About Our Setting
Thank you for your interest in East Kent Sudbury and our Part-Time Educational Provision.
East Kent Sudbury (EKS) is a democratic, self-directed learning community. A place where children are free. Where natural curiosity is the starting point for all learning and activities. A place where each member of the community takes a share in the responsibility for the environment and quality of life in the community. A place where students and staff have equal rights and an equal voice.
The Community Charter laid out here, outlines the core principles, rights and responsibilities of our community and was created by our mixed-age community together and is reviewed annually. We will discuss what it means in more detail at the Admissions Meeting, but it is a good idea to introduce it to the young person you are applying for so they understand what they can expect of us and what will be expected of them if they join EKS. Parents are also expected to agree to the community charter as outlined in our Terms and Conditions.
For more details about how our model works, please read through our website as there are in-depth explanations there. Before applying for a place at EKS, we also encourage you to at least attend one of our Open Day Events, talk with a staff member or visit EKS for a private tour.
Home Education
This application pack is for our part-time educational provision for Electively Home Educated children between the ages of 5 and 18. Our provision runs Tuesday-Thursday, 9.30-3.00, making a total of 16.5 hours provision a week.
As enshrined in law, no matter how a young person is educated, their education remains fully the family’s responsibility. We make no guarantees as to what young people will learn at any age. East Kent Sudbury aims to support parents in providing an education for their children by providing a community setting in which children can learn valuable social, communication and emotional skills as well pursue their academic interests. Within the hours that we operate this can only ever form a part and not the substantial body of the child’s education. Although lots of learning will happen at East Kent Sudbury, it is for parents to assess what is essential for their children to learn and to ensure that this takes place at home or elsewhere.
Admissions Procedure
Admissions Policy
Application for a place
Parents of prospective students who wish to apply for a place at East Kent Sudbury must complete and return the application form contained at the back of this pack. Once the completed application form is received the prospective student will be subject to the admissions procedure described on page 3.
Open Admissions
East Kent Sudbury operates an open admissions policy. It is a non-selective and non- competitive process which serves prospective students regardless of gender, ethnic origin, disability, religion or social background. The only prerequisite required is that students can exercise personal autonomy and are willing and able to live within the rules that the community sets for itself at the Community Meeting.
Parents of prospective students between the ages of 5-18 (year 1 upwards), may apply for admission to the school at any time during the academic year. The admissions process is subject to the availability of a place. If there is no place available, then a prospective student will be placed on a waiting list. New students will usually be admitted at the start of the next term.
Waiting list
If there are no available places, then prospective students are placed on one of our waiting lists. Each income band as set out on the Fees List page will have a separate waiting list to ensure the financial stability of the project and to enable us to try to maintain wide access to our provision for students from all socio-economic backgrounds.
Sibling Priority
Siblings of students already in attendance at East Kent Sudbury will get priority on our waiting lists but are not guaranteed to be offered a place. Other than sibling priority our waiting lists will be run on a first come first served basis.
Special Educational Needs and Disability
We welcome students with disabilities and special educational needs, provided we are able to meet their needs. We are committed to ensuring that every student gets the most from their time in our programme and therefore invite parents of children with additional needs to contact the Admissions Committee to go through any potential issues before the enrolment process begins; in order to mutually decide whether we will be able to meet the individual’s needs within our model.
Siblings
We welcome applications for places for siblings of students at East Kent Sudbury but admission is not guaranteed as all students must be subject to the same admissions process as other prospective students as outlined in our Admissions Procedure. A sibling discount scheme operates; details are available in the Fees List section.
Fee Assistance Bursary and Higher Bursary
We are committed to broadening access to self-directed democratic education, by offering eligible parents or guardians financial support towards the payment of tuition fees. Our bursary programme is self-funded and is formed in two parts; Fee Assistance bursary awards and our Higher Bursary awards.
Assistance is dependent on family income and can be accessed for all those with a household income below £65,000, on a sliding scale basis. For those with an income below £20,000 per annum, additional support may be available in the form of a Higher Bursary award and comes from our separate Higher Bursary fund.
The Higher Bursaries are funded independently by donations and fundraising efforts so are limited and are subject to funds. Please note that Higher Bursary awards are also awarded for the following academic year.
All bursaries are awarded for the academic year and subject to annual self-selecting or where applicable, testing of means and circumstance, which may result in the award being varied upwards or downwards accordingly. However, East Kent Sudbury is committed to doing all we can to ensure that bursaries are sustainable and therefore stable for those accessing them. Bursaries will be reassessed and awarded for the new academic year at the end of each Spring Term.
For details of the fee scale for the year 2023/24 please see the Fees List section. For full details of our Bursary Award scheme including how bursaries are awarded please see our Bursary Policy.
Deposit
A deposit of £500.00 is due for each student enrolling upon successful completion of their Practice Period. Deposits are held securely whilst students are enrolled and can be returned or used towards final fees when leaving EKS. Alternatively, upon leaving EKS you may wish to donate some or all of your deposit to our Bursary fund helping other families to access our provision where financial means might otherwise prevent them from doing so.
See our Terms and Conditions for full details of how deposits are held and returned.
Site Tour
Our open days give a great insight into EKS. As well as having a tour led by our student ambassadors, your family will be invited to take part in some of our favourite activities and learn more about the model during our Q&A. Private tours are also available once a month during our Open Fridays. These are conducted by members of our staff team on select Open Fridays for families looking to enrol. Tours usually last around 90 minutes and give you an opportunity to see our site and resources, understand how our processes work in practice and ask questions. To minimise disruption to our students and to be able to give our guests our full attention, tours are conducted on days when our students are not at EKS. On first enquiry, you will usually be requested to join one of our Virtual Open Days or talk with a staff member on the phone prior to booking a tour.
Visiting Week
Educational provision as unique as East Kent Sudbury attracts families from all over the country, indeed all over the world. We understand that relocating primarily for educational choice is a big decision and not to be taken lightly. Therefore, for families not currently living within the area of East Kent we offer the opportunity of a visiting week for the prospective student.
Visiting students will be able to take part in all aspects of life at East Kent Sudbury during their week and are expected to abide by the community laws like all other members. The only exception being, visiting students are not awarded a vote at The Community Meeting.
Visiting weeks can be arranged by request with the Admissions Committee, for a one-off cost of £85.00.
Admissions Meeting
This informal interview serves to ensure that parents and prospective students have a good understanding and knowledge of the model and that there are no obvious reasons that the student may not thrive within the community. It should be seen as an opportunity to ask questions. If there is a mutual agreement to continue with the application at the end of this meeting and a place is available, then the Admissions Committee will make an offer of a place which the parents can accept by completing our acceptance form and the 4-week practice period would commence soon after.
Practice Period
A practice period of 4 weeks allows the student time to settle in and work towards becoming an active member of the community. During this period staff will closely monitor the student’s progress in adapting to the programme. Unlike after the Practice Period, staff may communicate with parents about the student’s behaviour and activity at
East Kent Sudbury in order to address any concerns that either side may have. After the Practice Period normal levels of student privacy resume as detailed in our Student Privacy Policy.
A conference with the Admissions team, parents and student will take place at the end of the Practice Period to discuss the student’s experience so far and how they are settling in. In most cases this will be a short, light meeting which helps to cement the relationship between East Kent Sudbury and the family. For continuing students no further action of enrolment is needed at this time.
If for any reason a student has not settled well or there are concerns about the suitability of our provision for the child or vice versa, it may be that the Practice Period is extended by mutual agreement. Or in very rare cases a decision for the student not to continue at East Kent Sudbury may be made by either party during or at the end of the Practice Period with no further payments due. Following the successful completion of the Practice Period a term’s notice is required as detailed below.
Notice to Withdraw
Following the successful competition of the Practice period notice of intention to withdraw a student from East Kent Sudbury is required in writing, addressed to the Admissions Clerk, before the first day of the student’s last term. Please see our Terms and Conditions for more details. So, for example: families not wishing to continue in the following academic year must notify us before the start of the summer term.
Fees
East Kent Sudbury is a not-for-profit company and paid for entirely by parent contributions and donations. Equity of access is a core principle of our model and it is important to us that our provision is accessible to as many families as possible regardless of income or family size. As such, families may apply for financial assistance via our bursary scheme which gives increased fee reductions to those on lower incomes as well as discounts for siblings.
Our bursary programme is self-funded and is formed in two parts; Fee Assistance Bursary Awards and our Higher Bursary Awards.
You will be asked to select whether you are applying for a bursary award and at which level on the application form. We request that families consider carefully all the means available to them before choosing to apply for a bursary award. Our project is made possible by the collective generosity and contributions made by our staff, families and donors, the greater your contribution the richer the experience will be for everyone.
Fee Assistance Bursary Awards
Bands A-D are self-selected by families earning £68,000 per annum or less, with income brackets given as a guide. We understand that family circumstances vary and can be complicated, therefore we encourage you to take all factors and means available into consideration and select the maximum contribution your family can make using the income brackets as a guide.
Bands E and F are means-tested and available for families with a combined income of less than £30,000 per annum and are assessed by the Bursar and our Accountants.
Higher Bursary Awards
*Please note that we do not currently have any Higher Bursary awards available.
Families with an income of less than £23,000 per annum or those whose circumstances have changed in a way that leaves them unable to afford fees are able to apply for our Higher Bursary Award with a possible fee reduction of up to 100% depending on an assessment of need. This bursary is funded through donations and fundraising efforts and is subject to the availability of funds. Full details of eligibility and assessment criteria and procedures can be found in the Bursary Policy.
Sibling Discounts
We remain committed to supporting families regardless of how many children they have, as such an additional discount is applied to all fee bands for siblings of 30% for the second child and 60% for each additional child after that.
Fee Scales 2023-24
The below table details the fees for the academic year 2023-24. Fees can be paid annually, termly or in 10 monthly instalments. A £500 deposit is also due per student upon successful completion of the four-week Practice Period.
| Fee band | Selection criteria | 1st child | 2nd child | 3rd child + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full Fee | £7,560.00 | £5,292.00 | £3,024.00 | |
| Band A | Self-selected Income guide £63-68k | £6,804.00 | £4,762.80 | £2,721.60 |
| Band B | Self-selected Income guide £53-63k | £5,292.00 | £3,704.40 | £2,116.80 |
| Band C | Self-selected Income guide £42-53k | £4,762.00 | £3,333.96 | £1,905.12 |
| Band D | Self-selected Income guide £31-42k | £3,780.00 | £2,646.00 | £1,512.00 |
| Band E | Means tested Income £23-30k | £2,880.00 | £2,016.00 | £1,152.00 |
| Band F | Means tested Income -£23k | £2,520.00 | £1,764.00 | £1,008.00 |