(Working Paper 07/03) Using PLASC data to identify patterns of commuting to school, residential migration and movement between schools in Leeds

New patterns of interaction emerge annually between the places where schoolchildren live and go to school. This paper concentrates on understanding the dynamics of the 'journey to learn'. It explains how PLASC data for Leeds, a city in northern England, can be used to measure daily pupil movements and to investigate school territories, but also to identify pupil movements between schools and between places of usual residence. The longitudinal nature of the data provides the opportunity for checking the authenticity of individual record attributes from one year to another and for making adjustments to improve consistency. Consideration is given to how these flows might be modelled in order to support the local authority (Education Leeds) make better decisions when planning the provision of primary and secondary schools across the district in future years. Acknowledgements This paper has been produced as part of an ESRC CASE postgraduate studentship funded by the ESRC and Education Leeds and we acknowledge this financial support. We are also grateful to Education Leeds for the supply of PLASC and other datasets, and to Heather Eyre in particular, for her continued advice and support.