Admissions

All of our classes in the lower part of the school are always full with an occasional place becoming available higher up the school where a child has moved away or transitioned to another school, usually in the private sector. Our Vision is to be a learning community that enables people to live life in all its fullness in a changing world.

Our Admissions Policy

Our school has 210 places; that is 7 classes of 30 children aged between 4 and 11 years.  Our application process for our Reception is handled by Kent County Council (KCC) and our admissions policy is administered by KCC and follows these criteria:

a)    Children in Local Authority Care or Previously in Local Authority Care as defined by Section 22 of the Children Act 1989, including children who appear (to the admission authority) to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state care as a result of being adopted

b)    Current Family Association

c)    Health and Special Access Reasons.

d)    Nearness of children's homes to school.

Click to read our Admissions policy

In reality, the majority of our children live within a 2 mile radius of our school in either Goudhurst or Kilndown villages.

If you move into the area and would like your child to join our school, please contact the school directly for a tour of the school. Click  to download an In Year Application form

Follow the link directly to the KCC Primary Schools website 

Appeals

If you are unhappy with the school place you've been offered, you can appeal for any of the schools you named in your application.

We recommend you still accept the place your child has been offered. This will not affect your appeal and will guarantee your child has a school place if your appeal is unsuccessful. If your appeal is successful you must remember to tell the school you were originally offered that you no longer want the place.

If you weren't offered your chosen school, this is usually because the school is full and there were other children who more closely met the school’s oversubscription criteria. However, you can appeal.

If your child is due to start Primary school in September 2025, you can appeal if you are refused a place at one of your preferred schools on National Offer Day (Wednesday 16th April 2025). You needed to submit your appeal before Tuesday 20th May 2025 for it to be considered. Any appeals received after this time will be heard within 40 school days from the deadline, or where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

For late applications, appeals should be heard within 40 school days from the deadline for lodging appeals where possible, or within 30 school days of the appeal being lodged where reasonably possible in line with updated guidance from the Department for Education.

Appeal Online 

Your appeals clerk will contact you directly to let you know when your appeal will be heard.

Appeal Hearing

The hearing lets you explain to an independent appeal panel why you think your child should be given a place at the school and lets the school explain why it could not offer your child a place.

The panel clerk will contact those who have appealed directly to inform them how the appeal will be heard.

You will be informed of the date of your appeal at least 14 calendar days before it is heard and a complete copy of the appeals paperwork will be sent to you at least 7 calendar days before the hearing.

Decision

The Clerk will normally provide you with the panel’s decision within 7 calendar days of your appeal. If the panel is hearing a large number of appeals, this will be 7 calendar days after the last appeal is considered.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can't lodge another appeal to the same school for the same school year, unless you can show your circumstances have changed since the first appeal.

There is a legal maximum class size for reception, year 1 and year 2. This is 30 children per teacher. Your appeal may be unsuccessful if all the classes have already reached their legal limit, unless:

• the admission arrangements were unlawful
• the admission arrangements weren't correctly and impartially applied
• the decision to refuse admission wasn't reasonable.

Get advice

Call 03000 41 42 22 or email appeals@kent.gov.uk for support.

Our Classes and “Key Stages”

Children start our school aged between 4 and 5 years old in a Class called Reception.  The Reception class follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which is a continuation of any learning and development attained through attending pre-school or nursery.  Much of the time in Reception is allocated to Child Initiated Activities with some time set aside on the timetable for Teacher Led Activities. 

Class 1 and Class 2 form Key Stage 1 (KS1), historically called “Infants” and Classes 3 to 6 inclusive form Key Stage 2 (KS2) historically called “Juniors”. The table below shows the classes and the African animal that we have chosen to name each class, the children’s ages and key stages.

Key Stage 1 and 2 follow the National Curriculum.  For more information on the National Curriculum please see the Curriculum page