Admissions policy and arrangements for 2026-27

Stakeholder consultation:

13 December 2024 to 24 January 2025

Consultation lead contact: Rachel Bushell

Contact email: office@kcsp.org.uk  

Contact address: Barham Court, Teston, Maidstone, Kent ME18 5BZ

1. Consultation process

Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership is the ‘admissions authority’ for all Trust academies. We are consulting on changes to admission arrangements for the following schools for September 2026/27 admissions:

English Martyrs’ RC Primary School, Rochester
St Gregory’s Catholic School, Tunbridge Wells
St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Broadstairs
St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School, Rainham

Under the Schools Admissions Code, where there are changes suggested to admission arrangements, an admissions authority is required to conduct a stakeholder consultation process.

We are therefore required to undertake a public consultation on our Admissions policy for 2026-27. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, the consultation period must run for a minimum of six weeks and take place between 1 October 2024 and 31 January 2025.

The admissions authority must determine admission arrangements by 28 February 2025 and publish these on its website by 15 March 2025.

The draft 2026-27 Primary and Secondary Admissions policy (and accompanying Supplementary Information Forms) are available at the bottom of this page.                                                           

2. Who can be involved in the consultation?

We invite comments from the following groups:

• parents of children between the ages of 2 and 18
• other persons in the area of each school who have an interest in the proposed arrangements (stakeholders)
• all other admissions authorities within the local area
• the local authority in which our academies are situated (Kent and Medway)
• the body or person representing the religion or religious denomination.

3. What are the changes?

English Martyrs’ RC Primary School and St Thomas of Canterbury Catholic Primary School

Both schools joined the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership (“the Trust) in October 2024. Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership is the admissions authority for all 28 schools within the Trust. Common admission arrangements have been in place for all schools within the Trust since 2022/23. The Trust admission arrangements seek to simplify the process for parents and carers, ensuring the process is as fair as possible while preserving the catholic character of our schools and ensuring catholic children have priority in the offering of places. The changes include:

• A higher order of preference for siblings. Siblings of children already in the school will receive preference after catholic children and looked after children
• Children enrolled in the catechumenate will be considered with children in other Christian denominations
• Removal of the social, pastoral and medical need as an additional ranking category if the school is oversubscribed in a particular category. Please note that this does not apply to children with an Education, Health & Care plan. The admission of pupils with an EHC Plan is dealt with by a completely separate procedure. The procedure is integral to the making and maintaining of EHC plans by the pupil’s home local authority. Details of this separate procedure are set out in the SEND code of practice. All children whose education, health and care (EHC) plan names the school will be admitted before any other places are allocated.

Changes to the Planned Admission Number

The latest demographic data available from the local authority means that there are proposed changes to the PAN at the following schools for admissions in September 2026:

• St Gregory’s Catholic School, Tunbridge Wells will change from a PAN of 210 to 180.
• St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Broadstairs will change from a PAN of 30 to 15.

4. How can I submit feedback?

Our preferred method of receiving feedback is by email.

Please email your comments regarding the proposed Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership admission arrangements for 2026-27 to office@kcsp.org.uk . If you do not have access to email, you may write to us at KCSP, Barham Court, Teston, Maidstone, Kent ME18 5BZ.

All comments must arrive before 11.59pm on 24 January 2025 for St Gregory's Catholic School in Tunbridge Wells, and before 11:59pm on 28 January 2025 for St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Broadstairs.

Your views are important to us and all comments raised during the consultation process will be taken into consideration before any firm decisions are made.