Maidstone OR Ashford for a family moving from Essex

[MumDagKent]

Hello Mums,

We currently live in essex and we plan to move to Kent ASAP. I am not familiar with Kent and I wanted to ask if anyone could recommend which town is better for a family to settle into? Ashford or Maidstone. We are a family of 3, Father, Mother and Son (10 years Old).
Unfortunately, he didn't pass the 11Plus exams. We have applied for him to attend faiths Schools in Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone. we have applied to other schools as well but these schools are our top choice.
Our Pastor is able to verify that we are Christians and we attend church regularly.

Thank you

@ChildOfFriday

I may be wrong on this and I'm prepared to be corrected, but can you apply through multiple LEAs for schools? I thought you had to apply for all of your preferences through your home LEA, but were free to include schools in other LEAs within these if you wanted to.

You are correct in thinking you app,y via "home" LA ie. Essex who will forward details on.

This is from St Simons Stock Admissions form which states KCC or Medway - but my understanding too was that you applied to your local council so perhaps an error on their form!

@ChildOfFriday

I may be wrong on this and I'm prepared to be corrected, but can you apply through multiple LEAs for schools? I thought you had to apply for all of your preferences through your home LEA, but were free to include schools in other LEAs within these if you wanted to.

Thank you so much for your response, yes we have applied via out local council but we are moving next month.

Thank you so much for your response, yes we have applied via our local council and we are moving to Kent next month.

@Whohashiddenthebiscuits

I’ve just had a quick look, Trinity want their form in by the 15th of November and you can apply through Essex Secondary Admissions. They want two years of regular church attendance and a signed form from your Priest. Only 50 % of places are Faith places and the rest are local children (and they only go out 1-2 miles on these according to local friends who’ve looked at Trinity).

Both Bennett’s and St Simon Stock want their forms back by the 31st. Bennetts count the home address as that as what it is at time of application, which in the OPs case will be Essex. They operate distance criteria when they are oversubscribed (and I think they usually are). Anglican kids get priority.

St Simon Stock and St Greg’s in TW want their form back and a baptismal certificate by the 31st. Non Catholic Christian children rank 7 in terms of admission criteria. They also want three years worth of church attendance at least three times a month. They do also operate distance criteria and ask that applications are made through KCC (Kent County Council). Children from the Catholic Primsries would rank above the OPs DS.

Have to be honest and apologies OP but that’s a lot of detail for your Priest to fill in for what might be long shots! Trinity sounds like it would be the easiest (comparably) to get into.

Thank you so much for your response, yes we have applied via our local council and we are moving to Kent next month. Our Pastor already completed the forms and sent them to the relevant schools.

@CagneyNYPD1

If you are looking at Bennett (great school) definitely have a look over the border into East Sussex. You get more for your money in Crowborough, Wadhurst. Travelling in from Ashford or Maidstone daily would be a nightmare.

You will pay a premium for Tunbridge Wells. Areas such as Edenbridge, Paddock Wood, West Malling, Kings Hill are full of kids who commute into TWells for school. Definitely look at those.

Thank you so much for sharing and I will look into the those areas you mentioned.

But very unlikely to get into Maidstone or Ashford schools from East Sussex address.

@LIZS

But very unlikely to get into Maidstone or Ashford schools from East Sussex address.

Thank you

Knole Academy just offered us a conditional offer for their Grammar Stream programme for 2022 but this school is still not our first choice.

Canterbury has good faith schools and is far, far nicer than both of the locations mentioned. Where do you need to be for work though?

@Twasacceptableinthe80s

Canterbury has good faith schools and is far, far nicer than both of the locations mentioned. Where do you need to be for work though?

Thank you for replying, I am a Nurse, so I can work in any of the local Trusts and my husband works from home.

@Twasacceptableinthe80s

Canterbury has good faith schools and is far, far nicer than both of the locations mentioned. Where do you need to be for work though?

Please can you recommend any of the faith schools?

@MumDagKent did you realise your son can still sit the Kent Test up until mid Dec (from memory)? We moved from overseas in November, son sat it in Dec and had a place in a grammar school in Kent for next academic year. It’s far less competitive in Kent than Essex so may well worth be bringing him down here to try if he was close? And if you aren’t tied to an area Folkestone (where we are) has a good mix of grammar, non selective and faith schools in the area. Plus much more affordable housing than either Maidstone and Ashford (both of which we investigated too) Would highly recommend as a lovely place to raise a family…

St Anselms and St Edmunds are both good Catholic Schools in Canterbury I believe 😁. Both are easily commutable from Folkestone too as I have friends with children there…

[quote Twasacceptableinthe80s]@MumDagKent did you realise your son can still sit the Kent Test up until mid Dec (from memory)? We moved from overseas in November, son sat it in Dec and had a place in a grammar school in Kent for next academic year. It’s far less competitive in Kent than Essex so may well worth be bringing him down here to try if he was close? And if you aren’t tied to an area Folkestone (where we are) has a good mix of grammar, non selective and faith schools in the area. Plus much more affordable housing than either Maidstone and Ashford (both of which we investigated too) Would highly recommend as a lovely place to raise a family…[/quote]
Thank you so much for the info. My son did sit Kent exams in Sept and didn't make the cut off marks. he was very close, 105, 105, 106 and that is why we applied to Knole Academy Grammar Stream and we were offered a place , Conditional offer though.

Conditional on what?

@Twasacceptableinthe80s

St Anselms and St Edmunds are both good Catholic Schools in Canterbury I believe 😁. Both are easily commutable from Folkestone too as I have friends with children there…

Thank you so much for the recommendation.