What Happened to Sevenoaks School's exam performance?

[NoYouJustDidnt]

From top 10 nationally in independent school league tables to 29th in 2024 results. Can you imagine paying £65k a year for that 😵 https://atomlearning.com/blog/top-private-schools-in-uk?srsltid=AfmBOor3hRTV8RHF6d7cULc2EVha24qv2VmPtbjETw2pyAqGxFqNGaVR

Sevenoaks School
96.1% getting A* to B grades at A Level
86.4% getting 7-9 grades at GCSE

Dreadful, appalling, how can parents sleep at night for fear their child is at a school with results like that?

Especially given that, unless something has changed since my sibling was there, Sevenoaks only put their weaker students in for A levels and everyone else does the IB.

The margins in league tables are often extremely slim. Results haven't dropped significantly and often cohorts are different. Tbh this post just feels like click bait.

This is an odd thread.
Sevenoaks only offer IB at 6th form, it's a leading global IB school.
It states on the website that of 245 students who took IB this year, 11 achieved 45 points - which is exceptional.

Dear Lord. Only 29th in the country. How can those parents sleep at night?

Sevenoaks is a wonderful school, it might be a blip honestly. Unless its consistent (over 5 years) I would not worry.

It's much better than nearly all other coed schools in the UK. Come on now get real. Top 5 coed in uk imo def.

Absolutely agree.
I'm past the school stage and my DC went to state schools anyway so no skin in the game, but this doesn't sound like a real concern to me.
It's the same with University league tables. If all you look at is the league position some perfectly good institutions don't look great, but if you look at the actual data there are often minimal differences across quite large numbers of places.

League tables have their uses but they don’t tell the whole story and you do need to look beyond the headline figures. If I had a child at this school and they were thriving I wouldn't be losing any sleep over its position in this table.

The Atom Learning ranking is interesting. It is clearly not based on A levels (%Astar/B) alone, as Brighton College at 99.3% is ranked below St Paul's School at 98%. It is clearly not based on GCSEs (% Astar/A/9/87) alone, as King’s College School, Wimbledon at 98.6% is ranked below Brighton College at 94.7%. And it can't be based on any combination of the two as Guildford High School at 98% and 97.2% is ranked below North London Collegiate School at 96.9% and 96.3%. Even if you think these numbers are relevant, it doesn't look like the rankings reflect them.

Gently, maybe you have a little too much time on your hands. Perhaps find a hobbie?!

I find it useful to read beyond the headlines. You might try it sometime.

96.1% of pupils got A*-B in A levels. That's higher than Henrietta Barnett school which only admits incredibly bright, heavily tutored children.

They also have amazing extra-curricular opportunities.

Very odd post OP

It also looks like it's only 65K if you enter for sixth form and board.

@jetlag92, Sevenoaks only offers IB for 6th form.

I expect that the OP is being funny.

More generally, though, people send their children to schools like Sevenoaks because of more than the exam results. School has to be more than that - exam results are a byproduct of what they achieve. Otherwise it isn’t really an education.

I clicked on that link. The IB results are still top of the top. Something appears to have gone wrong with the GCSE cohort just that year. That would be my reading of it. Perhaps one poor exam result in one type of exam for a lot of kids?

Cardiff Sixth Form College seems to be more of an anomaly on that table.

If you google it you realise they do a one year intensive course and that explains it. However, it would otherwise be one of the top. Has been for A levels for many years.
Statistics only tell party of the story.

Yes they had a problem with English language and English literature gcse when they changed exam board and the teachers didn't teach the mark scheme. I'm not a parent so don't know the exact details.

@sailingsunshine - could that be the same for Alleyns and the Perse possibly too then?

https://www.alleyns.org.uk/userfiles/alleynsschoolmvc/documents/Inspection%20Files/Results%20Breakdown/2024/GCSEResults-2024.pdf

This is what I mean. I wonder if they used the same English board.

Both Sevenoaks and Alleyns have stringent entry criteria at 11 plus and the kids passing are greater depth English, the very large majority. So for them to end up with a 6 in English language is anomalous. Sounds like an exam board issue. I mean it does not happen in state schools like this. 49 kids out of 155 intake at Alleyns got less than a 7 in English language, all entering at a very high level.

I reckon perhaps more recourse in a state school because they have hard data.

@Araminta1003 , the school moved from one English qualification to a GCSE and the teaching wasn't adapted for the exam board. The school dealt with it directly with the exam board. I'm not a parent and can't remember any more but it shows how the teaching of curriculums has to be exactly as the exam board would like regardless of the academic ability of the cohort.

Lot's of these exams boards are tick box exercises. I found languages at school awful for example. For example, those who used x amount of subjunctives in a french essay got A* at A level. Put them in a cafe in Paris. They'd fall after sentence 3. And those who were fluent but didn't use the trite school french which literally no one uses in France anyway got a b. Odd.

It’s true and our grammar schools have been good at teaching to the test/doing loads of mocks/mini tests and they are working with a similar ability cohort but far far less resources than your Alleyns or Sevenoaks so really these schools should be able to teach to the test and extend the kids into extracurricular/further thinking, otherwise what are the parents paying extra for?

No sarcasm needed.
Obviously Sevenoaks IB grades have been converted into a level equivalents for comparison...

Total justification for sarcasm given how inane your statement was. 🙄

Thanks to those who intelligently engaged with the post instead of just throwing shade. Honestly expected better from Mumsnetters...

The following results seem to be referenced across the internet:

• 2022: Avg 40.3 points, 13 students scored 45 points, 60%+ got 40+ points

• 2023: Avg 39.0, 5 students scored 45 points, 57% got 40+ points

• 2024: Avg 39.6, 8 students scored 45, 61% got 40+ points

• 2025: Avg 39.1, 11 students scored 45, 50%+ got 40+ points

Still very strong results, but a clear dip since 2022 and by the looks of the 2025 results, Sevenoaks will again slip in the 2025 table - once published.

So, has the reduction then removal of monetary value scholarships over the last few years and the leadership change made a difference? Is Sevenoaks still attracting the large numbers of top-end students it used to?

Sevenoaks is still a top IB school, no question. But the slide in performance numbers makes you wonder if the shine has dulled a bit.