In October, we asked families of students in Years 7 and 12 to complete a “settling-in” survey to help us understand how the transition into a new phase of education at Churchill had gone.
We had a fantastic response to the survey and we’re pleased to share the outcome with you.
Benchmarking
The results from the survey have been benchmarked against responses from similar schools, helping us gain a clear understanding of how the Academy compares with feedback from families at comparable schools nationwide. The image below provides an overview of the data for each question and how the Academy tracks against the benchmarked data.
As you can see from the breakdown above:
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89% of families feel their child has a good experience of school at Churchill Academy & Sixth Form, compared to 75% nationally - a 14% difference!
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92% of parents said it was easy to contact the school, beating the national benchmark by 10%.
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Our responses to families scored 11% higher than the national benchmark
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Satisfaction with the amount of communication received from the school is 18% higher than the national benchmark
Student Transition Programme
Our Admissions and Transition teams have developed a transition programme that helps students moving from primary education or into post-16 education adjust to a new way of learning and their new environment seamlessly and positively.
We’re proud to share that the provision we offer has been endorsed by our families as good as, or better than, the national average on every single metric across the questionnaire.
Additional Feedback
Families also had the opportunity to give us feedback in free text. Parents of Year 7 students noted:
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That their children particularly enjoy the variety of subjects offered, including favourites such as Art, Drama and Spanish.
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Making friends and participating in extracurricular activities, such as sports and clubs, were significant highlights.
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Parents mentioned the supportive teachers and the school environment that encourages independence and new experiences.
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The food choices and improved lunches compared to primary school were mentioned positively, along with the school’s commitment to nurturing students.
Sixth Form parents were also very positive about the transition into post-16 education. One family commented,
“He likes all his teachers, the quality of teaching, the site layout and the level of trust they are given as students in year 12.”
Another said… “[she] Likes the teachers, likes the familiarity, likes the independence and the fact she is treated more grown up now that she is in 6th form. It is also very local, modern and has a lovely green space.”
Another said… “we are so grateful that we were offered a place in sixth form!”
Areas for Improvement
The survey also provided us with helpful points to ensure we keep improving our provision, including clear communication around specific areas and information for students unfamiliar with Churchill, concerns about site cleaning in certain areas of the school and feedback about the lunch queues. With this crucial feedback, we have been able to address all of these issues and ensure that we make the experience for families in the future even better than it is now.
Outcome
We are very grateful to all the families who took the time to complete the survey - both for the positive endorsement of our transition arrangements and for the helpful feedback to help us improve further.
In addition, we are proud to confirm that the Academy now holds the Parent Friendly Schools charter mark, and we look forward to working more closely in partnership with families to ensure students have access to the best possible experience at secondary school and sixth form.
