Cwestiwn ysgrifenedig WQ85545

The data requested is in the table below. This data is provisional, with final data from the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) due to be published in August 2022.

PLASC does not collect data on the reasons pupils have moved schools. The greatest movement between schools takes place on transfer from primary to secondary education. The data provided below includes that transition stage

Parents/carers must apply for a school place through the local admissions authority (local authority). They can also apply for in-year transfers. Reasons for applying for an in-year transfer do not have to be provided, although there is an opportunity to do so. One of the outcomes in the local authorities’ Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs) is to enable more children to continue to improve their Welsh language skills when transferring from one stage of their statutory education to another. To address this outcome, many local authorities review the admissions data (including in-year transfers) to inform planning.

However, since it is not mandatory for parents/carers to provide information around their reasons for applying for a transfer there is no consistent source of data available.

Movement in and out of schools, across both English-medium and Welsh-medium schools is common, however if patterns emerge that the number or share of pupils moving from Welsh medium schools to English medium schools is increasing, we would expect local authorities to address this as part of their WESP.

Table 1: Number of pupils moving from Welsh medium schools in the South Wales Central region to English medium schools (anywhere in Wales) 2019-20 – 2021-22

Number of pupils

2019-20

358

2020-21

462

2021-22 (p)

431

Source: Pupil Level Annual School Census

(p) Provisional data, subject to change. Data for 2 schools is not included, both of which were Welsh medium schools.