Would you be happy if you child was allocated a place at a senior school that........

[HRHQueenOfQuotes]

had these statistics

% of 15 year old pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*-C - 2002 26%
% of 15 year old pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*-C - 2003 24%
% of 15 year old pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*-C - 2004 27%
% of 15 year old pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*-C - 2005 19%

I have a few friends whose older children go to the school these stats are taken from (found them as a result of the thread elsewhere on MN today about siblings and schools). I was really shocked at how bad those sound - yet some of my friends were really pleased when their children got places at this school!!

The next 'best' school local to be had 46% getting A-C in 2005, and the 'best' had 58% for the same period........the school I hope to get DS1 into when he's old enough averaged out at 88% for the last 5yrs

How can people actually be happy with schools like that - I'm genuinely shocked that parents can settle for such poor school and not demand improvements!

peer pressure is sooooooooooooo important

And of course some children with thrive anywhere, pretty much.

Thanks HRH

I have shown it to DH and he says the results for his school are sooooooooooo deffo WRONG

EVERY CHILD HAS HAD AT LEAST 8 A* - C for as many years as he has got the results tables for

So basically there is some fiddling of numbers in those tables somehow

So don't believe them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kanga - I think they say 15 because they are all 15 at the beginning of the school year, they are not necessarily all 16 by the time GCSE's start - those with birthdays at the end of August could be just 15 & 9 months when they take their first GCSE

Yes when DH looked at the results we realised that is what they meant

BUT it is the results that are WRONG

I can prove it by looking at the result tables from DH school

it should be 100% but on the website it is WRONG

So don't believe them !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RTKM, Do they do igcse's in some subjects at your dh's school? If so, those results might not be counted & would reduce the figures.

What are igcse's ????

I have just asked DH and they have just started doing the IGCSE in MAths

But basically all the boys get at least 8 GCSEs A* - C

Most of them get 9 or 10 A* - C GCSE

international GCSE's. Similar to the normal ones, but usually with less coursework - ie. more traditional. Designed for overseas students, but lots of private schools do them now as they prefer the syllabii. That does skew their leaque table results though as the government don't count them. Universities do though.

crossed posts. Doesn't look like that's the answer then if it's just maths. & sorry about grocer's apostrophies.

should that have been grocers'?

IMHO there is some fiddling going on somewhere

Stats can say anything if you change them the right way

But when the results come out each year in August there would be questions asked if it wasn't 100% of them getting 5 A* - C

So there is something wrong with the website

So check with individual schools rather than checking on that site

I have got the table for 2005 and it is

Cumulative %

A* = 47.4%
A = 84.9%
B = 97.3%
C = 100%

This is what it says on the site:

% of 15 year old pupils achieving 5 or more grades A*-C - 2005 97%

WHY?????????

So take it with a pinch of salt

@ 's or s' or s

ooooooooooops sorry for hijack HRH

19% is stunningly low however, and it agrees with the figures on the bbc site too, so I guess it at least is not wrong. I would be very concerned.

"ahh - but Lady - that 'failing' school - only about 6-7yrs ago was a pretty decent school (so one could say what good has Labour done in that it's gone downhill so rapidly???)"

Er, pushed parental choice, encouraged parental paranoia, introduced specialist schools and so created more bog-standard (ha!) schools. It's not so much what Labour has done to this school, it's what it has done to other schools.

Very weird

I would check with the school you are interested in before believing those STATISTICS

No it is still wrong

ALL boys get 100% A* - C

They get this result in AT LEAST 8 SUBJECTS

Most of them get it in 9 or 10 subjects depending which science option they do

SO 100% get A* - C in 8 subjects

The website is only expecting them to get 5 GCSE which is soooooooooo far below what they will get at DH school

THey ALWAYS get 8 or more GCSE passes with grades higher than C

Are there any doing it a year early? They don't count those.

Yes some do FRENCH and Maths

BUT that won't make any difference because the website is only talking about getting 5 GCSEs and so the ones that do GCSEs early will still get

AT LEAST 6 GCSEs passes A* - C

And they are not influencing the results from the school data because it only considers the actual exams done that year. ie the ones in year 11 in 2005

DH is going to talk to the Exam officer after half term to tell her what is being put out on the www

The BBC website has the same data so probably from the same source

PLEASE take it with a pinch of salt

It is deffo NOT true for all the schools.

HRHQueenOfQuotes have not read all the posts, am just posting my immediate reactions.

The school I teach in has results similar to those, we are one of the lowest performing school s in terms of GCSE's in our town, following the advice of some education big wig ( whose name I can't remember!) we should be classed as a failing school and shut down. But when it comes to value added we are one of the best and we are doing a good job for the community we teach, so it is a mistake to judge a school solely by examination results. Sadly many of our parents are disinterested ( last year we called a meeting with all parents after a few complaints about the school and one turned up out of over 500 families!) but luckliy we have dedicated staff that do strive to improve year on year.

Mnay of our parenst to be honest do not choose to come here we tend to gets the kids whose parents couldn't be arsed looking around other schools, kids who have been expelled from elsewhere or transient families, but that is changing as our reputation is improving. Parents choose us because we are a small school and offer vocational oppurtunities not offered elsewhere until post 16. So I suppose I am saying that some families and some children are happy with a school like that.