key stage 2 results table- Is value added misleading ?

[wintertimes]

Hello, I'm new to the english school system so I need some help understanding the result tables. I have one problem understanding how Value added effects the final results. I have a practical example.:
There is a primary school in my area that has always been regarded by the local middle class mothers as "awful". By the look of it, it does look a bit "rough" ei: school stuff smoking at the gates, majority of kids are of different ethnical backgrounds ( and I know this is what some middle class mothers consider " rough") and there are a lot of free school meals.
I was surprised when the key stage 1 results showed 100% maths, 100% english and 32.1 avarage point score.
The school I had planned to send my dd to had lower results ( 84% maths, 76% english, 27.7 avarage).
So now my question is: Does the " bad " school perform well because it has a very high adde value given by the fact that the starting point was very low?I want to send my dd to a school with real good results, not good because the starting point was very low and then they got better.
Social or ethnical background is not a concern to me
Thanks

What about the KS2 results, OP?

They are more important.

Is your child academically below average? If so, you might want a school with a high added value.

Kids who are reasonably bright will do fine anyway.

Realistically, looking at results or value added tells you nothing about whether the school will suit your child and allow them to reach their potential.

Visit both, discuss your dd with the school ( does she have sn, what are their policies on sn -often the schools that are looked down on have great sn facilities) is she working above national average, in which case how does the school cater for more able pupils (this is sometimes an area where schools in deprived areas struggle)

Is she very shy? Does she make friends easily? Can you walk to school?

You can pick up a lot just by walking around and seeing whether you think your child would 'fit' in the school.

Fwiw, we were told by a ht not to send our dc's to a particular school, because although they could cater for them academically, the peer group had a number of issues that would make the social side v difficult (they were coming out of special measures and were working v hard on behavior management). So she told me to try some other schools and maybe come back in a few years.

Dd1 did y1 in a school where English was the first language for maybe 30% of the pupils, and most children turned up speaking no English at all. They had a great eal programme and the facilities and results were amazing.

Just go and visit and consider the setting in terms of your individual requirements for a school. Results mean nowt, really. Not on an individual level.

The added value scores can be fairly meaninglesss. Take for example a one form entry school, initial scores fairly good, but in fairly affluent area, so some children leave at yr 3 to go to private schools, places are taken by parents not happy with their child's progress at other schools, but their levels of attainment at yr 3 are not the same as those who passed 7+ exams for private schools. When the ks2 results at the end of yr6 are then compared with the results from the original cohort, the improvements may not seem as great because you are not comparing the same children, even though all of the children might have progressed well. Likewise the school which lost children might look better because they lost their weaker students who went to the first school, so their average score in yr 6 is higher than it might have been.

As the previous poster said the best that you can do is visit both of the schools, think which place will help your child the most and where you think they would fit in and be happy.

The scores you quoted aren't the value add. They're the raw scores. An average of 32.1 is far better than 27.7 - and is a very good score.

100%, means 100% of kids got a L4. They taught 100% of kids to read and write. Again it's nothing to do with value add.

The value add score is a number close to 100. (Not a percentage though)