Independent prep schools - ranking

[jasperc163]

Can anyone tell me how academic performance of these is ranked? I saw the Sunday Times Parent Power tables on another thread but it doesnt mention the school i was keen on at all! Is this the definitive guide or are there others?

thanks alot

At primary stage, the Parent Power tables rank on SATS, primarily. Lots of independent primaries don't do SATS, so there isn't any ranking information so they just don't appear at all.

Good Schools Guide is your source for info on those.

I'm not sure the rankings are helpful because they seem to be based on SATS results which many of them don't actually do ... So for instance DD's school doesn't feature on those parentpower league tables whereas DS's does.

Thanks both - i did think it odd that the school in question didn't appear anywhere at all!
Will investigate good schools guide.

It appears no review (though obviously listed) in Good Schools Guide either :-(

Why not post a query about the school you are thinking about and see if any MNers in the area can tell you more about it?

Actually ... independent schools which do do SATS sometimes do them as a selling tactic (because, of course, it is not overly difficult to get a specially good set of results when you've got selective entry and small classes).

So, with some cynical hindsight based on my own experience, I might be a bit wary of primary independents which appear in Parent Power.

Is it part of, what's it called, ISIC? They run inspections which are in the same format as the Ofsted ones, so you get quite a good view of the school that way. However, it's not as easy a comparative exercise as league tables or GSG.

Yes really not bothered about sats or not but just would like some way of getting an idea of academic performance alongside all the more touchy feely stuff and general feeling for the place that i would find out when looking round etc.

ISIS is the independent schools inspectorate. I think all or most independent schools are inspected by this august body. The reports are about as useful as Ofsted reports, which is to say not very ...

A good test of academic performance is where children go on to (assuming the school you're considering is prep only) - then you can look at the follow-on schools' league table positions. That will tell you a lot about how well prepared the prep children are for what level of academics at secondary.

Prep schools are always keen to tell you where their children go on to.

My son's school doesn't feature because they don't do SATs.

Good Schools Guide is excellent BUT coverage is quite patchy with prep schools.

The one ds is going to is very good imho (academically and all-round) but still doesn't feature.

As others have said some independent preps don't do SATS so aren't 'league tabled'.

Most round here do.

Remember that the Parent Power tables use different Sats Levels for private and state primaries so it makes comparisons tricky. I think the preps are tabled based on level 5 scores and the state primaries on level 4.

Parent Power tables definitely not the definitive guide to academic perfromance. Usually good prep schools will not just tell you which schools their pupils went onto but also which other schools they also applied to and got into. Locally the academic KPI seems to be the number of pupils obtaining fee reductions at the next school.

I would be very wary of SATS based league tables as there seems to be odd rules about how out of year pupils are treated (who are more common in the independent sector).

Leavers' destinations definitely the starting point, and make sure you read between the lines - eg a non selective prep gettting children into a range of schools including the top ones is imo adding more educational value than a selective one which might on the face of it have a stronger set of leavers' destinations.

Thanks everyone. Alphabetsoup - how on earth do they 'select' at the age of 4/5? I have no idea how academic / or non academic my 3yr old daughter is going to be!

We had a thread on this but I couldn't find it. Most prep schools select at around the age of 3/4 depending on when you are entering the system. It's just through some structured play. No need to worry about it. They just take your DC away and (in my case) chat to them while they cut out shapes and play with sand. It does work though.

Good luck

Multiple multiple threads on selection ... it's a MN perennial.

They're looking for teachability - which is not difficult to identify, at 3 or even before. Teachability means quickness to pick up on and follow an adult's direction - non-scratchiness around other children - flexibility in switching from one activity to another - bright eyes & bushy tails. It doesn't mean knowing all their letters/writing their names/being able to read/naming x no. of dinosaurs.

My childrens schools not on this list either because no SATS

IMHO one factor to look at is "do they actually PREPARE the child to get to the senior school of parental choice". THis is what a Preparatory school is for. If they have a 100% record then great. If considerably lower then you have to wonder if either they are not steering the child towards the appropriate senior school for that child (always bearing in mind there will be some parents who will not listen to good advice and insist little Jemima WIll get in to that highly selective London day school and subsequently fail and therefore upset the statistics!)or that they are not doing their job in doing the right work to ensure the exams can be passed.

To my mind the whole point about handing over your cheque each term is that you get to chose exactly what you're after.
For some that will be highly academic, for others, nurturing. Some of us will want nowt to do with the NC others will be happy for their school to follow it. Green space will be the clincher for some parents
League tables based on SATs won't therefore tell you much unless your child's results in the SATs are all that's important to you.

Exactly--for me, it was access to lots of music and sport which was the clincher: I wanted a broader curriculum than the state school could provide. I wanted my son to be somewhere where learning musical instruments wasn't 'uncool'.

Message withdrawn

Jasperc163 - were you just looking at the top 250? Have you checked with the school to see if they do SATS? There are a lot of prep schools that do SATS but are not listed because they are not in the top 250......

thanks - yes need to check if they do sats at all but have to say have seen no mention of it (as you say, if they do do sats and are outside of top 250 then thats another issue entirely)

Abraid - yes totally agree re music, sports etc