The headteacher who sparked a row over claims that schools in Thanet had children belonging to criminal gangs says the issue has not gone away.

Paul Luxmoore, executive head of the Coastal Academies Trust, said it was “a national disgrace” that vulnerable young children placed in the county by other authorities - notably in London - continued to be at risk of being exploited.

It comes as the county council published figures revealing there were 1,330 children in care from outside Kent of which 521 were in KCC-run schools.

Education chiefs say there are signs that efforts to deter other councils from placing vulnerable young children are working.

In relation to Thanet - which has previously been a blackspot for looked after children - KCC says numbers are declining and for the first time, it has been overtaken by Swale.

Mr Luxmoore said the figures told only part of the story.

“It is easy to see the very stark difference in areas - for example between Tonbridge and Thanet or Swale - and this is the scandal," he said.

"Looked after children are placed in the worst areas because the trade is market driven and so there are more foster parents and residential homes in the cheaper areas with higher unemployment.

"These are, of course, the least suitable areas for vulnerable children.

“We have tried to draw attention to the immoral practice of placing the most vulnerable children in society in one of the most deprived parts of the country - where those children will face dangers, such as drug-related gangs, they would not face in the more affluent parts of the country.”

He said numbers had come down in Thanet because schools had made clear they would resist where possible children from being placed in the area.

“There may be fewer coming from outside Kent and placed in Thanet schools but there are still 240 in Thanet," Mr Luxmoore added.

"Where are they? How are they being educated? Are they really safe? This is not something to celebrate - it is still a national disgrace."

Cllr Roger Gough, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “I don’t think this points in a particular direction on gangs.

"Clearly, there is a national focus on gangs and the county lines issue and we have been responding to that with our own gangs strategy but there is not a direct correlation between what is in this report and that.”

“What we do see is the deprived parts of the county - particularly in coastal areas - tending to have more looked after children than other communities.”

KCC was working with London boroughs to improve the co-ordination where vulnerable children were placed in the county, he added.

According to the report, the figures showed ‘the vast majority’ of schools have no more than five ‘out of county’ children.

But it acknowledges that when these figures are added to the authority’s own vulnerable children “it is apparent how some of our schools face significant challenges to meet the needs...of children in care.”

And it says the concentration of out-of-county children at risk in schools in east Kent “may have a compound effect on the challenges these school face.”