How important are exam results from previous years when choosing an independent school ?

[mtva]

The camp seems to be split. Some parents only send their kids to super competitive schools with great exam results and others don't pay as much attention to it and view the school more as a whole.

What's the best thing to do ? If you're paying for their education, should you only focus on top achieving schools and their results ? Or will the pressure be enormous for them ?

It's hard to know what to do when they're just 4.

Any advice ?

We did the 7+ and got our first choice (top 10). Although we did get an offer from the top 5 we chose one that offers both excellent academic and pastoral care. We looked at the whole package rather than results only.

There is a huge correlation between intake and results- if a school creams off the top 1% of the 11+ then you’ve got a pretty good chance of getting almost 100% A at A level even if you just follow a Ming vase strategy, but it doesn’t follow that any child put into that school would also get all A and that the school is actually the main reason for those results. Additionally you need to consider if your child would thrive with the competition or have a mental collapse if they’re the bottom of the top 1% ( because it can be hard for kids to realise that their school is in no way representative of general population)

What you’re really paying for is value add but that is hard to measure in the independent sector. Bit moot for me because mine are not top 1% kids but I think I’m any event I’d prefer a broader academic intake.