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Original poster

Graveney extension stream

27 replies

swlondon24 · 27/10/2023 12:29

DD seems to have scored well enough in the Wandsworth test that she would very likely qualify for the Graveney extension stream. I have read their website/brochure/policies but can't really find detailed info on how it works in practice, can any current parents enlighten me?

When they join in y7, would their class / tutor group be a mix of all children or are they in a class of other children in the extension stream? Are they mixed for sports/arts/music for example or is it a stream that would not mix with the other streams in lessons?

Do they follow the same or a different curriculum? When I look at the curriculum info online, it just talks about the general ks3 curriculum but I can't see if there is a different curriculum / additional enrichment options or what the difference is supposed to be in this stream?

If there are 70 children in the extension stream, would that mean there are two classes of 35 or are they in 3 classes mixed with a few other children?

Please note I have no problem with mixing, just want to understand how it works especially as the intake of 280 kids sounds daunting. I just wonder how they get to know each other and how overwhelming it might be.

OP posts:
Camisqui · 17/07/2025 15:36

Statistico · 13/11/2023 10:28

Thank you for the information on Graveney’s music success. That certainly sounds impressive and no sniping here. I hope you can appreciate my friendly and polite query as to how current is your data, because:

On Graveney’s own website quotes this:
”The Sutton Trust report in 2011 placed us in the top 100 Comprehensive schools in the UK for Oxbridge acceptances, and comparison of data released by Oxford and Cambridge Universities in 2016 shows that our acceptance rates to these two highly competitive universities continue to exceed rates for the maintained sector. Since 2010, 87 Graveney students have won places at Oxford or Cambridge, an average of nine students a year”
(This website has perhaps not been updated in a while?)

You can also see 2023 leavers destinations of 314 students including 4 to Oxford this year and 5 to Cambridge so very in line with the average of 9 (which represents 2.8%).
Also in this list just 2 students out of 314 reading Music related subjects.

Now I dislike Oxbridge admittance as any kind of measure, but perhaps it does tell you something about aspiration I guess - if we are going to go there why don’t we look at Oxbridge number this year as a %age of leavers?
Chestnut Grove 2 out of 85 (so 2.4%)
Bolingbroke 4 from ~100 (so 4%)
Elms Academy 3 from just 31 Alevel entrants (so 9%!)
Wilsons school got 29 from 170 so 17% (rather less Arts & languages though as discussed).

Frankly while 9 students into Oxbridge is impressive (and impressively consistent) perhaps 2.8% is less so?
(I definitely appreciate one should not look at individual years but how a school does over time especially when the data points are a small number)

One can find top 100 schools for Oxbridge easily, but it’s still mostly independents (but less so hoorah) but seems hard to find a current list of top 100 state schools.

I know both Cambridge and Oxford publish their applications and acceptance rate from every UCAS centre annually, which is useful to cut through any schools vague PR claims
https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/statistics

https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-UCASApplyCentre2022/UCASApplyCentre?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHome=no&:mobile=true

You can see here that Graveney is very consistent in making 15-25 applications to both places most years. Much more than the other (albeit much smaller) sixth forms, except Ashcroft Technology

Your analysis is quite impressive! Could you please provide statistics on how many students from Graveney School, Chestnut Grove Academy, and Ashcroft Technology Academy progress to Russell Group universities? If possible, I’d appreciate figures and percentages. I tried researching this myself but couldn’t find the right dataperhaps you’ll have better luck. Thank you!

Statistico · 17/07/2025 15:54

Camisqui · 17/07/2025 15:36

Your analysis is quite impressive! Could you please provide statistics on how many students from Graveney School, Chestnut Grove Academy, and Ashcroft Technology Academy progress to Russell Group universities? If possible, I’d appreciate figures and percentages. I tried researching this myself but couldn’t find the right dataperhaps you’ll have better luck. Thank you!

Show quote history

Well thank you for the comment on this old post.
My life has moved on but I was able to find all the data above just through internet searches "leavers destinations" is a good search term. If you are truly curious I'd recommend you contact the school, just a few mins to send some emails- IMHO it can inform your impression of a school from how they react to such a query from a prospective parent.

I'm not sure any school gives precise percentages that you are looking for and they often do not update their data (so it cld be an old year they have posted about)

Just to note Graveney has a really big sixth form of about 400 per year, so bigger than the other years in the school. This makes it quite unusual but also means it's cohort changes quite a bit.

You can see a very general thing about how many students after 16-18 stay in education on the governments compare site
Student destinations after 16 to 18 (2022 leavers) - Graveney School - Compare school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK https://share.google/FPqfvHlrnNPaulNNv

And then a quick Google reveals this sort of thing:

Graveney School - UCAS and Destinations https://share.google/JFvdLWsJnIureiEKM

Ashcroft Technology Academy - What do students do after A Levels? https://share.google/1aKon1fuvK8KMjot1

Destinations: Class of 2024 | Ark Bolingbroke https://share.google/ZwwSmPZnRtwVbO4Mz

Good luck with your research

What do students do after A Levels?

https://www.atacademy.org.uk/page/?title=What+do+students+do+after+A+Levels%3F&pid=246

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