The "Voting with Feet" index

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Dad40
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:40 pm
Location: Chiltern District, Bucks

The "Voting with Feet" index

Post by Dad40 »

The following may or may not be useful.

It attempts to show the percentage of pupils retained by each school after GCSE.

The calculation takes the average roll number in the two A level year groups (less the number of "over age" pupils) and shows that as a percentage of the average year group up to and including GCSE.

In other words, it is trying to measure those who voted with their feet and stayed at their school after GCSE (but didn't over-stay after A level).

Figures are for January 2007. Other comments are at the bottom.....

SIR WILLIAM BORLASE'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL 129%
ROYAL LATIN SCHOOL - THE 108%
AYLESBURY HIGH SCHOOL (GIRLS) 102%
DR CHALLONER'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL (BOYS) 100%
WYCOMBE HIGH SCHOOL (GIRLS) 98%
ROYAL GRAMMAR SCHOOL - THE (BOYS) 98%
DR CHALLONER'S HIGH SCHOOL (GIRLS) 97%
AYLESBURY GRAMMAR SCHOOL (BOYS) 96%
CHESHAM HIGH SCHOOL 94%
BEACONSFIELD HIGH SCHOOL (GIRLS) 93%
SIR HENRY FLOYD GRAMMAR SCHOOL 87%
JOHN HAMPDEN GRAMMAR SCHOOL - (BOYS) 85%
BURNHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL 81%

WADDESDON CE SCHOOL - THE 81%
CHALFONTS COMMUNITY COLLEGE - THE 50%
MISBOURNE SCHOOL - THE 49%
AMERSHAM SCHOOL - THE 47%
ST BERNARD'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL 42%
JOHN COLET SCHOOL 35%
BEACONSFIELD SCHOOL - THE 35%
GREAT MARLOW SCHOOL 33%
SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY SCHOOL 33%
COTTESLOE SCHOOL - THE 32%
HOLMER GREEN SENIOR SCHOOL 31%
WYE VALLEY SCHOOL - THE 30%
BUCKINGHAM SCHOOL 30%
PRINCES RISBOROUGH SCHOOL 30%
CHESHAM PARK COMMUNITY COLLEGE 28%
GRANGE SCHOOL - THE 26%
CRESSEX COMMUNITY SCHOOL 22%
HIGHCREST COMMUNITY SCHOOL 21%
MANDEVILLE UPPER SCHOOL 16%
BURNHAM UPPER SCHOOL 14%
QUARRENDON UPPER SCHOOL 0%

Other comments.....

St Bernards and Waddesdon may have higher than expected numbers because of their religious character. Great Marlow may have a lower than expected number because nearby Borlase appears to take in many extra pupils after GCSE.

Any thoughts ?
Guest

Post by Guest »

Thanks for posting this, Dad40! It's certainly interesting.

When I apply for my second child next year, the sibling link with her elder sister will count for nought in the oversubscription criteria. Why? Because the elder child will be in the sixth form by then. When I asked BCC why they had introduced this new rule (without, incidentally, consulting parents about it) their reasoning was that so many pupils leave or change schools at the end of GCSEs that you could not predict whether or not the older sibling in question would still be there when the younger child joined. I argued that this logic could not be applied to grammar schools, but to no avail...
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

Is this for 2006 or 2007?
Waddle

Post by Waddle »

Guest, check the small print carefully - last year the county council rules for Slough stated that sixth form sibling didn't count, whereas our preferred grammar's prospectus stated that it stood. Probably they had forgotten to amend prospectus, but sound grounds for appeal methinks!
Second poster

Post by Second poster »

Waddle - the CC rules apply throughout Bucks and are administered by the Council except for a few schools (voluntary-aided?) which handle their own admissions, presumably with additional i.e. faith-related criteria. Our school isn't one of these, but if our daughter qualifies yet is not offered a place on grounds of distance then we are definitely going to appeal!
guest7

Post by guest7 »

Don't forget not everyone will fulfill the criteria for staying on to their school's sixth form. A friend's child was informed on results day that he hadn't performed well enough and told to look elsewhere. As you can imagine they were in a panic looking for an alternative. They eventually found somewhere else only for the original school to tell them the overall results weren't as good as expected and that they were lowering the sixth form entry requirements.
Needless to say my friend at this point did vote with her feet and her child is very happy at their new school!
Dad40
Posts: 359
Joined: Mon Jun 04, 2007 4:40 pm
Location: Chiltern District, Bucks

Post by Dad40 »

Guest55, It is based on the January 2007 school roll numbers.

Guest7, Yes good point about the school itself making pupils vote with their feet. I suspect this only applies to the grammar schools, not the upper schools (?)
claire s

Post by claire s »

Am I being stupid here, but what if there are less places in the sixth form than in the previous GCSE years. How can this prove whether the children are voting with their feet?
solimum not logged in

6th form

Post by solimum not logged in »

Also some smaller sixth forms cannot offer the flexibility of combinations of A levels, so pupils may move even if not especially dissatisfied with the school. A change of environment can be very beneficial at 6th form, for many reasons
Guest55
Posts: 16254
Joined: Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:21 pm

Post by Guest55 »

Dad40 - the picture needs to be looked at over several years before you can draw conclusions. Some schools have their sixth form numbers capped to stop the school growing.
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