Girls vs boys results - how big a gap is usual?

[100greenbottles]

I've been looking at the secondary schools data in my area and am naively shocked at some of the differences in boys' and girls' performance at GCSE. One school, for example, has a 10-15% gap in the proportions getting 5 GCSES incl Maths; another is almost equal. All are inner-city, most with very high levels of disadvantaged pupils, with generally average results overall. Are these kind of gaps usual?

Are the schools big enough for the results to be meaningful? One of our local schools only has about 90 pupils per year, so a few brighter boys/girls each year can make quite a difference.

Yes, they're big- 150-250 size. I know overall results don't really tell you anything about your own kid, but I do wonder how it transfers into school culture.

Based on the 2015 results about 90% of schools have better results for girls than boys. Haven't delved into the 'range' of the differences, e.g. in the 10% of schools is it that they are progressing the boys or neglecting the girls or a combination of the two.
Certainly a factor to consider when choosing a Secondary school if you have a DS.

If in a rough area, gangs are probably a factor? Boys being more likely to skip school and hang around on the streets?

No idea but first thing that came to mind.

I would also surmise that the move away from CAs to purely exams would narrow the gap, or even possibly swap it around.

Nationally 52.3% of boys passed English and 68.2% of girls. If you're looking at 5A*-C incl maths and English you would therefore expect a higher pass rate for girls.

Schools who have an equal pass rate, it would be worth digging deeper- are the boys overachieving in English compared to nationally? Or are girls underachieving?

Great questions - I'm not sure if you can dig that deep into individual topic results. I think it's interesting how these figures are not at all at the front of the data provided. And it will be interesting to see how it pans out with the changes in format. Many universities have moved away from all-exams precisely to avoid disadvantaging girls.