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Original poster

Choosing school - ideal % of grades A* and A at GCSE?

79 replies

Cortina · 03/10/2009 07:27

Just musing and looking at possible schools going forward.

What % of grades A* and A would you look for ideally at GCSE?

I know that there are many other ways of judging schools and that statistics can be skewed, plus it also depends on subjects taken & numbers of pupils taking exams. But if you were just looking at this first in isolation as an academic yardstick.

They are 60% at A/A, 87.8% A/A, 51% A*/A.

Two are selective schools, the school with 51% A*/A is non selective.

Interested what % would ring alarm bells/worry you possibly?

It seems to me if you love the school and it fits the bill for your child you'd want to put your child in the school that had the best academic track record?

It's a few years yet for us - secondary school - but I am surprised by how much the numbers/pass rates etc vary.

Thanks.

OP posts:
Quattrocento · 03/10/2009 14:36

I said nothing whatsoever about the people attending the schools. I do think that a school that achieves around 40% a-c at gcse is unimpressive. If it is a criticism, it is a criticism of the schools. Set their sights too low IMO. Just been looking at a maths gcse paper and anyone getting less than an A* must be close to having special needs. Or very badly taught.

defineme · 03/10/2009 14:30

No it's not unimpressive quattro - do you think everyone is capable of academic exam sucess and those that aren't are worthless?
What do you think comprehensive means?

Quattrocento · 03/10/2009 14:27

When I was looking for schools I did take this into account because it was a relevant factor

My basic level was 100% A-C and somewhere 75%+ for A and A*.

And yes these numbers are hugely variable between schools. The average state comp gets around 40-45% A-C. Pretty unimpressive.

Bionda · 03/10/2009 14:16

First of all you should remember that the % only reflects exam results and nothing else about the school. For this reason the Value Added Score (available on the BBC school's website) is a good guide - it tells you how the school caters for everyone.Selective schools will naturally always have higher results since they select their intake on an academic basis, just like a, say, football school would score highly on matches one. When an inner city state school has very high scores research shows that this is a strong indicator of how many of the kids are tutored privately outside of school so that's another reason %s aren't a good indicator of what the school is providing. Proximity to your home and all the benefits that adds - nearby friends, local safety etc. should heavily inform your choice too, I think. We've sent our kids to local schools neither of which are the highgest scoring in the area, albeit good, and they're doing very well and are bright and engaged with learning.