Secondary schools in the Royal Borough continue to be exceedingly popular and heavily over-subscribed as parents from across London vied for a place for children due to start in Year 7 next autumn.
Figures released last week (Thursday 1st March) show that there were 3,325 applications, an increase on last year, for the borough’s five secondary schools, Cardinal Vaughan, Holland Park, Chelsea Academy, St Thomas More Language College and Sion Manning.
Kensington and Chelsea’s schools are amongst the best in the country and this fuels demand from parents. Last year 73 per cent of GCSE students in the borough’s schools achieved 5+ A* to C GCSEs including English and mathematics.
Councillor Elizabeth Campbell, K&C Cabinet Member for Education, said: “Kensington and Chelsea Council invests heavily in education. To cope with the increased demand we are planning to build a new secondary school in North Kensington and expect to submit a planning application later this spring so that more local children can benefit from an excellent Royal Borough education. In 2009 we opened Chelsea Academy in the south of the borough and this has quickly proved to be an extremely popular school.”
This year over half of children applying got into their first choice school and 83 per cent got at least one of the top three choices on their application form
Greg Hands M.P. commented, “I am proud to represent in the House of Commons the two boroughs, Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham which score respectively 1st and 6th in Britain for the quality of education they provide to poorer pupils in the state sector. In Chelsea, we have seen the groundbreaking Chelsea Academy making great progress even in its early days, and I congratulate all of head teachers, teachers, support staff, parents and the Council in these strong achievements.”