News

Most pupils at the Churchill School whose first choice for secondary education  was the Folkestone Academy have had their hopes dashed.

Just one from the eleven pupils whose first choice for this year's intake  was the Academy, has been selected and headteacher at the Churchill, Jennie Carter has pledged to fight for the parents to have their children admitted to their chosen school.

Parents are angry and Mrs Carter has confirmed she has already written appeal letters for pupils affected.

But Hawkinge School headteacher Jacquie Watson confirmed that her school had just two pupils who failed to get a place at the Folkestone Academy.

Before the new Academy was built, schoolchildren from Hawkinge would normally continue their education at the former Channel School.

However, it was expected that when the village had grown to a size which has subsequently been reached, Hawkinge would have its own Church of England secondary school sited on land near to the former officers' quarters.

This was reconsidered when the decision to build the Academy was agreed and it was thought that pupils from the village would be educated at the new Academy.

Unfortunately, the Folkestone Academy has proved to be very popular and is over subscribed, meaning there are now more pupils wishing to attend the school from the immediate vicinity. This has left those from Hawkinge being allocated Brockhill Park School in Saltwood or the Astor College for the Arts in Dover.

Kent County Councillor and Shepway District Councillor Susan Carey explained: "The allocation of places has not yet finished but it's clear that the Academy has been enormously oversubscribed. It has 240 places and had an unconfirmed 280 first preference applications.

"Hawkinge is indeed in the catchment area for the Academy but when a school is very popular it has to use its published admissions criteria to allocate places. These are usually siblings already at the school and geographical distance from the school.

Cllr Carey said that the cut off point for admission is closer to the school and the Academy would have to refuse places to children who live nearer the school if it gave more Hawkinge children a place this year.

"The admission policies are set by the school, that is the governors, but they have to follow government legislation which is fairly prescriptive, and local authority guidance which is based on the legislation. Academies are outside the direct control of local authorities but work closely with them."

"It's not good news for the parents and children from Hawkinge who wanted to go there," she said.