Harris Academies

Yes, but it only takes in from the bands that sit the test

And your point is?

That some of the local families struggle to send their kids to school on the days of GCSE exams, let alone random Saturdays in Year 6 for a test that doesn't "test" them, or even guarantee them a place at the school. By having any type of entry test, Harris is not being fully comprehensive as the kids whose parents didn't get them to school on that December Saturday will end up elsewhere. The intake is skewed to those whose parents were happy and able to get their children to sit the test (which is not the same as the number who applied on the CAF). And parental input as well innate ability both have an impact on the results.

I wouldn't regard asking you to make an FoI request as being particularly secretive. It allows them to justify spending resources on answering your query if Ofsted or the EFA (or their auditor) question it - they have to deal with FoI requests by law. It also allows you to refer them to the Information Commissioner if they refuse to answer. The Commissioner can decide whether or not they are right to refuse and, if not, force them to answer.

Their results may well be less shiny than they seem. I haven't really looked at those. I'm not here to defend them so I wasn't planning on getting involved in that discussion.

Pretty horrendous places to work in from what I've heard.

Yes, but it only takes in from the bands that sit the test

And your point is? If you don't apply for a school you aren't going to get a place. That is a fact of life. If you apply you will be asked to sit the test and have a chance of a place.

How is it, when they operate a fair banding system, that only 9% of the intake were low attainers - when in fact it ought to be equal across the board

Croydon as a whole has 15% low attainers. One of the Harris academies is below that figure at 9%, the other is at 19%. Of the 19 non-Harris schools in Croydon 4 have 9% or less low attainers. Given the figure for the borough as a whole, 9% low attainers is within the expected range. As Harris City Academy has a priority zone for admissions it is also possible that the proportion of low attainers in the priority zone is lower than for the borough as a whole.

Yes, but it only takes in from the bands that sit the test.

For our local Harris academy, the test was an NVR test taken on Saturday in December (so post CAF submission).

We're in an area where there are super selectives nearby and a number of comps who take in 10% by ability. So the kids are used to tests. There are only so many Saturdays a child wants to give up in order to sit tests for secondary schools (the average round here was 4, but if you sat grammars as well you could take up to 7 Saturdays last term for tests). So the brightest kids aren't necessarily keen on sitting a test right at the end of term where the outcome is simply to put them into a band from which they are then picked by lottery. Especially after 4 or 5 tests where they've revised and sat in order to get the maximum mark.

Equally those who aren't organised enough to work out what is involved eg when to turn up for testing etc, don't turn up,for test and are excluded.

So those going for Harris tend to be those who are reasonably motivated, at least enough to give up a December Saturday, probably missing their school Christmas fair to sit of test of type that they won't have done before, and for which it is pointless to revise.

I think their schools have banded intake so are not necessarily comprehensives

They are comprehensives. Those that use banded intake are using what is known as fair banding. The idea is that you use a test to split the applicants into bands based on ability. You then select an equal number of pupils from each band. The objective of fair banding is to guarantee that the school gets pupils of all academic abilities.

There's a suggestion here that some of their 5A-C results are boosted by equivalents although not as much as some chains. Another report suggested that a number of low-achieving pupils are removed from the roll in the GCSE year (e.g. 10% of the roll).

I think their schools have banded intake so are not necessarily comprehensives - some have aptitude tests.