Parent power 2023

Even looking for a secondary schools academic records, I won't bother to look at A level scores at all. Because we would not start considering my DCs sixth form in 4 years time. By then if we do, probably consider together with other state or private sixth form college.

It doesn’t work on a phone, but you can do it on a laptop

@puffyisgood if you click on the arrow at the top of each column, the table is sorted by that column.

@LondonMum20222 see attached, sorted by A star

I’ve had a look at the paper copy this morning.

I think it’s pretty helpful to be honest, for me anyway. The schools in the north east are apparently so crap that they can’t even pull together a list of 20, as for most of the other regions. I would agree, the only secondary school my son could get into (based on feeder school) was in special measures the year before.

I wonder what proportion of children from this region make it to university? Any clever people know how I can access that information?

re your request I don't think you can redo the tables like that, you have to drill down on an individual school to see anything other than A* -B

yeah, these rankings are meaningless crap for the reasons already covered: (1) what parents really want to know is how likely a child of a given starting attainment level is to do well, league tables which correlate almost perfectly with starting attainment tell us nothing; and (less importantly) (2) an A* grade and a B grades are light years apart.

I've just bought the Sunday Times, and agree with earlier posters that the paper-based rankings are completely useless. A*-B is of no help whatsoever in distinguishing one school from another (which is why there are so few % points between any of the schools). B grades at A Level tell you nothing!

I don't have a Times subscription, but if anyone does, and can post a screenshot of the indie school rankings according to A or A-A, that would be much appreciated.

But yes, overall I agree with @LondonGirl83 that the rankings are crude. I'd much rather see value-added rankings (from assessments in Year 7 to Year 11 and then Year 13). But even then, it's still primarily the culture of the school that matters...

@AnonForThisPost I have no problem with knowing a schools results. I have a child attending a very academically selective school and she needs a school with a cohort that is high achieving and schools should have their results available and be accountable.

My issue is this very crude ranking process which doesn’t really tell anyone anything useful in addition to what the individual school results do already. It doesn’t even take progress data into account much less nuance the data based on factors such as if there isn’t automatic entry into the sixth form, if they cull students who aren’t keeping up or have SEN issues etc.

Parents and by proxy head teachers become obsessed with the wrong thing and start to see children in their care who are in need of support as ‘league table liabilities’. It’s toxic and it’s rife in the state and private sector.

I say this as a parent of a very academic child who is doing well in a top private school. But the entire system transforms the nature of the relationship between schools and pupils in education that I (and educators agree) is totally appalling.

Having a crude ranking (vs individual school performance which has been available for some time via the DfE along with other relevant data) have any influence on school choice becomes only about competitive elitism.

The impression within education is that the summer of 22 A level results were more generous than the exam boards had indicated they would be, ie nearer to 2021 rather than between 2019 and 2021.

@LondonMum20222 officially they were supposed to be aiming for half way between 2019 results and 2021 TAGs, with 2023 back to pre-TAG levels. But for the top schools the results do look better than that.

Wasn't it the case that A Levels were still marked somewhat leniently last year (given all the disruption those pupils had faced over the previous two years) and that things won't shake down reliably in terms of results for another year or two? The jump in the number of schools getting over 50% A* (from 3 to 29, quoted above) must be indicative of that?

Good points. Take a look at the SPGS A-level Physics results this year, off-the-charts.

I’d take the private school stats with a massive pinch of salt given what happened with TAGs in many during the Covid years

amp.theguardian.com/education/2022/feb/06/labour-seeks-inquiry-into-huge-jump-in-top-grade-a-levels-at-private-schools

@mondaytosunday I completely understand that if your DD is at FHSS, you don't want to be reading negative things about it online, and obviously this year's results are very impressive. But to respond to two of your points: there's very little correlation in London between numbers of people going on tours of a school and a school's desirability. Every parent I know is visiting c.10-15 schools, just out of curiosity in many cases, but only intending to apply to 4-5. It's simply part of due diligence when you're making such a big decision. Ditto, number of applicants is no real litmus test either: there's plenty of chat on here this year about the fact that applications across the boards have skyrocketed, with people applying to an increasing number of schools. The more interesting statistic is a school's offer:acceptance ratio; at the top schools, hardly anyone turns down offers, whereas other schools often offer 2:1, and keep a long waitlist, knowing that a high proportion of their offers will be turned down.

Yes, it's impressive that FHSS have shot up the A Level rankings this year, but I'd read very little into that until there are at least three or four more years to judge that on. A school's consistency is more important than one rogue year, good or bad.

I very much agree with @LondonGirl83 that the culture of a school is significantly more important than the raw results (as I've said on many other threads on here, a bright child will get the same results at any of these schools. It's purely a question of where they'll be happiest). FHSS doesn't, unfortunately, have a great reputation culturally within the London girls' private school scene, and it is the case that at my DD's prep, it is the back-up school that people go to rather reluctantly, if all else fails.

I am surprised that Winchester College is nowhere near the top 30 and even Eton is ranked higher….

@LondonGirl83 I agree league tables are only part of the story, and my post was not intended to suggest otherwise. And of course it is essential that you pick the school that suits the child you have. But if you do have very bright DC and academics are important to you and them, then it is a useful piece of information.

Also, as I said before, I have not seen weaker DC being forced out of the top 10 school I know well. On the contrary, they are given a lot of support to get the grades the school aspires to for all pupils.

Finally, it is really not just about the cohort. While of course selection is a very big factor, it is not the only one. There are definitely some schools that punch above their weight - and indeed some below - when you compare how selective they are able to be to their league table positions.

@AnonForThisPost there is bunching at the top. However, this tells you more about the cohort than about the teaching or how well your child is likely to do at the school while equally creating a perverse incentive to force out rather than support children who are struggling for any variety of reasons.

Looking at league tables as a primary tool to select schools is very flawed and even the schools themselves recognise this and have railed against it but are stuck in the system.

I still find it astounding that Epsom College failed an ISI compliance report on safeguarding and bullying issues in December 2021 and was then named Independent School of the year by the Independent Schools awards in October 2022 plus winning the Student Welfare Award!

We are very keen on fhss for year 7, but the new league tables have me slightly worried that there is weeding out at the top. Have you heard or seen this? Also, how did school respond to the safeguarding issues?

Ahem. This year's national A Level results won't actually be published until Feb 2023, so I don't know what the Times are basing their stats on. 🧐
educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/06/22/were-changing-the-way-we-present-school-and-college-results-data-this-year-what-you-need-to-know-about-performance-tables/

If you have online access to the Times you can sort the schools by A level A star only, or A star A, or just focus on GCSEs (9/8/7). They have GCSE 9/8 in the details for each school, but annoyingly not one the summary table, as that would be interesting too.

The top 3 (SPGS, SPS and KCS) remain in the top 5 on all criteria except GCSE, and in the top 6 (KCS) at GCSE. I really don’t think, as suggested, that the sole reason Kings do so well is the inclusion of girls in 6th Form.

I also had a look at the top 10 in 2019; 6 of the 10 are still there - so at the very top there is not actually much movement year to year.

I have very good experience of one of the top 10 schools, and while there is some movement after GCSEs, it’s almost entirely personal choice by the pupils, and not a weeding out by the school.

Whichever criterion you use, there is some bunching - there are 8 schools whose A star percentage is between 59.1 and 63.1, for example. So there is a bit of randomness to the exact order, and anyone using the tables sensibly would know that.

One interesting observation: Percentage A stars are way up. SPGS had 52% in 2019 and was one of only 3 schools with a percentage greater than 50. This year SPGS has 75% (!) A star, and 29 schools had a percentage above 50. Suggests the marks were rather closer to the teacher assessed grades than the pre-Covid levels.

The other point of interest is the fall in rankings of the top boarding schools - not just Eton, but Wycombe Abbey and Winchester too. Perhaps more an indication of societal change and attitudes towards boarding than anything else?

I don’t know the specific details of the FHSS inspection, although the reports are fairly detailed. I do understand the ISI inspection regime and have seen it up (very) close - they are fairly invasive, IME. I have also have had children in schools under it. I’m surprised when parents shrug and go “oh well” when their children’s school fails, especially re safeguarding issues (not saying you are, BTW). Reports from 2017 aren’t really relevant for 2022.

No axe to grind at all re that school. But as a parent I would be more focussed on the ISI report failure than the Times award.

The devil is in the details - and we don't know what they are (or do you)? In the 2021 report it seemed to suggest they weren't up on the very latest training in terms of prompt reporting to the LADO but says this was addressed. This also doesn't mean they failed in any given case. But I don't know. The previous full inspection in 2017 they were rated 'excellent' in educational and personal development.

Yes, the “most recent inspection” was a specific response to failing the last one. So good to know they passed that. Failing on “statutory safeguarding” issues is sort of a big deal. But, hey, the A level results are good.