Editing Kent (section)

==Education==

{{See also|List of schools in Kent}}

Kent has four universities: [[Canterbury Christ Church University]] with campuses throughout [[East Kent]]; [[University of Kent]], with campuses in Canterbury and Medway; [[University of Greenwich]] (a London University), with sites at [[Woolwich]], [[Eltham, London]] and Medway; the [[University for the Creative Arts]] (UCA) also has three of its five campuses in the county.

Although much of Britain adopted a [[comprehensive education]] system in the 1970s, Kent County Council (KCC) and Medway Unitary Authority are among around fifteen<ref name="Garner">{{cite news |title=Call for end to selective education as 'grammar school areas' fail |date=20 January 2007 |work=The Independent |location=UK |url=http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2169188.ece |access-date=14 May 2007 |first=Richard |last=Garner |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070127231844/http://education.independent.co.uk/news/article2169188.ece |archive-date=27 January 2007}}</ref>
local authorities still providing [[Education in the United Kingdom|wholly selective education]] through the [[eleven-plus]] examination with students allocated a place at a [[secondary modern school]] or at a [[grammar school]].

Together, the two Kent authorities have 38 of the 164 grammar schools remaining in Britain.<ref name="Garner"/><ref name="grammar">{{cite news |title=Grammar schools have expanded |date=26 March 2004 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3571387.stm |access-date=3 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829114603/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3571387.stm |archive-date=29 August 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kent County Council has the largest education department of any local council in Britain,<ref>{{cite news |title=Kent's selective schools compared |date=17 January 2003 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2666605.stm |access-date=13 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214143114/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2666605.stm |archive-date=14 February 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>
providing school places for over 289,000 pupils.

In 2005–06, Kent County Council and Medway introduced a standardised school year, based on six terms, as recommended by the [[Local Government Association]] in its 2000 report, "The Rhythms of Schooling".<ref name="Kent County Council">{{cite web |title=Kent County Council |publisher=Kent County Council |url=http://www.kent.gov.uk/ |access-date=3 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225004744/http://kent.gov.uk/ |archive-date=25 February 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kent County Council Local Education Authority maintains 96 secondary schools, of which 33 are selective schools and 63 are [[secondary modern]] schools.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|-
!COLSPAN=10 | Schools in Kent (data from 2000)<ref>{{cite web |title=Department for Education and Skills |publisher=Department for Education and Skills |url=http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ |access-date=13 May 2007 |archive-url=http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20070402085841/http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ |archive-date=2 April 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
! LEA || Nursery || Primary|| Secondary <br /> (modern) || Secondary <br /> (grammar) || [[Special school|Special]] || [[pupil referral unit|Pupil <br /> Referral <br /> Units]]||Independent|| [[City Technology College|City <br /> Technology <br /> College]] ||Total
|-
| KCC   || 1 || 475 || 74 ||32|| 34 || 11 || 83 || 1 || 711
|-
| [[Medway]] || 0 || 89 || 14 || 6 || 3 || 1 || 7 || 0 || 120
|}

Music education is provided by Kent Music (formerly Kent Music School),<ref>{{cite report |title=Kent Music & Soundhub: Annual Report 2015 |url=http://www.kent-music.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Kent-Music-and-Soundhub-Annual-Report-15.pdf |publisher=Kent Music |access-date=24 August 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824135642/http://www.kent-music.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Kent-Music-and-Soundhub-Annual-Report-15.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2017}}</ref> which has its origins in the 1940s. Kent Music provides services across the county including Kent County Youth Orchestra, Kent Youth Choirs, and an annual summer school at [[Benenden School]].

===National Challenge schools===
In 2010, Kent had the highest number of National Challenge schools in England: schools which are branded 'failing' based on the British Government's floor targets that 30% of pupils achieve at least 5 GCSE grades A* to C.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7070190.stm |work=BBC News |title=Brown threatens 'failing' schools |date=31 October 2007 |access-date=4 April 2010 |archive-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220113130017/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7070190.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> Of the 63 secondary modern schools, 33 missed this target; thus 52% of Kent secondary modern schools (34% out of all 96 maintained secondary schools) are 'failing'.<ref>[http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/nationalchallenge/downloads/DataSheet.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120603120956/http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/nationalchallenge/downloads/DataSheet.pdf|date=3 June 2012}}</ref>