Pupil Mobility
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Milton Keynes LEA
Case Study on the impact of pupil mobility on schools.
Schools in Milton Keynes experience high levels of pupil mobility. Nationally, the upper quartile for mobility is 17.6%. In Milton Keynes, 71% of primary schools have higher mobility than this figure.
The Milton Keynes Education Development Plan prioritises 'Raising standards of attainment of pupils changing schools other than at the normal age of transfer'. The School Improvement Team has worked with a group of headteachers, drawing on the work of Janet Dobson and Kirsty Henthorne to investigate the situation locally.
Our research has shown that internal migration is the most significant feature of pupil mobility in Milton Keynes. This is caused by four main factors:
- The city is an area of rapid growth in population. It is not unusual for three new schools to open within a year and there is a high level of movement as families relocate from different estates or areas beyond the local limits. Where upwardly mobile families move from an area this can change its social profile in a very short period of time;
- Families experience social dislocation. Another feature of the growing city is that many pupils do not have extended families nearby to support them. The social dislocation can result in mothers moving to escape from violence, families breaking up, changed relationships within family groups, moves for reasons of housing need, families falling out with neighbours, children moving between parents or partners for short periods of time, changed arrangements for looked after children, or combinations of these factors;
- Asylum seekers and refugees come to Milton Keynes to join communities already here, even though the city is not an identified as a dispersal centre;
- 'School hopping' is also a feature and children frequently leave and then return to a school after a relatively short time. The close proximity of other schools and the availability of places in them have exacerbated the levels of mobility in some areas.
The research project has aimed to raise schools' awareness of the types of mobility in Milton Keynes that influence their local communities most. This will enable the appropriate support mechanisms to be identified and brought into action.
The research group worked on how schools and local services can best support transient pupils and their families. The outcomes of the initiative formed the basis for a guidance document and CD, ' Changing Faces in Our Schools', which suggests strategies for meeting the needs of mobile pupils in primary schools.
The guidance provides an overview of local and national perspectives of mobility and the key issues for schools, staff and governors and looks at:
- reducing the impact of mobility;
- induction and exit procedures;
- raising standards and improving achievement by tracking the progress of pupils who join the school at non standard times;
- leadership and management issues;
- linking support with outside agencies; and
- a tool kit of forms and procedures to support schools in their daily work.
The folder also provides a series of case studies to help schools to look at ways in which turbulence is managed. The LMS formula now includes a 'mobility factor' allowance in the calculation of school budgets, which has enabled schools to put into practice the advice and guidance. For example, many schools now employ a teaching assistant with specific responsibility for inducting new arrivals and ensuring pupils settle in as smoothly as possible.
Individual schools are encouraged to look at trends in pupil movement over a three-year period. These factors are taken into account when analysing test results and predicting targets.
However, high mobility is not seen as a reason for low achievement. Significant progress is being made in tracking individual pupil progress to reflect the value added to pupils' learning during the sometimes very short periods of time they spend in each school.
The LEA collects data on mobile pupils annually and analyses it against:
- number of terms in school prior to KS1 or KS2 SATs and
- number of schools attended.
Analysis this year already shows the effectiveness of implementing the guidance, with three findings of particularly significance:
1. The performance of mobile pupils is markedly worse than that of pupils who change schools only at the 'normal' age (termed 'stable pupils' here). For 2002 the figures at Key Stage 1 show the difference:
| KS1 L2+ |
Number of pupils |
Reading |
Writing |
Mathematics |
| Stable pupils |
2055 |
83% |
86% |
91% |
| Mobile pupils |
622 |
74% |
77% |
82% |
At Key Stage 2 the results show a similar disparity:
| KS2 L4+ |
Number of pupils |
English |
Mathematics |
Science |
| Stable pupils |
2344 |
72% |
69% |
86% |
| Mobile pupils |
534 |
61% |
58% |
81% |
2. The performance of the mobile pupils is closing up on the stable population across the LEA. Many schools have been working with the strategies and the draft materials promoted by the LEA for one year and this is having a positive effect on results across the LEA, which are relatively better in 2002 than in 2001.
Key Stage 2 results over the last two years show how the gap is narrowing:
| Difference between mobile and stable pupils at L4+ |
English |
Mathematics |
Science |
| Gap in 2001 |
17% |
20% |
12% |
| Gap in 2002 |
11% |
11% |
5% |
3. Schools which have been most closely involved in the mobility work have made the greatest difference. A small group of schools has been at the forefront of the LEA's work on mobility, trialling and piloting strategies in order to identify what works best. It is notable that mobile pupils in these schools, which have been working on the issue for the longest time, have better results than elsewhere, leading to the conclusion that Milton Keynes has successfully identified strategies that make a real difference to pupils' achievement over time.
The six schools with Year 6 pupils from this group were compared with another six schools, chosen to match them in size and in the extent of their pupil mobility. Key Stage 2 results over two years show clearly the effectiveness of this cutting-edge work:
| Percentage change at L4+ from 2000 to 2002 |
English |
Mathematics |
| Working group |
7.6% |
5.1% |
| Comparison group |
-2.8% |
-3.3% |
For further information please contact Brenda Iles (School Improvement Adviser) or David Hood (Senior Adviser Development) on 01908 253881or 01908 253276.
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