Metodología de evaluación de ofertas

Whilst all-through schools are a very small proportion of the schools in the state system, the diversity of schools which have chosen all-through configurations is striking and includes: academies; free schools; local authority maintained schools; former independent schools; Steiner schools and schools with a religious foundation (Catholic, Church of England, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh). The school types of all- through schools, nationally and in this research, are shown in Tables 5.3 and 5.4.

Table 5.3: All-through schools by school type in January 2017

School type % All-through schools* Academy (Converter) 19

Academy (Sponsor led) 38 Community School (Local Authority) 10 Foundation School 4

Free School 23

Voluntary Aided 5

Voluntary Controlled 1

119

Table 5.4: All-through schools represented in the stage one sample, by school type

School type % of respondent schools

Academy 24

Academy/MAT 28

Academy/VA 2.5

Community School (LA) 16.5 Foundation School 2.5

Free School 16.5

Free School/MAT 5

Voluntary Aided 5

The categorization of academies is slightly different in the two datasets, as Edubase differentiates between converter and sponsored academies. In my questionnaire, I differentiated between stand-alone academies (which tend to be converter academies) and those which are part of a MAT (which includes sponsored academies). If the different types of academy are added together (which eliminates this variance in categorization), it demonstrates that the questionnaire sample was broadly similar to the national picture for all-through schools in 2017 in terms of school type, with 76 percent of respondent schools being in the academy and free school sector (80 percent in the national dataset). 27 percent of all-through schools have a faith designation (percent breakdown: 73 no faith designation; 22 Christian; 3 Sikh; 1 Hindu; 1 Muslim).

Location of all-through schools in England

Table 5.5: Location of all-through schools in England in 2017

RSC Region % *All all-through Schools N = 150 % Research Survey Sample N = 42 East Midlands 8 7 East 4 10 London 30.5 19 North East 5 7 North West 8 10 South East 13 7 South West 12 16.5 West Midlands 8.5 7

120

York & Humber 11 16.5

*Source Edubase January 2017

Table 5.5 shows that all-through schools are spread throughout England, although a concentration of 43.5 percent was to be found in London and the South East at the time the questionnaire was administered. The questionnaire returns reflect a reasonable geographical spread, with responses from all RSC regions. However, London, the South East and Yorks and Humber are slightly under-represented in the sample compared to the national distribution.

Table 5.6: Respondent school locations using the TALIS settlement categories

TALIS 2013 category of school location

% Respondent schools % TALIS 2013 for England Major City 24 17.8 City 33 14.7 Town 31 38.9 Small Town 7 20.4 Village 2.5 7.2 Hamlet 2.5 1

The majority of respondent schools in this research are located in cities or major cities. Table 5.6 shows that the sample schools have a greater proportion (57 percent) located in cities and major cities than was typical in the TALIS 2013 English sample (32.5 percent).

Age range

Three schools in the sample did not specify their schools ages ranges, but for the 39 that did, the distribution of school age ranges is shown in Table 5.7:

Table 5.7: Distribution of school age ranges in the respondent schools

Age range given Number of schools N = 39 % of those responding to this question 2 - 16 1 2.5 2 - 18 1 2.5 3 - 16 7 18 3 - 18 4 10.5 3 - 19 6 15 4 - 16 3 8

121 4 - 18 6 15 4 - 19 8 21 5 - 16 1 2.5 5 - 18 1 2.5 7 - 18 1 2.5

Whilst the Edubase definition of an all-through is a school with learners across the primary and secondary age ranges, it is interesting to see that that two thirds of the sample schools also have learners in the non-compulsory school age range of Post 16 and just under half (48.5 percent) also have children in the pre-school age range. Only one of the sample schools had KS2 as their lowest age range (the ‘junior’ age range, where separate infant and junior schools exist).

Numbers on roll and across the key stages in the respondent schools

Data gathered in this area were not exact, in that six schools in my sample did not specify their number on roll and not all schools gave their figures for each or all key stages. However, the overview from the collated data does reveal that perhaps unsurprisingly, when full, all-through schools tend to have large school populations. The average total number on roll in the sample was 1,099 and of the 36 giving this number, 22 had rolls above 1000, 13 above 1200 and the largest school had 2200 children and young people on roll. The smallest schools in the sample had 104 and 295 pupils on roll, but were new schools, that did not yet have learners in all key stages/year groups. Four headteachers had annotated their questionnaires to say that their schools were growing and that rolls would rise over the coming years.

School Affiliations

Table 5.8: Respondent schools’ external affiliations

School affiliation Number of respondent schools N=42

SSAT 14

Leading Edge 6

PiXL 17

In partnership with a university (ITT/PGCE) 15 Affiliation provided by schools in the free text box Have or seeking MAT affiliation 5 Has applied for Teaching School and Leading 1

122

Edge designation

Challenge Partners 1

Link to a music school 1 Link to a football club 1 Affiliation with Federation of Steiner schools 1

The purpose of this question had been to see the extent to which all-through schools are also outward facing, connected institutions. Almost all schools indicated some affiliations, as shown in Table 5.8. Interestingly, the most common affiliation was to PiXL (Partners in Excellence), an organisation which focuses on assisting schools to optimize student outcomes in terms of the main school performance measures. The affiliations were not mutually exclusive, as respondents could tick or list an unlimited number.

Findings related to becoming an all-through school

In questions six to nine of the questionnaire, schools were asked about when and why they had become all-through schools. Question six asked whether they had opened as all-through or whether they had previously been a stand-alone primary or secondary school. Responses were (percentage calculated from N= 41):

• Opened as an all-through school: 36.5 • Secondary school which became all-through 51.5 • Primary school which became all-through 7

• As a result of school mergers 5

The option to state that the all-through school was formed as the result of school merger had not been given on the questionnaire, but two headteachers had written this on to the hardcopy questionnaire to explain their school’s situation.

The Schools White Paper (2010): a catalyst for the proliferation of all-through schools

I started my research with a hypothesis that the number of all-through schools was growing as a result of the policy paradigm associated with the Schools White Paper

(2010) and the academies and free schools movement. This seems to be borne out

123

2017, 80 percent were from the academy/free school sector. The questionnaire findings also underline that the proliferation of all-through schools has occurred overwhelmingly in the last nine years: 83 percent of respondent schools became an all-through or opened as an all-through school after 2010. One school became an all-through school in 1986, but this was an institution which had been an independent school and had converted to being a state school via the free school application process. The next longest standing all-through school in the survey opened in 2004. Therefore, all but one of the survey sample schools was opened or became an all- through school this century.

Reasons for becoming an all-through school

On question eight of the questionnaire respondents were able to tick more than one response. Table 5.9 shows levels of agreement with the statements about why their school had opened as, or had become an all-through.

Table 5.9: Reasons for becoming or opening as an all-through school in order of participant agreement

Reason % agreement

We had a vision about all-through education and therefore were keen to make this a reality when an opportunity presented itself

59.5 We responded to, or were approached to respond to a school

place shortage in our area

40.5 We have always been an all-through 19 We were a successful school and took the opportunity to

expand and vary our age range

14 We are part of a MAT which operates across the primary and

secondary sectors

5

It is interesting to see that just under 60 percent became an all-through school because of their vision for all-through education. If we assume that the 19 percent of respondent schools that opened as all-throughs had a clear founding vision for all-through education, then what emerges is a strong sense of a belief in the potential of the configuration being displayed by headteachers in the survey. As was my own experience, over 40 percent agree that the formation of their all-through school was a response to a school place shortage in their area. This chimes with the example given in the Schools White Paper (2010), of an all-through academy, formed to meet

124

demand for primary places in its locality. Question eight reveals that a mixture of practical and educational motivations lie behind the growth of the all-through configuration over the last decade.

All-through school buildings

Schools were asked about their sites and whether learners of all ages were accommodated on the same campus and responded as follows (in percent);

A. Entirely separate primary and secondary sites 27