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Original poster

Calling all education data nerds! Can anyone help me make sense of these slightly weird OFQUAL stats? (Comparing high grade GCSEs in grammar and private schools)

36 replies

clarexbp · 11/08/2022 13:52

What do you make of these charts?

analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/GCSE/CentreType/

They report % of kids scoring 7/A or above in GCSE in each of the main subjects, according to type of school attended.

Grammar schools (I'm presuming that's what they mean by 'Secondary Selective') and independent schools are neck and neck for most subjects (e.g. Biology, Chemistry, Classics, Computing, DT, Drama MFL, RS, to name a few). Curiously, however, for some subjects, there is a massive disparity, with grammar schools doing much better than independent schools.

E.g. in 2019:
Business Studies 30% v 49% getting A/7 or higher
English 31% v 48%
English Lit 38% v 54%
History 48% v 60%
Maths 31% v 65% (Wow!)

This looks like it's a consistent year-on-year pattern, not just an occasional anomaly.

Any ideas?

OP posts:
TurquoiseSeaglass · 11/08/2022 22:36

@KindergartenKop why are grammar school parents "more demanding" but independent school parents "really value education so push their kids". What's the difference between the two, apart from one set being presented by you in a much more positive light than the other? Do you really believe parents are just paying for environment rather than quality of teaching in independent schools?

KindergartenKop · 11/08/2022 16:09

Grammar schools just tend to take cleverer children with more demanding parents.

Most independent schools do well because they are a) selective and/or b) the families really value education so push their kids. With independent schools you are actually paying for the environment rather than any actual tutoring in many cases.

Namenic · 11/08/2022 14:53

I think in history grammars do better than independents?

PeekAtYou · 11/08/2022 14:50

Dome private schools do a mix and match of IGCSE and GCSE. So they might do iGCSE maths and GCSE French

PeekAtYou · 11/08/2022 14:49

Not all private schools are selective and there's more of them so I wouldn't expect them to beat grammars tbh. If it was selective private vs selective state then I'd expect to see similar grades in all subjects offered in both. (Idk if grammars have lessons in Latin or offer the same number of MFL choices as in a private selective)

Seeline · 11/08/2022 14:46

Both my DCs went to private schools. They both did IGCSE for maths, Eng lit and sciences. Other subjects were a mix of IGCSE and other boards.

LargeLegoHaul · 11/08/2022 14:45

Independent schools often pick and choose which subjects they do as IGCSE and which as GCSE.

Original poster
clarexbp · 11/08/2022 14:43

I did wonder about IGCSE but why would that not impact all subjects? Or do higher performing private schools do IGCSE for maths and english and GCSE for the other subjects?

OP posts:
Comefromaway · 11/08/2022 14:23

My daughter went to an independent school that was selective only on talent in the arts, not other academic subjects. There are several such schools and some independent schools are not academically selective at all.

The first group of subjects are subjects commonly offered by and taken by academically able students. Business Studies for example may not be offered by many selective independent schools (it was a popular subject at dd's non academically selective school but not offered by the school ds attended for a short time.

catndogslife · 11/08/2022 14:18

I agree that iGCSEs are a factor. Some high achieving schools in my area perform poorly in subjects such as English and Maths because pupils take iGCSE rather than GCSE. iGCSEs aren't regulated by OFQUAL so won't be included.
Some independent schools may not have Business studies on the curriculum at GCSE.

LargeLegoHaul · 11/08/2022 14:06

Is it because independent schools often sit IGCSEs? I don’t know whether it is the case, but maybe the higher performing independents are more likely to sit IGCSE rather than GCSE.

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