Thursday 31 May 2012

Dear Kings Hill Parents...



Primary School Place Crisis, it's a lottery and we feel it is only going to get worse unless the situation affecting our children is taken seriously. 

Last year when we were visiting the Kings Hill Schools on their open days we were assured by both schools that there would not be a problem this year for any child that lives on Kings Hill not getting a place at a Kings Hill School. This has clearly not turned out to be the case as there are a number of children reaching in to double figures who didn’t get a place on Kings Hill or any of their three choices. Leaving families forced to travel great distances and children isolated from their community.

Some of these Families live within 0.2 of a mile from the schools and still didn’t get a place, as it’s so very hard to predict how many place that will be available due to the number of siblings that will get priority or the birth rate in any given year.

There are 400 new homes to still be built on Kings Hill of the existing development phase and Kent county council have just agreed another 1500 homes to be built in the future. Both of the Kings Hill primary Schools have now reached full capacity.

As the new homes being built are around the Discovery school, this will have a big impact on families that already live on Kings Hill. The new people that move in to this new area will then take priority over those other children that have lived on Kings Hill for some time. We feel that this is very unfair. This will then have a knock on effect for other areas in Kings Hill, as those children that would have gotten in to the Discovery School (before the 400 extra homes are to be built), will then get pushed in to the Kings Hill School. This then narrows the entry radius of those Children that live near Kings Hill School who will be able to get in to this School. There are no guarantees that any child will be able to get in to a Kings Hill School in the future, and we feel the scale of the problem is underestimated by parents.

This situation will not get any better and appears to be getting worse. Kent County Council have underestimated the need for primary school places on Kings Hill because it doesn’t fit the normal demographic for residential developments of this type.
Kings Hill has much younger demographic and as such a much higher birth rate.

If you are concerned about this issue then I urge you to signs the petition currently in the Foyer of Nursery on the Hill.

Want to get involved?

We are also setting up a working party to take this issue further.  If any one could help us and wishes to join the working party, or even just has a useful skill/expertise that the working party can call upon you for, then please let us know.
 

Help raise awareness of Kings Hill Primary School Problems.
If you believe your child has the right to be a part of their community and have the opportunity to be schooled in Kings Hill, get in touch and show your support.

You can contact us on the facebook site
or follow us on Twitter @SchoolKingsHill
and we are grateful for all the help and support we can get.

Many Thanks

The Working Party for Kings Hill Primary School Problems.