langton Boys’ in Canterbury. More information about the Kent Test can be found on the KCC website.

Here in Whitstable, many children choose not to take the test and will simply look forward to joining the local secondary school, Whitstable Community College, which has just celebrated its best-ever GCSE results. The school in Bellevue Road has maths and computing specialist status, and has undergone an £18 million redevelopment. As well as the usual academic courses, it offers vocational subjects such as construction, motor vehicle maintenance, and hair & beauty in its workshops on site which it operates in partnership with Abbey School, Faversham, and Herne Bay High. Whichever school you have in mind, secondary school applications should be made from 6 September and before 31 October, even if you plan to simply move on to WCC. See the Transfer to Secondary School booklet published by Kent County Council. Look out for school open days and make sure you go along with your child to at least one session. Here is a list, but do check the details on the school websites nearer the time and read the prospectuses. Whitstable Community College: 28 September 6-9pm, 29 September 9.30-11.30, 1st, 14 and 15 October, 9.30-11.30; 21 October 12 – 2pm. Simon Langton Girls Grammar School: 13, 21 and 29 September, 14 October, 1.30-3pm, 6 October 6-9pm. Simon Langton Boys Grammar School: 6 October 7pm; open days in the week beginning 4 October, phone school 01227 463567 to book a tour. Queen Elizabeth Grammar School: 12 October 9-12, 21 October 6-8pm. Queen Elizabeth is co-educational all the way through, whereas the two Canterbury schools are single sex but with mixed sixth forms. All three accept entry into the sixth form from other schools, so phone the schools or check their websites for special open days for this.

Primary schools in Kent take children from aged four. If you want your child to start in September 2011 or January 2012, you can apply from 8 November this year, either online or filling out a paper form obtained from the school. You will hear at the end of March whether your child has a place. You might want to send your little one to an infants-only school like St Alphege Church of England Infants School in Oxford Street and Westmeads Community Infants School in Cromwell Road. These then feed into Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed Church of England Junior School and Whitstable Junior School. The other three local primary schools take pupils through from 4-11: Joy Lane Primary, St Mary’s Catholic Primary, and Swalecliffe Community Primary. Of course, all these infant, junior and primary schools have specified catchment areas so your choice may be restricted by where you live. However it is sometimes possible to get into a school ‘over the border’ if they have a spare place so if you have a particular preference, there is no harm in having a discussion with the school.