We can't decide!!

Thats good to know Heads always telling us were the top non selective comp in a very large county I have always taken it for granted that he's telling us the truth; he obviously is.
But Indigo I still pay for DS2!
?dcsf league tables?
Where does all this jargon come from? I work in a jargon infested world where your only any good if your can spout the current in fashion policy written using words that I've never and would never link together in the same sentence or the new ever changing government dictate. I consider and am considered by those who know me to be highly articulate and educated and I cant get my head around it. I'm not even able to formulate coherent sentences out of some of the stuff I see written about and by state schools. How on earth do those who are disadvantaged manage? People wonder why I feel comfortable in the independent sector at least they speak the same language as I do.

Happy -those results look really good.

Ebac is number of kids who passed English, maths, science, a language and either history or geography.

The VA of 1019 is excellent.

The dcsf league tables will tell you more.

Ok looked DS1 comp up 75% GCSE or equiv 25 EBACC (what the hell is that?) GCSE 75% VA 1019, points 901 so what does that tell me?
The GCSE figures were only marginally different (4-5%) than most indies even the fairly well known selective ones although not as good as one selective famous indie (CE requirement 60%) and a very selective grammar.

OP
go to the BBC league tables ,
reading left to right, my DC's comp got
78 (GCSE + equiv) ,37 (EBACC) ,78 (GCSE only) , 1000.8 (VA)
it is a school that a LOT of people who can afford private send their kids to - several a year come in from the private preps
there is no 6th form

if that helps as a comparative snapshot!
and state leaves more money for ponies, holidays and other stuff - which is what happens round here!

The other thing you may like to consider is that the comp should enter ALL their students for GCSEs (thus 54% may be good) and the indie may not enter those who won't get a C. You need to ask outright if the indie enters ALL the students for the exams or not, or doesn't let those who won't get the higher grades take them, and yes, this does happen.

Levels 3, 4 and 5 refer to year 6 SATS levels. Whilst parents may not understand what this means when looking at a schools' stats, I think it does reflect the overall ethos of a school - whether they write Level 3 kids off for instance, or really work with them to achieve the best results. So happygardening I'm sure you're not a rubbish parent just becuase you don't know what Levels 3, 4 or 5 mean, but equally I think Indigo is taking a very sensible approach to see what these stats actually mean - and yes I'd be much happier with a school that values their lower ability kids as much as the brighter ones.

Colleger I also think it's quite reasonable to assume that very few private schools have kids entering year 7 with Level 3s, given that Level 3 is considerably below average.

"I'm very happy that the school I've chosen does well by level 3, 4 and 5 kids. Because that was important to me."
IndigoBell I must be either completely stupid or just a rubbish uninterested parent because I haven't got the faintest idea what you talking about!! I don't know what a level 3,4 or 5 even is! Should this be be important to me? Why should this effect my choice of school?

Mmmm, how ridiculous IndigoBell. If that was the case then most independent schools would go under!

Collager - odds are an indep with 100% pass rate didn't accept any level 3 kids in the first place. (or sometimes they accept them, and then exclude them just before exams)

Migsy - the figure is broken down by attainers. Message me the name of the school if you want me to have a look for you.

Thanks Indigobell. I did see those figures and the one that interests me most is the average point score per pupil (best 8) - GCSE only. I would be interested if that figure was broken down further into high, low and middle attainers.

Who is not to say the independent doesn't do well by Level 3,4,5? In fact it looks as it does exceptionally well for them.

Look at the full league tables from the dcsf.

It states:
average point score per pupil (best 8) - all qualifications
average point score per pupil (best 8) - gcse only
average grade per qualification
average grade per gcse
average entries per pupil - all qualificaions
average entries per pupil - gcse only

all broken out by high attainers (level 5s), middle attainers (level 4s) and low attainers (level 3s)

should be enough info there for you to get a full picture of their results.

Although also their exact exam results should be available for you to download from the schools website.

I'm very happy that the school I've chosen does well by level 3, 4 and 5 kids. Because that was important to me.

It is the GCSE equivalents being included in the figures that makes it all confusing. It is difficult to separate it all out and find out the GCSE passes.

The league tables are a real eye-opener. Thanks indigobell

Sorry to say but of figures and data aside, there are less likely to be disruptive pupils at the indie.

The ofsted "outstanding" comp across the road from me gets 64% A-C GCSEs but the horror stories I hear about the behaviour of the pupils there from DD's friends makes me glad we can afford to send her to an indie. Her school is mildly selective (middling to strong level 4s will usually get in fro year 7) but they still get 98% A-Cs with 70% Ato B grades.

Remember that some schools are still using the old system of where a GNVQ in Hairdressing is worth 5 GCSE league table points. I wouldn't touch any school with a 54% rate when you could afford to send her to a better school. It wouldn't even cross my mind.

Um. It's 54% of all kids who pass GCSEs. Her child either will pass or won't.

Odds are her child will be in the top half of the school and therefore will pass.

You can now see on the league tables which % of level 5 kids passed their GCSEs. If the number was 90%+ I'd be happy.

You can also see which % of level 4 and level 3 kids passed. A far more interesting statistic.

I'd be very happy to send my child to a schoo where half the kids passed - if my child was doing well at school.

Private and state schools will teach your child different things. It all depends what you want them to learn......

What are you leaning to now OP? I have a similar predicament. My DC is working towards level 5 but has SEN and I think he may get lost in the local comp. I might have to sell my house to afford fees though

Only if she's happy with the underlying ethos. My DS1 never did well at his prep but is doing better than they ever predicted at his excellent state comp. He would have hated DS2 's highly selective independent boarding school being unable to comprehend or conform to their ethos/ work ethic.

It sounds like your daughter will do well at either of them; however, the private school will most certainly have higher expectations of your daughter than the state one will, so she would do better at the private one than she would at the state on.

The private one.

we turned down private for state secondary but our school was 85%+ A-C. I wouldn't have gone for a comp that was only in mid 50s and I am not a pushy mother
IMO if money is not the issue then go private

If you can afford it then I wouldn't hesitate to go for the private school. In my opinion 54% A-C isn't good enough when you have an alternative option. Our local comprehensive has 87% A-C which would be more along the lines of what I would be looking for if I were choosing between a comprehensive and a good independent.