Admissions: Public Consultation

Consultation process

Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership is the ‘admissions authority’ for all Trust academies. We are consulting on changes to admission arrangements for all Trust schools for September 2027/28 admissions.

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 2027-28. In accordance with the School Admissions Code, the consultation period must run for a minimum of six weeks and take place between 1 October 2025 and 31 January 2026.

The admissions authority must determine admission arrangements by 28 February 2026 and publish these on its website by 15 March 2026.

The draft 2027-28 Primary and Secondary Admissions policy (and accompanying Supplementary Information Forms) are available below.

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.

What are the changes?

The following schools have joined the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership (“the Trust”) over the last year:

St Bartholomew’s Primary School, Swanley
St Michael Primary and Nursery School, Chatham
St Thomas More Primary School, Chatham
St William of Perth Primary School, Chatham

Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership is the admissions authority for all 32 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 for the above new schools 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
Removal of the social, pastoral and medical need as a 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.
A new category for children of staff members at the school
Removal of the priority within each category for those attending a particular parish.

For all other schools in the Trust, the following changes are being consulted upon:

The oversubscription criteria has been amended to include catechumens in a separate category above “other Christian” applicants.
The removal of the additional priority that is given to those Christian and other faith applicants with 3 or more years of commitment to their faith.

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 2027-28 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 Friday 28^th November 2025.

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.

Stakeholder consultation:

Friday 17^th October 2025 to Friday 28^th November 2025

Consultation lead contact: Rachel Bushell

Contact email: office@kcsp.org.uk

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