Birmingham University School?

[KathG]

Proposed Uni School What do you think? Would be a possible choice for us, but not sure how it fits in with the grammar schools?

A friend of mine teaches at a secondary school in Birmingham, They aren't mentioning it either as they don't want to loose pupils in year 10 and 11......

No, fair enough, but he's received stuff through the post, sent out to all Yr11s in the City, nothing to do with his school. I'd have thought it would have been in there ?

not sure then, but it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

"Many unis are thinking of opening schools. Lots will be University Technical Colleges (UTCs) rather than free schools so having year 9 entry rather than year 7 and focusing on a particular area. More information here"

That sounds interesting - the Brit School follows that model of Y9 entry & is successful (in fields like Visual Art & Design, Set Design etc as well as the more well-known showbizzy stuff), and seems to really suit teenagers who know where their interests lie.

But if there were lots of 14-19 schools, especially ones with a technical aspect, wouldn't that affect local secondary schools negatively if loads of Y9 pupils who are bright & committed to their education leave to do their GCSE's somewhere else?

"wouldn't that affect local secondary schools negatively if loads of Y9 pupils who are bright & committed to their education leave to do their GCSE's somewhere else?"

Are you saying that it would be a good thing or a bad thing? No harm in making the existing schools raise their game!
Anyway, it's not necessarily available to all 'bright & committed' eg at Aston it depends upon how close you are to a railway station, in fact only a few specified stations. (Why did they do their nodals based on stations - do they think that trains are the only form of public transport)

Maybe Aston have sponsorship from network rail ?

I was worried it might be a bad thing - but I suppose it would have to be happening in large numbers to have that much effect, and perhaps that's unlikely to happen.

And even if it did, as you say it may just make the other schools raise their game a bit, or in the long term even link up with other schools in the same position to make a bigger 14-19 department of their own.

"Why did they do their nodals based on stations - do they think that trains are the only form of public transport"

Well if the alternative was bus stops, that would be very confusing and moved on a regular basis if it is anything like where I live. Can you imagine the appeals on the temporary bus stop because of road works vs the place where it used to be

I think the local schools are worried, but with an intake over the whole city, it shouldn't impact too deeply on each school.

The school will be on the Selly Oak Campus, which is more into Bournville. Sounds lovely on paper, but, well. The selection criteria could be interesting.

Where do you mean EduStudent - where the Charles Gillett Centre is, at the top of the hill leading up to Selly Oak from the SW ?

That looks roughly it. The campus is on the corner of Bristol Road/Weoley Park Road, between the old Bournville College and Sainsburys.

I e-mailed UoB to ask about admissions and location. On admissions, they said "we are currently developing our application to establish this school for the Department for Education (DfE). As part of this process, we are developing an admissions policy which will reflect our civic ambitions for the School, enabling it to draw in pupils from across Birmingham and the region. We can state that, unlike for the majority of local schools, distance from the school will not be a primary factor driving admissions, but at this stage we are looking at a number of alternative scenarios and we are not yet able to be more specific."
They didn't answer the question about location.
So we are none the wiser!

interesting stuff!! So glad mine are all settled at secondary.

Looks like it'll be a Weoley/Bournville area school competing with bournville and shenley academy in locality

If this is as far as they've really got though, I can't see it being ready to take pupils in Sept 2014 - in order to do that, the parents need to know about it being a possibility (and the criteria) sooner rather than later.

OLD THREAD: Still reanimating it - I've heard that the school is due to take its first admission of children in 2015, and I've been umming and ahhng about DS (for 2016) - we live near one of the nodal points.

Just wondering if anyone had heard anything more recent about the school? Thought it better to reopen this one than start another

I've heard that the school is due to take its first admission of children in 2015

Page 156-158 of the main schools guide, linked to from www.birmingham.gov.uk/schooladmissions

Kath G:

haven't read all posts but this I know:

There are 4 nodes (Selly Oak/ Hall Green/ Jewellery Quatre/ Small Heath) and distance to school is measured by local distance (Selly Oak) or for 3 other nodes by distance to their local train station. Info here: www.universityschool.bham.ac.uk/admissions/year7/

Locally (10-20 minutes walk) school choices are 'DAME-O' (Dame Elizabeth Cadbury: www.dectc.bham.sch.uk/) and 'Bournville' (Bournville School & Sixth Form - www.bournvilleschool.org/).

In general more school places will be necessary as there is going to be a huge increase in student numbers at secondary as this new 'baby boom' works its way through primary - so more places are needed - and indeed the city council approved the King Edward state-funded grammar schools increasing their intake this past year.

As ever with a new enterprise - it's whether you want to take that leap of faith or not. We don't know who the teachers are yet. There is no previous test results/ local word of mouth from parents already sending their children there.

The Head Teacher was the former Head of King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys and is well-respected - but again this is a new enterprise and this school is ordinary admissions by distance criteria/ care/ sibling criteria as most comprehensive in Brum are.

It's an option - or an alternative to existing options.

Just re-animating this, as interested to know if anyone's applied for first intake?
An unknown quantity is a scary choice, but the Head has such a good reputation.
I hear they had over 400 'first choice' applications!

Interesting option I guess but it won't be competing with the grammars..I am curious personally about their 6th form intake, which I believe starts in sept with the year 7 intake. This is the youngests peer group but it's going to be very much a pig in a poke at a vital time in a child's education. She'll be staying put, assuming of course the head doesn't poach all the staff!

Although I'm guessing not many will move from the grammar schools though Theas18, I know for a fact that a lot of pupils who might have moved into the grammar school 6th forms have applied for the 6th form at the University School.
The open evening was very impressive - FAR more so than either Five Ways or Camp Hill.
Tbh, it's such a massive investment for the University, I can't see them letting any pupil under perform.

Hello all:

Have been seeing friends from old primary (many with older siblings) over the holoday and scuttlebut in Brum is that 6th form applications are an option to get their children out of schools that either parents are unhappy with (and that can be for social reasons as much as educational) and/or OFSTED has recently rated as either NEEDS IMPROVEMENT/ FAILING.

I think this becomes the 2nd choice option - i.e. if your child has done very well at GCSE you'd apply for transfer to 6th form at one of the King Edward Grammar schools. But to hedge bets you might also apply to 6th form at University school and hope that this will ultimately be a better option for your child (because it is an entirely new enterprise and nobody knows how good the atmosphere/ teaching/ results will be).

What I will say is that for many parents they see a new school as an option to avoid (so for Y7 entry) or escape (for 6th form entry) mediocre/ poor local secondary school options.

I suspect the reality is that this is a jump into the unknown. I sincerely hope it goes on to be a strong, successful school - Birmingham needs them at secondary level - but only time will tell.

HTH

They've received over 800 applications for the 6th form.

It was the closing date today.