| Topic: | Is Gunnersbury selective? | |
| Posted by: | Gordon Smith | |
| Date/Time: | 03/11/05 22:00:00 |
| Richard has described the school as an ipso facto grammar school. Data on things like prior attainment, free school meals and percentage of students with English as a second language is available on www.teacher.net an official resource for people involved in education. You would expect a school that is selective to have a lower number for free school meals and English as a second language and higher prior attainment. Schools in London were banded into ten groups based on prior attainment - a higher number means that the intake is more able. Gunnersbury is in band 6 and Chiswick Community is in band 5 however Isleworth and Syon is probably a better comparison as it is in a similar catchment area and that is band 6. If Gunnersbury is trying to be academically selective it isn't very good at it. There isn't much evidence of socio-economic selection with the percentage of free school meals pretty much the same between Isleworth and Syon and Gunnersbury at 18.5% It is higher at Chiswick School with the number at 22.6% On children for whom English is a second language Gunnersbury is actually higher with 26% against Chiswick's 21% The key factor is the difference between the school's value added. This is measured from key stage 2 to key stage 3 and from key stage 3 to GCSE. The children at Chiswick School tend to underperform based on expectations from their earlier test whereas at Gunnersbury they match or exceed expectations suggesting that the school adds value. It may be that as the school continues to grow in popularity the composition of the school's intake will change. More motivated middle class parents will put in applications. If Catholicity is the prime criteria then this, I would presume, means more two parent families and stable home environments so the percentage on free meals will start to fall and prior attainment will start to rise. This doesn't necessarily mean that the school is being academically selective but a brighter intake will be a by-product of its admission policy. You may not like this but you cannot force these schools to accept a non-Catholic intake because they don't belong to the state and has been pointed out, the only reason they exist is because they have been given the right to control admissions. I don't know whether the buildings that house Gunnersbury School belong to the LEA or the diocese but if it is the latter then you would have no guarantee that it remained as a school. The LEA could offer to buy the school from the diocese but this would be a significant wealth transfer out of the education system even for just one school. I don't really see the logic of spending a huge amount of taxpayers' money to nationalise a school which appears to be performing exceptionally well. |