Has anyone got their child in UTC Reading?

[Doris01]

I live in Hampshire and we have the opportunity to send my 14 year old son to university technical college. Can anyone tell me their experience please?

[noblegiraffe]

Be very cautious. I don’t know this UTC but across the country UTCs are performing poorly and closing left right and centre.

Kids who leave their current school at 14 to go to a new one tend to have had issues with their current school, so may be poorly behaved.

Ask about academic outcomes, behaviour policy and how many students they have compared to their capacity.

[TeenTimesTwo]

Have you recently got the email HCC sent to all parents of y9s?

I looked into them generally for a couple of friends, not the Reading one specifically. If I had a child who was disaffected with school, and really into the specialism of the UTC then I might consider one. If I had a child who was happy in their current school then I wouldn't.

[WhitefriarsDillyDuck]

I don’t know this UTC but across the country UTCs are performing poorly

UTC Reading is well established with an Ofsted outstanding grade- so maybe look into the fact before posting.

reports.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/139268

2017 GCSE at grade 4 were well above the national and they were in line at 5+

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/139268/utc-reading

I would send my child without hesitation if they were interested in the specialism.

[noblegiraffe]

Ok, I looked at the report, Ofsted came before the school had any data, if they came today the school probably wouldn’t get outstanding. Progress 8 is -0.3, but this is pulled up by the performance of girls, progress 8 for boys is -0.45.
Headline figures are high but the school has barely any low achievers so this should be expected.

[WhitefriarsDillyDuck]

Ok, I looked at the report, Ofsted came before the school had any data, if they came today the school probably wouldn’t get outstanding. Progress 8 is -0.3, but this is pulled up by the performance of girls, progress 8 for boys is -0.45

The P8 is fine- why do you think that would prevent an outstanding judgement? Do you inspect 14-19 specialist provision?

P8 is a flawed measure. Ofsted and the DfE recognises that P8 is even more flawed in UTCs.

www.tes.com/news/dfe-reduce-progress-8-pressure-utcs

NFER did independent research into UTCs

www.nfer.ac.uk/university-technical-colleges-utcs-beneath-the-headlines-nfer-contextual-analysis

[noblegiraffe]

Data showed that when looking at schools that had been Ofsteded since Progress 8 scores were published, no school that had a Progress 8 below zero received an Outstanding.

www.tes.com/news/research-progress-8-scores-suggest-inspection-findings-are-not-arbitrary

But it’s funny how you say Progress 8 is flawed on the one hand, but trumpet headline figures as ‘above national average’ on the other, without mentioning most of the pupils are high prior attainers.

[Junioriggy]

So glad that see this post. My son desperately wants to move here from a really good Ofsted ‘outstanding’ local secondary. He is doing OK at this school and has no additional needs but is really interested in computing which his current school doesn’t excel at. We looked around the school last night and it all looks good for the outside. I can study all the stats and baseline the exam results but what I am really interested in is the perspective of a parent who has moved their child here. Are they happy and was it the right move??

[TheFifthKey]

We have a UTC in the town I work at. I’m at the 6th form college and all I can say is any student I’ve met from there spoke very badly of it. They felt it was missold to them and they didn’t achieve well at all - and the qualifications they came in with were poor and a very odd mix too.

In theory they’re a great idea. In practice, I have doubts ours will survive the next couple of years.

[GU24Mum]

We've got friends whose son is at UTC and they are really pleased with it.

[GU24Mum]

.... meant to say "at UTC Reading"...

[Baliero]

I too looked around UTC Reading the other evening. My son, at a local independent school is really, really keen on this school as he has a love of maths and science and wants to pursue these subjects at A Level in order to study engineering at university.

I'm aware that the UTC model generally is not succeeding, and that Reading seems to be the exception.

I too would be interested in hearing from current parents regarding their childrens' happiness in the school, their academic progress and what the pupil camaraderie is like as we have a done a bit of school jumping due to making a horrid error of judgement at year 9, and I’d finally like for him to setting and build some strong friendships.

[Junioriggy]

Thank you GU24Mum

[Cogger21]

Might be worth taking a look at the most recent report on UTC's which was published a couple of weeks ago.

feweek.co.uk/2018/10/11/scrap-utc-14-19-model-says-former-schools-minister-in-latest-damning-report/