Secondary Admission
• Kent resident parents will be able to apply for their child’s
school place either online or using a paper form known as the
Secondary Common Application Form (SCAF)
• SCAF is used as a means of expressing one or more
preferences of secondary school.
• SCAF invites parents to express up to four preferences and to
rank each school in order of preference
Secondary Admission
• 31 October 2016 is the National Closing Date for applications.
• Schools to be sent list of children that have applied online
close to the closing date to allow schools to check that every
child has applied.
• Children with a SSEN or an EHCP do not apply for schools for a
place through the main round of admissions
Secondary Admission
• Entry to grammar schools is restricted to children who have
been assessed as suitable through the relevant tests
• Receiving a grammar assessment in the Kent Test does not
guarantee a grammar school place at offer day as they may be
oversubscribed
• Registration for the Kent grammar school tests will open on 1
June 2016. Parents wishing their children to sit the tests are
required to register with the Kent Admissions Team (either
online or paper) no later than 1 July 2016
• Kent test will take place in school on Thursday 8 September
2016 (Saturday 10 September for non Kent schools)
• By 6 July 2016 schools will receive a list of their pupils that
have applied to sit the Kent grammar school tests. Schools
have until 13 July to contact parents of children who are
interested in grammar school and who have not yet replied
• In the following exceptional circumstances, where a child is
unable to sit the Kent grammar school tests on the specified
dates, arrangements will be made for testing to take place by
the end of January 2017:
o Illness on one or both test dates, confirmed by a doctor’s certificate
o A move into the KCC area
Secondary Admission
• Assessment decision letters will be sent out by 1st class post on
13 October 2016
• Online applications will be sent an email after 4pm on 13
October 2016
• No right of appeal against the assessment decision but
parents/ carers may make an admission appeal to an
independent appeal panel if their child is refused admission to
any school, including a grammar school after 1 March 2017
Secondary Admission
• National offer day – 1 March 2017
• KCC will send an offer email after 4pm to those parents who
have applied online
• Send decision letters to ALL paper SCAF applicants and, as a
minimum, all online applicants that did not receive an offer of
their first preference
Secondary Admission
• By 16 March 2017 parents must inform the school whether
they wish to accept or refuse the place offered on offer day
• All parents/ carers have the statutory right to appeal against
any decision refusing them a school place and must lodge
their appeal by 29 March 2017 for it to be considered as on
time
Procedure for Entrance to Secondary Education 2017 (PESE)
• Any Y5 pupil must register for testing by 1 July 2016 to take
part in the September tests. This includes children with a SSEN
or EHC Plan. Registration opens on 1 June 2016
• Pupils will be assesed on the basis of their performance in two
nationally- standardised assessment tests – English and Maths
Test and Reasoning Test. Pupils will also be required to
complete a writing execise
• Three scores will be given for English, Maths and Reasoning
• English and Maths test in multiple choice format lasting
approximately 60 minutes – two separate sections each with
introductory practice items, English first
• Reasoning test in multiple choice format lasting approximately
60 minutes – one Verbal Reasoning section and four NonVerbal, separately timed with introductory practice items
• Pupils will also be required to complete a writing exercise
under test conditions which will take 40 minutes
• At least a 20 minute break in between tests
• A familiarisation paper is available on the Kent website
• Non-verbal reasoning tests involve reasoning with abstract
figures. Test questions consist of abstract figures and not
words. Administration instructions are read out to the pupils.
• Verbal reasoning tests mainly involve reasoning with words,
and typically include question types principally concerned
with the production of, use of and relationships between
words. In some cases, these tests will also include questions
that require the manipulation of letters and numbers.