UTC Oxford

[1805]

Anyone know much about this new school? I've read the website, but does anyone have experience of it?

Probably not much help but I notice that there is also one in Reading that has been going for a couple of years and that might give you more information.

I know nothing about UTC Oxford, but the one I do have experience of has had (in its third year) a very disturbed year with huge amounts of staff turnover among my DC's year. Almost all the teachers have changed, and the school is being pushed by one of its main sponsors to provide a stream of apprentices -- which TBF was one of the objectives in its creation; it's just not what my child wants. I would be cautious.

The UTC Reading has an outstanding Ofsted report. I think the students pereformed very well. There is a UTC in Didcot. Is that different to the Oxford one you are referring to?

Well it's first set of GCSE results - 2017 provisional - show it to be one of the worst performing schools in Oxfordshire. So in step with UTC's generally. Part of ACTIVATE learning who seem to be specialising in poorly performing UTC's - Swindon, Heathrow etc

Someone started a thread who had a child at Bolton UTC and the school had an ofsted this year that was the worst ofsted known to man. Sounds like the Reading one is good though if it got outstanding so i guess they must vary.

The UTC near me which opened with lots of bells and whistles isn’t good.

The parents I know who sent their kids there said it was the biggest mistake they’ve ever made. They were not impressed with the headteacher at all.

Do lots of research - it might just be that this one isn’t delivering what it promises but I would be very wary.

Sorry to be negative.

Not sure that outstanding actually means very much. Look very carefully at the (very small) number of pupils there and the actual results they are obtaining - nothing special.

I'd be very wary to be honest. The schools are 14-19, but very few students will move at age 14 unless they are having substantial problems at their current school.

In most cases, you will have better options are more traditional providers

DP teaches at a UTC from what I've learnt...the yr10 intake means it tends to attract the bullied (unhappy at previous secondary) and the bullies (excluded from previous secondary), the curriculum looks super exciting on paper and in the prospectus but the reality is that in yr10 and yr11 kids are just getting thru' a specialist subset of GCSE's (often not meeting EBACC requirements) and don't actually do any 'hands on' practical stuff in reality, it's hard to attract teachers for some of the specialist subjects that outside of UTC's are really only taught at FE level and some arrive with little understanding of teaching a large class of youngish teeenagers or poor classroom managment skills (and may be on contracts where they can leave on a month's or so's notice as they are a kinda free shool and so are not required to observe standard teaching contracts) , kids and parent's don't realise that BTEC's are often far from a 'soft option' and the way they are assessed makes for a heavy workload. They are however remarkably good at getting work exp placements and getting kids on to higher level apprenticehips.

Government commitment to the UTC model doesn't seem great, I would not send my own kids to one.

I should add that the one DP works in has outstanding results in some subjects and has provided excellent foundation for kids to move onto to uni/apprenticeships etc.

Also I am aware that the reading one is regarded as the gold standard utc but apparently it is sited in a very mc area so has a 'good' intake.

Reading's got below average progress 8 (provisional)

Some UTC's got inspected before any exam results were available! Like rating your meal before you've eaten it! OFSTED have now changed this policy: sticking a "good" label onto any organisation which is one of the worst 300 schools in the country seems to de-value the OFSTED process.