A ”super-selective” grammar school has been ordered to change its admission policy after it was found to be in breach of admissions laws.

The Rochester Grammar School, a “popular and oversubscribed” girls’ school in Medway, Kent, was found to give priority to pupils with siblings in other secondary schools within its multi-academy trust, including a selective school for boys.

In a report published today, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) says it considered the views of the local authority as well as those of a legal adviser for the Thinking Schools Academy Trust, which runs the grammar, and those of “an objector,” among other documents, in reaching its decision that the school breached the admissions code. 

The report quotes claims by the objector that the school was “super-selective” and that it favoured pupils from primary feeder schools within its multi-academy trust, although schools adjudicator David Lennard Jones did not uphold this claim.

Grammar told to change admissions policy

However, in the report, he states: “In my view there is a great difference between giving priority for a place to a child who has a sibling at the school at which a place is sought and a child who has a sibling at another school - albeit one with which the school concerned has close links.”

The Thinking Schools Academy Trust comprises four secondary schools, three of which are in Medway and one of which is in Portsmouth, and six primary phase schools, four in Medway and two in Portsmouth.

The new admissions policy was introduced for the 2019 pupil intake. The school now has two months to alter its admission policy in line with the law for maintained schools.

The adjudicator did not uphold claims that the school breached the admission code by failing to display admissions arrangements on its website.

A Rochester Grammar spokesperson said: “We respect the Adjudicator’s decision although we believe our proposed admissions policy is within both the letter and the spirit of the School Admissions Code 2014.

“We proposed it after an eight-week consultation that was open to all - including parents, students, the local authority, and admissions authorities in the area -  showed support for it.

“Academies within Thinking Schools have a common use of metacognition, which has contributed to the excellent results they are achieving, and we are the only multi-academy trust committed to its academies becoming accredited thinking schools.

“This proposal would therefore have strengthened the unique ties between schools further, offering students continuity, stability, and access to the trust’s shared teaching and learning tools throughout their education.”