How much did Oxbridge percentage effect your choice of school?

[JuiceBoxMonster]

Just that really.
What did influence your decision?

We have just started looking at senior schools for ds1 but it's still early days and we're trying to decide what exactly it is we're looking for.

None whatsoever as neither of my children are Oxbridge bound. (dd has been told she is of the right calibre but she wants to train to be a dancer instead).

Not at all.
I was interested in seeing if the school sent any children to University and which ones, though I was never really so interested in sixth form/A Levels when picking a secondary school, on the basis my children might well go to a different school/sixth form anyway.

Not the percentage. I did want a school from which leavers went on to a whole range of destinations, including oxbridge, so did check the school had had at least 1 student get in in recent years. I also wanted a school where leavers went on to do a wide range of things - trad uni courses, applied uni course, modern apprenticeships, armed forces, art colleges etc so selected on breadth more than anything.

Oxbridge as a destination is not the be all and end all of education; I should know, I went there (and am also a teacher in a secondary school!).

Look at all destinations if this is important to you: high quality apprenticeships alongside university places.

Not at all or we wouldn't have sent her to the place she went.

Themajority of schools in my area don't have 6th forms so it woulodn;t have been overly relevant anyway.

I was not bothered about the percentage to Oxbridge.

But I had DC who were clever at 11 and I wanted schools with a big enough cohort of clever kids to ensure they did feel not different, would be encouraged to develop their academic talents and would not get bullied.
(I say this as a product of a school in which non of the above applied)

For Y7 entry you really need to look at GCSE results.
We did choose a school with a sixth form because going on to A levels was likely, but you have to bear in mind that for most schools you have to put in a new application for sixth form.
I would ask how many dcs stay on in the sixth form and how many move elsewhere. Some schools have higher entry requirements for taking A levels than others and some inflate their results by "managing" out pupils who are underperforming so that's why you have to be careful about choosing schools purely on results.

We wanted a good balance of pupils with different abilities.
Good teaching
Good pastoral care.
High standards for behaviour.
Wide range of GCSE options.

Lots of really good points and things to look for here. Thank you.

On a similar note. How important are Russell group uni's?

Neither dh nor I were educated in Britain so it's all a bit overwhelming.

I had a quick look but it certainly didn’t play any part in our decision. Like the poster above we wanted to see a wide range of options post 18, not just a string of Oxbridge medics. The school we have chosen has a strong track record of children going to Russell Group Universities, top art, fashion and music colleges, straight into training schemes e.g. accountancy and a few taking a gap year.

To be honest, having a great careers advisor and university advice in house at the school actually feels more important. It shows they invest time in meeting the needs of the individual as opposed to Oxbridge being the end all.

There are also an increasing number of students heading to the USA for university, particularly from the top independents. Wycombe Abbey, for example, has a staff member dedicated to supporting those making US university applications. Another school we visited had recently had a female student accepted on an engineering apprenticeship with the F1 McLaren team.

Look that a school covers all bases for your child’s next steps.

Again, and especially if you think your child may be academically inclined, I'd be suspicious of a school with 6th form where no leaver ever goes on to a Russell group destination. That said there are a lot of excellent degrees on offer at newer institutions. I'm also not one to sneer at media studies/equine studies/golf studies courses given how much money there are in these industries.

I'd look at value added/Progress 8 scores (how well the kids do compared to predictions on entry - better indicator of good teaching than raw results) and GCSE results - they might go anywhere for 6th form; Ofsted ratings on behaviour (hard to concentrate if everyone is playing up); look at the website and Twitter feed to get a feel for enrichment activities on offer; and go to the school open days and talk to the kids showing you around about what they think of the school.

And be mindful of shifting sands - a previous school of DCs had something like a 25% Oxbridge entrance rate, broadly spread across all disciplines, when they joined some 14 yrs ago. It's now way less than half of that. In addition, there's a general marked skew towards Medicine & STEM. To be fair, you'd likely see less of a shift in 5-7 years, but the point remains, that things change.

Totally agree with a PP - look closely at GCSEs - not the banner headlines on glossy websites, but the detailed grades by subject. This will give you a good sense of what's going on. Plenty of time then to move (as necessary/ desired), at 16.

tl:dr - DD went to an almost brand new 6th form with no Oxbridge stats and it worked out great.

My DD and DS did their GCSEs at a British School overseas. As we also have a home in NW London and they had both attended academic NW London private schools before we moved (they were aged 8 and 6) , our first thought was we'd try to get them back into that system at aged 16 since, yes, the Academic NW London schools do have very good Oxbridge rates.

DD sat for 4 private schools and was rejected by all 4. We looked at less academic schools and tutorial colleges as an alternative and she was offered places. The week after GCSE results day we decided to research some of new London Sixth Form academies that had recently opened. None had full A Level results (so no Oxbridge stats). Some had their 1st cohort of good AS results. We decided to take a chance and she started in the 2nd cohort. She didn't apply to Oxbridge but her cohort had 14 out of 65 (23%) of the students get confirmed Oxbridge places.

DD's value added results comparing GCSEs to A Level were several points higher than expected and she's at a great Russell Group Uni that is top 5 for her chosen course.

Of course DS is now at the same 6th form and I encourage London friends to consider these new 6th form academies.

When friends ask for advice on schools (London schools research is something of a secret hobby of mine😏) I tell them to look at the A star/A percentages, the Value added scores, either from KS2 to GCSE or from GCSE to A Level, and the University destinations. These 3 things as well as visiting the school will give you a good idea as to whether a school will fit your and your child's ambitions.

I have never thought to look this up.
(I really do not fit in on MN).