At The Wellington Academy we have a high proportion of students with a forces background and such, we are well aware of the impact of students moving between schools, in most cases due to parents military postings. The Academy are able to support these students and their parents with the option of boarding, however there is more to this discussion that.
Following a recent investigation using 4Matrix’s research group we were able to compare our transient vs non-transient students. In this preliminary investigation, that is, students who joined the Wellington Academy after Y9, compared to students who had completed their full secondary education with us.
Performance: non-transient (105) vs transient (37)
- 5A* to A 13 vs 8%
- 5A*-C EM 55% vs 54%
- English 69% vs 67%
- Maths 63% vs 65%
- English 3+ 82% vs 76%, 4+31% vs 18%
- Maths 3+ 71% vs 71%, 4+21% vs 27%
- APS 612 vs 550
- Point on entry 42 vs 38
In most cases, with the exception of Maths, our non-transient students out performed our transient groups, however this could be partly explained by their higher points on entry (in itself a consequence of moving schools)
The data perhaps confirmed what we already knew, that moving school has a detrimental impact on performance, however a recent RSA report clearly demonstrated, most starkly, that student who change schools during their primary or secondary education suffer academically, with the chances of achieving the government’s benchmark of five good GCSE results falling markedly with each change of school. Incidentally, the frequency of changes was a factor we did not explore.
62% of non-transient students achieve five GCSEs A*-C vs 44% (300,000) of those who moved once, and just 27% who moved three times. Of course there are further conflicting factors associated with school transfers: exclusion, care requirements or moving due to disadvantage (Pupil Premium student, with a household income of less than £25,000 a year make up 46% of the total, well above the 25% of pupils who receive free meals nationally).
The report offer a real incentive to review what we can do as a school, especially a school with a boarding facility, to support students on the move during their academic career.
View the report: Between the Cracks
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