Pupils
After priority groups, the first fifty percent of Maharishi School‘s intake is based on their proximity to the school. The second fifty percent are via a random draw, which enables families from any local authority to apply for a place. The school has regularly welcomed pupils from Merseyside (currently 19), Wigan Council’s area (currently 14) and Sefton Metropolitan Borough’s area (currently 6). Pupils from three other local authorities also attend the school at present.
West Lancashire is not a particularly diverse area in terms of ethnicity compared to many parts of the country, but Maharishi School currently has pupils from 7 ethnic groups, which demonstrates its wide appeal.
Performance
At Maharishi School success is measured by more than just academic achievements. We want all of our graduates to leave us with a heightened sense of self-confidence as they enter the world beyond school; a broader level of awareness and social conscience that reflects our motto ‘The World is my Family’; and, most of all, a sense of inner fulfilment.
Having said that, we are incredibly proud of our pupils’ academic results, which demonstrate their willingness to do the work and engage with their lessons, and the benefits in terms of increased mental potential resulting from their twice daily meditation in class. Here is a snapshot of how our pupils compare both regionally and nationally.
Lancashire Live's Real Schools Guide 2020 named Maharishi as the top secondary school in West Lancashire. The Real Schools Guide aims to give a more comprehensive picture than traditional league tables and takes into account 51 different data points, including teacher to pupil ratios, attainment and progress at GCSE and pupil destinations after leaving secondary school. The guide put Maharishi School at 2nd in the whole of Lancashire, and in the top 1.8% of
schools nationally for its Progress 8 score in 2019.
This trend has continued. The latest published national average score for Progress 8 was minus 0.03 and in Lancashire minus 0.11 the Maharishi School’s score was plus 0.29. The school’s Attainment 8 score was also 0.7 above the national average and 1.7 above Lancashire’s average.
The school’s English Baccalaureate (EBACC) data is also impressive, with 81.3% of secondary pupils entering compared to a national average of 40.4% and a Lancashire average of just 33.1%. Their average point score was 0.48 above the national and 0.64 above Lancashire’s averages.
The DfE also records school performance in terms of the percentage of pupils achieving grade 5 and above in their maths and English GCSEs. Maharishi School’s figure was 50%, compared to an average of 45.9% nationally and 44% in Lancashire.
We feel these results are all the more significant due to the school’s shortfall in the spaces provided by our premises (please see the next tab). If we can build a new school, with all the facilities that most schools already enjoy, our expectation is that Maharishi School’s pupils can leave school with even better results.
