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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

Best place to live in Kent for Grammar school

750 replies

vik2017 · 30/10/2017 15:31

Hi,
This is my first question on this board....Smile
and I wanted to know which is the best place to live in Kent and falls into Grammar catchment area and also if my son dont get to the Grammar at least will go to a very good comprehensive school.
Any suggestion will be appreciated even suggest to move to another place considering we both work in London.

Many thanks in advance...
Viki

OP posts:
berliozwooler · 31/10/2017 16:11

But that makes my point, grammars have much larger catchment areas so less effect on house prices.

Ta1kinPeece · 31/10/2017 16:16

There are 164 grammar schools, the vast majority of which are in Kent and Lincolnshire and outer London.
So they are utterly irrelevant to the rest of the country.

And only the Superselectives (of which there are less than 20) have unlimited catchments.
In Kent and Bucks and Lincs, catchments are the same size as in any shire county with comps.

The catchment for the Comp school my DCs went to is 11 miles across
and I live a mile outside its (very large) boundary.
Parents' house prices within that catchment range from zilch manky council flats to the tens of millions.
Its nothing out of the ordinary for a shire county.

namechange2222 · 31/10/2017 16:26

Canterbury has 3 Grammar school, Simon langton Girls, Simon Langton Boys and Barton Court for boys and girls. Good comprehensives too including two church school, Archbishops and St Anslems ( RC)

berliozwooler · 31/10/2017 16:26

The link I posted was to different types of state school across the country, some of them are grammars.

Some of them are in Kent, and all of the above is relevant to the OP's query.

Ta1kinPeece · 31/10/2017 16:42

Good comprehensives too including two church school, Archbishops and St Anslems ( RC)
They cannot be comprehensives because there are also Grammars in the town.
And any RC school is not Comprehensive unless it ignores religious entry.
Kent is a fully grammar county.
Even the council do not pretend that there are comps there.
The non grammars are Secondary Moderns OK some of them get good results, but they are not comprehensive

If the OP wants to move from a comp county to a selective one, she needs to do so with her eyes wide open.

Floralnomad · 31/10/2017 16:45

Surely the point is as well that both the OP and her partner work in London and want a shorter commute . Not all secondary schools in Kent are crap some are as good as what you get elsewhere in the country where there is no selection .

BertrandRussell · 31/10/2017 16:46

"Not all secondary schools in Kent are crap"

Who said they were? They are just not comprehensives!

namechange2222 · 31/10/2017 16:54

Ta1kinPeece you are incorrect.
A Comprehensive school is 'a state school and does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of selection criteria.'
Therefore St Anslems in Canterbury is a Comprehensive school
Oh and I may be out of touch with terminology but surely we don't talk of 'Secondary Moderns' anymore do we?!!

Floralnomad · 31/10/2017 17:00

It’s the impression you get reading threads like this one , that if your child lives in Kent and doesn’t get into a Grammar it’s a complete disaster . Also agree with pp , as the catholic school in Maidstone is truly comprehensive as many people go there rather than take the 11+ .

Ta1kinPeece · 31/10/2017 17:00

namechange
it is not a comprehensive according to Kent County Council
www.kent.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/68169/St-Anselms-Catholic-School-admissions-criteria-2018-2019.pdf

Ta1kinPeece · 31/10/2017 17:02

as the catholic school in Maidstone is truly comprehensive
Muslims? Hindus? Atheists? Jews? Protestants?
or just hypocrites ?

BertrandRussell · 31/10/2017 17:03

St Anselm's is not a comprehensive because a) it will have lost a significant number of it's potential high achievers to the 3 grammar schools and b) it selects on faith grounds. Ditto Archbishops. Canterbury High does not have faith admissions but still loses top set people to the grammar schools.

namechange2222 · 31/10/2017 17:05

Ok, once again Ta1kinPeece St Anslems is a Comprehensive school as it meets the criteria.
You seem very upset by this

Floralnomad · 31/10/2017 17:08

I have no idea about Hindus etc but I do know some non catholics that got into the Catholic school in Maidstone . I would imagine if you are very religious and not catholic it wouldn’t appeal to you in the first place . I also know of someone who moved to the catholic school in yr 8 having come from one of the Grammars .

Ta1kinPeece · 31/10/2017 17:14

namechange
Please read Bertrands post - as she lives in Kent and has first hand experience of Grammar and non grammar schools.

A Catholic school is by definition not comprehensive
even in a Comp county

If you look at that kent.gov.uk link they do not use the word "comprehensive" as they know that their legal team would get roasted if they did

nancy75 · 31/10/2017 17:16

Does it really matter if it’s called a comp or a secondary modern?
Lots of grammar areas also have very good non grammar schools - that’s really all the op needs to know

namechange2222 · 31/10/2017 17:19

Ta1kinPeece I also lived in Kent for many years and also have first hand experience with Grammar and non Grammar schools ( having attended Grammar myself and my children having attended a mixture of Grammar and non Grammar there)
St Anslems is a Comprehensive school.

Floralnomad · 31/10/2017 17:20

I would imagine quite a few of us on this thread live in Kent , that doesn’t mean we all think alike about the school system .

Floralnomad · 31/10/2017 17:22

Also lots of the secondary schools do have what they call a grammar stream for those children that perhaps just miss out on grammar or come into their own slightly later in years .

mountford100 · 31/10/2017 17:24

There are more high attaining pupils in Non Selective Kent schools than there are low attaining pupils in some 'Comps'.

Which is a true Comprehensive. ?

A school with only 3% low attaining students or a school with 10% high attain pupils !
The label of secondary modern school becomes a self fulfilling prophecy for what are good schools.

BertrandRussell · 31/10/2017 17:34

St Anselm's is not a comprehensive school. But hey ho.

BertrandRussell · 31/10/2017 17:36

"I would imagine quite a few of us on this thread live in Kent , that doesn’t mean we all think alike about the school system "

You are, of course, welcome to your own opinions. You are not welcome to your own facts!

nancy75 · 31/10/2017 17:38

Why is this turning into an argument? The op asked where they could live close to London with grammars & other good schools, I'm sure none of this other stuff is of any interest.

BertrandRussell · 31/10/2017 17:41

I just don't want the OP to be misinformed about Kent......

Floralnomad · 31/10/2017 17:42

I am very proud to welcome you to St. Simon Stock Catholic School in Maidstone, as a true Catholic Comprehensive School

The above is the opening line from the Principals welcome on the St Simon Stock ( Maidstone ) website . I would imagine he knows what school he is running better than I do ( or most people on this thread ) .