Parent power 2023

Not everyone has very bright DC. Not everyone wants a top performing school.

I have noticed though, that when we chose an independent boarding school for DD, their results were very similar to our local grammar for girls. DD passed for the grammar. Now, they are miles apart on results. The ranking of the private school has dropped by well over 100 in that time. Over the years, it appears fewer bright DC are going to the independent school. The destinations list isn’t what it was. It’s very popular though and has more DD wanting to go there. So it’s clearly not all about results. At this moment in time, I might not choose it on results though if I had a bright DD but I might if I valued lots of other things about a school.

Great points. Also, schools have a different mix of A level subjects. A school with way more Physics A level results is different than another. Best to compare like subject A level results across schools, which is a lot of work, but provides a clearer picture. But as you rightly say, there's so many other factors as well.

@Dallasdays thank you for checking 😊

@CowsInFields I looked but I can't see it at all on the list I'm afraid!

Thank you @LondonGirl83

I've seen my DD's private day school FREEFALL from last year. I logged on and thought WTF? I mean we've dropped so many places! No change of head, still the same little senior school! Prefer not name it, name and shame myself!

Reading your post has made me realise I'm being foolish, my DD loves her school, we love it, and she's happy and doing well academically , what more do I want? The raw data for one year doesn't make or break a school.

@LondonGirl83 well said 👏

The only thing the raw results tell you is the general level of the cohort that sat the exams at a school.

If there are two schools you like you need to understand a lot more about them to assess the difference in their results to understand how your child might get on there academically. So for instance, school A could have more A but a lower percentage of A/A/Bs than school B.

Possible reasons why:

1. School A might not be very good at supporting students and therefore has weak progress data for certain types of pupils. Progress against starting points is available for state schools via the DfE and is available in ISC reports typically (if its good) as well as via the DfE for A-levels for independent schools
2. School A is a through school and admits children from 3/4 when academic potential is harder to assess and so has a wider ability range despite being very competitive to get into at 11+ and 7+
3. School A is known to support children with SEN and so has more SEN children on role who are well supported but slightly under perform in exams
4. School A is working on a trial with government to provide free places to bright children in social care to provide additional pastoral care and opportunities but this has resulted in slightly weaker league table results (real example as far fetched as it sounds from the top 50 schools)
5. School B has strict entry criteria to its sixth form that prevents weaker students from sitting A-level exams (real examples in the top 50)
6. School B is known to cull students pre GCSE by pressuring them to leave if they are concerned they'll impact school results (real example- including during difficult life circumstances!)
7. School B has amazing teaching and gets above average progress for all of their pupils
8. School A gets a boost of bright pupils into 6th form which skews the A* results
9. School B has a higher ability cohort at admission at 11+ and its results reflect that with no quality difference in teaching which is why there are fewer Cs at A-level
10. School B puts untold pressure on pupils to succeed leading to severe mental health problems and don't allow or encourage pupils to take any academic risks
11. School B parents engage in substantial out of school tutoring throughout secondary which boosts results beyond what the school itself provides

Without knowing the details about the schools you are comparing, their reputations, how the operate, etc drawing any conclusions at all about the quality of the teaching is impossible. Even as a tool for assessing academics rather than holistic education league tables are pretty useless.

@Dallasdays oh that would be fabulous. The school is Ermysted's grammar in skipton.
Thank you ever so much :)

Happy to check the online portal if you have the name...

@Workhar you also need to judge by how competitive the entry for the school in the first place.

@LondonGirl83 has raised some excellent points. I am new to this entire meta verse of 11+ and london school rankings. But my limited understanding tells me that when judging a school purely based on academic results, GCSE rankings are a better indicator. 1) GCSE offers a broader range of subjects and showcases how a school helped a student inclined towards maths do well in History also. 2) Many high performers shift schools at A levels.

I think these tables are hard to figure out, DS grammar school hasn't 'made it' whereas all the other nearby grammars are there. The results are all around the same mark (when comparing the schools using GCSE results from previous years), so I don't know whether the table should be taken with a pinch of salt, or whether DS school has had momentous fall in GCSE and a level results.

I don't have access to the online portal, so can't check whether the school has dropped due to 'bad' results.

Thank you @Wlondonmum2022. It's not independent and wouldn't likely be in the top one hundred even but other schools would seem to be okay with being seen at number 300.

Anybody ever go to Cardiff Sixth Form? Do they have many domestic students?

I think so, Harrow chooses not to, I suspect because their results don’t come in the top 50. You could ask the school for their results and figure out roughly where the school would fit.

ah ok ok. looks like someone else has fixed it...

Thank-you! Both iterations are interesting, tbh!

I would say it is selection bias, those absolute top tier school is prefiltered by academic ability at 11+ so hard to get in the first place

If a school isn't in the tables is it because they choose not to be?

Yes, that's why I've historically been less interested in GCSE results - the handful of very bright pupils who aren't good at one particular subject can skew things. But I'm intrigued as to whether those absolute top tier schools nonetheless manage to get stellar GCSE results too.

Sorry, screen shot previously was just the normal table. Now by A star:

Just looked at this properly. It's fascinating. Much more interesting than the results in print. As I've said further up, getting a B grade in a selective indie is no real measure, so the A* and A grades are much more revealing.

For instance, you suddenly see that FHSS only got 40% of A (and 75% at A) which wouldn't have put it in the top 30 overall. And some of the other schools did much better at A than their overall rankings would suggest.

I think the ranking will be different www.londonpreprep.com/2022/08/gcse-results-day-2022-top-london-schools/

Note that between top 20% the percentage difference is about 5%?

That translate to 5-10 pupils in the year cohort? What does that entails? Some pupil may have a bad day? Some pupil may really want to take a particular subject but it is not really for him/her?
Some school more embrace SEN pupils than others? Some school takes pupils that naturally gifted at maths but struggle with English while other school is less tolerance about it?

This is awesome - thank-you so much for taking the time to screenshot and upload them. That's really kind of you - I really appreciate it.

It's interesting that so many people are saying A Level results are less important than GCSE. Do you get pretty much the same rankings if you filter for Grade 9s at GCSE?

Thank-you for checking - it's much appreciated.