As part of our series into #AcadamiesInBrum, we’re looking at the facts and figures surrounding this controversial schooling method. Using data gathered from the Department of Education website, we’ve gathered 11 facts that you don’t but should know about academies.
All information was correct as of the 14th of August, 2017.
Does this surprise you? Get involved with the conversation over on Twitter and let us know what you think about these 11 facts.
1: In the past year, the number of academies in Birmingham has increased massively…
At the start of this academic year in September 2016, Birmingham saw a 27% increase in the number of academies in Birmingham. Rising from 114 in 2015/16 to 144 in 2016/17.
This could, however, slow down in the next few years as Birmingham City Council are predicting a -366.67% fall in births across the top ten wards in Birmingham, as classed by the percentage decline in Birthrate. As such, the council predicts less demand for school spaces starting from the 2017 academic year.
#2: Most academies are rated as good, but nearly 1 in 10 are yet to be rated…
When it comes to Ofsted ratings, most academies in Birmingham are scoring ‘good’, whilst nearly 1 in 4 academies have been rated as ‘outstanding.’
You may be wondering what about the 13% of schools that don’t have a rating. This is because they’re one of many new academies in Birmingham and as such, they have not been rated yet.
#3: Birmingham academies are performing marginally worse than other schools when it comes to the Attainment 8 score…
The Attainment 8 score measures a student’s average grade across 8 subjects including maths and English. It’s only applicable to the 93 academies in Birmingham that are secondary schools either in full or part.
Birmingham academies on average, score 48. This is only 0.50 points less than the average for all Birmingham schools and even the average across the entirety of England. Note, this national score does not include schools in Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales.
#4: Academies on average are performing at the same level as other local and national schools when it comes to students leaving with a C+ in core subjects…
Birmingham academies are also performing at the same level as both other schools in Birmingham and those on a national level when we look at the number of students leaving secondary school with at least a C+ in English and Maths.
The average score achieved is only 0.90% lower than the Birmingham average and 0.30% lower than the average for all schools in England.
#5: Only 9* primary academies, out of 114 scored above average for students reading skills…
Whilst almost 1 in 4 primary schools are ranked as ‘average’ when it comes to the reading levels of students, only 9 are ranked above average at either ‘Above national average’ or ‘Well above the national average.’
*= Despite there being 144 primary schools, not all have been scored for reading. This is because they’ve only just opened and as such, have not had any results to showcase yet.
#6: Primary academies in Birmingham score best when it comes to maths, where 16 out of 114* schools are above average…
Maths is one of the best subjects for primary school academies in Birmingham with nearly 1 in 10 schools scoring above average in the subject.
*= Despite there being 144 primary schools, not all have been scored for reading. This is because they’ve only just opened and as such, have not had any results to showcase yet.
#7: Academies in Birmingham are performing much worse than the English average for students meeting the target for reading, writing and maths…
The worst scoring average for academies in Birmingham is that on average, less than half of students are leaving primary school with the reading, writing and maths standard with only 48% of students achieving it.
Whilst this is higher than the Birmingham average of 47%, it’s well below the national average of 52.5%.
#8: Academies in England on average have a 20% higher student population whose first language is not English…
Whilst this is not an Academy specific issue, newly released data shows that academies in Birmingham have, on average, 36% of students whose first language is not English.
Compared to the national average of just 16%, this figure is over double.
#9: The percentage of SEN (Special Educational Needs) students in academies in Birmingham is just 2%, on average 1% lower than the UK average…
Pupils with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) is defined as someone who has learning difficulties and requires additional support. A student with an education, health and care (EHC) plan w is a legal document that describes a child or young person’s special educational, health and social care needs.
Out of all the Birmingham schools who are academies, on average, 2% of each school population is classified as having SEN needs. This is 1% lower than the national average of 3% seen across schools in England.
#10: Despite having the largest council population with over 1-Million+ people, students in academies only represent 2.35% of the total number of students in education…
The final fact is that if we added every student currently in an academy in Birmingham we would have a number of 76,748 or 7% of the city’s population. At a larger, national level this would represent just over 2% of all students in any form of lower-18 education.
However, these figures are going to likely be much higher. This is because 36 schools have not yet published their student population figures.
