Families to receive primary school place offers today

Primary school offers

Families in Thanet will find out today (April 16) which primary school their child has been offered for September 2021.

Just over a month after schools reopened to all pupils following the latest COVID-19 lockdown, the 17,572 families who applied for a place at a Kent school will receive their offers via email or online.

Of the 17,116 Kent applicants, 16,718 (97.67%) will receive one of their three named schools and 15,262 (89.17%) will be offered their first preference.

Every year there will be a small number of children who are not offered a place at one of the schools their family has selected and they must be allocated a place by Kent County Council. The council says this is usually because the family doesn’t make full use of their three preferences or because they select schools that other children have a higher priority to attend. This year 398 children (2.33%) fall into this category.

Christine McInnes, Kent County Council’s Director of Education, said: “I would like to reassure parents and carers whose child did not receive one of their preferences that this is only the first step in the admissions process.

“Please do speak to staff and arrange to safely visit the school where you have been offered a place, so you can make an informed decision about whether or not it’s right for your child. “If you are not happy with the allocated place, you can appeal or join a waiting list for any school named on your original application; there is likely to be considerable movement between now and September as families do not always accept places they are offered.”

Parents and carers who applied online will receive an email after 4pm today (Friday, April 16), indicating which school they have been offered; the timing of the email will depend on the email service provider.

Parents and carers can also log in after 5pm to view the offer online. Those who did not provide KCC with an email address will be sent notification by first class post today.

Details of what to do if a family is not happy with their allocation can be found in the correspondence from KCC or for more information go to www.kent.gov.uk/primaryadmissions or email [email protected]

Parents and carers have until Wednesday, May 5 to accept or refuse their offer and request to join waiting lists.

Parents and carers should lodge requests for appeal with each school’s admission authority by Monday, May 17.

KCC will reallocate places from schools’ waiting lists, sending out a second round of offers on Wednesday, June 9.

From Thursday, June 10, 2021, schools will maintain their own waiting lists and parents can apply to schools directly to ask to be placed on the waiting list.