Transparency data

St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School (Barnet) URN: 101361

Updated 14 February 2020

This transparency data was withdrawn on 14 July 2023

The Selective Schools Expansion Fund is closed and there are no plans to run future rounds.

Applies to England

Fair access and partnership plan summary

The above school has made a commitment to deliver the following fair access and partnership plan by 2020 (and in subsequent years) as part of its successful Selective Schools Expansion Fund bid.

Admissions

The school intends to increase its year 7 published admission number (PAN) by 32 places to 128 for September 2020.

After the admission of looked after and previously looked after Catholic girls, 32 Catholic girls eligible for the pupil premium, will be allocated places (25% of all places).

The entry standard for year 7 will be lowered for these pupils. They will be eligible to be considered for admission if they are ranked within the top 200 passing the test.

5th priority for admission will be ‘other girls eligible for the pupil premium’ (without any requirement that they are Catholic).

Outreach (all of these are new initiatives)

St Michael’s (‘SMCGS’) has strengths in a number of areas including English, Mathematics, Science and Modern Foreign Languages (‘MFL’). The school intends to establish links with primary schools in the local area, particularly those who act as ‘feeder schools’ such as St Catherine’s, Sacred Heart, Our Lady of Lourdes, St Theresa’s, St Vincent’s and The Annunciation Junior. Following dialogue with these schools, areas of development will be identified. It is intended that these ventures will promote subjects and encourage a greater number of applications to St Michael’s and particularly from (although not exclusively) those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

As a new initiative, St Michael’s intends to run Gifted and Talented workshops for students from the local primary schools – this should enable these schools to stretch their most able students and provide an enhanced curriculum. The subject leaders of these subjects will also be invited along for these activity days in St Michael’s.

SMCGS senior teachers, teachers involved in transition from primary to secondary school and students (particularly Sixth Form students) will visit a number of Catholic primary schools in the London Borough of Barnet in order to meet parents and students from disadvantaged backgrounds and encourage them to apply and to consider a grammar school education for their children. This will be a new initiative to establish links with feeder schools and encourage grammar school applications as well as the transition process.

SMCGS will arrange for its own Pupil Premium students to talk to primary parents and students about their experience of being a Pupil Premium student at St Michaels.

Pupil Premium pupils and parents will be invited into St Michael’s for a familiarisation test experience and a tour of the school. This experience will be offered to children in years 4 and 5 and will focus on Barnet Catholic primary schools and Catholic primary schools outside Barnet.

Following on from establishing links with its feeder schools (named above), it is envisaged that a system of mentoring and support will be established. It is intended that direct links will be made with individual Pupil Premium students and families, this could involve sessions put on at SMCGS for parents and pupils on certain topic areas (such as how to revise, supporting literacy and numeracy development) and also SMCGS’ Sixth Form students going to the primary schools in order to establish links with individual students to individual Pupil Premium students – supporting them with their literacy and numeracy.

Shared events, such as INSET days for teachers or Sports Activity days for students will be introduced to establish stronger links between local Catholic primary schools to enable a greater sense of transition for all students from primary to secondary school, this would benefit all students not just those who are Pupil Premium.

St Michael’s intends to run workshops for the parents of disadvantaged students, to explain the process of applying, to introduce the application forms and remind parents of deadlines. This support will, in part, be an opportunity to market SMCGS to them, but will also be a mechanism to introduce the grammar school system to these parents by way of showing them the types of test used and the process of gaining a place.

Partnership

A summer school will be offered to Pupil Premium students between Year 6 and when they enter secondary school to boost their key skills in literacy and numeracy in preparation for the challenges that secondary school will bring, this is a new initiative.

As a new venture, primary schools will be given access to St Michael’s facilities such as a Language laboratory, specialist Science laboratories, a full-sized sports hall and specialist educational mathematics software. Primary school children do not normally have access to such facilities and so opportunities beyond primary school will be opened up to students.

SMCGS will offer support to local secondary schools in order to share its expertise and success at gaining places at Russell Group Universities. This support will involve sharing the tutorial programme of support SMCGS gives its students in preparation. This programme of activities and talks is designed to encourage students to consider the advantages of a university education and to reduce the barriers which may discourage some. Support will include inviting teachers and students to SMCGS’s Oxbridge day and supporting students with the application process.

An existing French taster day organised by St Michael’s will continue, whereby French A Level students visit Northside Primary School. This involves a day of introductory French and activity sessions, appreciated by Primary students over a number of years.