| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DOW - Gunnersbury School Admission Policy | |
| Posted by: | Gordon Smith | |
| Date/Time: | 04/11/05 09:55:00 |
| Ele The figures I saw for free school meals at the Oratory was 12% which is around the national average. However as you rightly say this is well below the average prevailing in Hammersmith and Fulham. The school's own inspection report claims that the number entitled to free school meals but not necessarily claiming is actually 66% This seems initially unlikely but when you compare that with the high number of pupils who have English as a second language (34% against 21% at Chiswick School) one possible explanation for the discrepancy is that there are lots of children of recent immigrants who are on low wages but not benefits. The attainment of pupils going into the Oratory is higher than the average. You are quite right to say that interviewing will change the social demographic of a school. I don't have the figures to prove it but I imagine that the number of single parent families is relatively low at the Oratory. The higher standards of Catholicity you set the more likely this is to be. The higher attainment on admission are therefore not necessarily a result of socio-economic or academic selection. I don't really know about the specific case of the primary school you mention. Which one was it? But as I said before Hammersmith and Fulham is oversupplied with Catholic schools so a significant proportion of the local intake may not be Catholic or only nominally so. |