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The pressure is rising on Tunbridge Wells school places – and pupils Last week, the Times reported that people are moving to Tunbridge Wells for its schools. This week, we hear that popularity is putting massive pressure on school places in a town praised for its educational excellence
In February, the Government promised £1.6 billion to help ensure every child has a school place – but where? EXPERT VIEW Angela Culley, head of The Mead School
GOOD START Children at The Mead School
• By Sarah Bond WHEN it comes to education, the London influx could be in danger of taking over Tunbridge Wells, putting increasing pressure on school places as well as housing. Last week it was reported that 700 families in Kent – the largest remaining grammar school area in England – got none of their secondary school choices for September. There are currently 33 schools with Tunbridge Wells postcodes, some incorporating preps and/or nurseries, but more state schools are needed. Are our children being served in the right way? One head believes that the more children who take the 11+, the more pressure there is on state school places and the more they have to restrict entry. This means standards get higher and higher, so more pupils may not make the grade. Added to that, many children specifically tutored to get to certain schools may find they are not actually the right ones once they get there. All of which amounts to growing pressure on children as well as schools. Angela Culley is not only the woman who created the independent Mead School, Frant Road, in 1987 when she spotted a gap in the market between prep and primary, she is also an inspector for the Independent
Schools Inspectorate (ISA), headteacher mentor, school troubleshooter and former chair of the Independent Schools Association. Mrs Culley approves of the controversial changes in the Kent Test. She said: “The trouble with the old 11+ is you were creating monkeys who jumped through hoops and when they got to grammar school, they couldn’t all cope.” She has an expert view of all the establishments in and pressure on our town, which could be becoming a victim of its own success. She said: “Tunbridge Wells is blessed with grammars, church comprehensives and an excellent academy, meeting the needs and pockets of the wide socioeconomic mix. “There is something here for everyone and every child deserves a jolly good education. But there are not enough schools in the Tunbridge Wells area for the Tunbridge Wells children. No doubt about that.” Kent County Council claims to predict future number of pupils to within one per cent accuracy, to which Mrs Culley responded: “Good. I look forward to them making sure all my children get their first or second choice schools – without any appeals and the traumas that go with it. “All our schools are different, and every school should
have a soul. We are really lucky, we have not got a bad school in Tunbridge Wells. It’s extraordinary. The only other pocket similar to it is London. “But Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar, for example, has reduced its catchment to 1.6 miles. If you live in Tunbridge Wells town, you should be entitled to a grammar place if you pass the exam but you’re not any more. The state schools here are way oversubscribed.” In February, the Government promised £1.6 billion to help ensure every child has a school place – but where? Mrs Culley said: “I’ve got a child this year who passed her 11+, born and brought up in Tunbridge Wells, who has to go to Maidstone to school. How KCC thinks she’s going to get from here to Maidstone at the age of 11 defeats me.” Some of our primary schools have had to abandon plans to increase places because they can’t expand due to lack of government funding, Claremont and Bishop’s Down among them. Mrs Culley knows how being at the wrong school can affect a child, which can then affect his or her whole life. “I was a complete disaster area in my school life until I was sent to Wadhurst College. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. “That’s what turned my life around.” It not only saved her, but made her passionate about all aspects of schooling.
She explained: “My vision at The Mead was to provide an excellent education at a more affordable price. It is very much a community school. I don’t believe I’m doing the children any favours if they’re growing up in a bubble with silver spoons in their mouths. “It’s also about giving children boundaries, routines, study skills and a work ethic that probably nobody gave me at that age. It’s about feeling success, I didn’t ever feel success until I went to Wadhurst College. “You can make a difference, and if you put the individual child at the heart of any decision, you’re never going to go wrong. “Teaching has to be a passion or you might as well give up, and I’m not a head who will spend all her time sitting in her gilded office. The interesting part, however, would be if I was looking to become a teacher today, under current qualifications I wouldn’t be good enough because it’s now a graduate profession. “But not all of us are suited for university. My son works in universities and he says: ‘Actually Mum, it’s dreadful because every year we have students arriving who shouldn’t be there.’ But wherever they end up, Mrs Culley says she loves to see how her former pupils flourish. She added: “The aim is that they look back, glaze over and think those were really good days, thank you. You’ve set me up.”
An independent day school for boys and girls aged 2-13. For more information, please contact Clare Harrison: admissions@theprep.org.uk 01732 762336 www.theprep.org.uk
CHALL ENGE • CREATIVITY • COMMUN ITY Wednesday 11th March 2015