Worst set of GCSE results possible at private school (really)?

[Vanguard121]

At DS’s inde boys who are less academically able but good at sports have the option to study for a sports BTEC, on the proviso they achieve Bs and Cs in their GCSEs/iGCSEs.

DS is on course to secure mostly A*s/As (and a few Bs) in his GCSEs. He’ll clear the benchmark for A-level study at the same school with some ease. But as for some of his friends… we’re not so sure.

But it got me thinking: what are the worst set of GCSE/iGCSE results ‘achieved’ at a selective inde or state grammar?

A friend’s DD achieved 4Bs 4Cs at another local inde a couple of years ago. She was distraught on results day but the school made no apologies, explaining that she had achieved far better results than she would have done at a Croydon comprehensive.

Still, I think of her poor parents after having shelled out 75 grand over 5 years…

Well before they lament the money they chose to spend, where is this girl now? And regardless of money invested, you can only grow daffodils from a daffodil bulb.

She squeaked into a local non-selective inde (The parents are absolutely militant against state education). Achieved CCD at A-level. Works up town in property sales.

She squeaked into a local non-selective inde (The parents are absolutely militant against state education). Achieved CCD at A-level. Works up town in property sales.

Well then you could argue her parents got the best education they could buy and she now has a job. Job done.

Somebody sued - and won - their child’s boarding school because he totally failed everything. It was all over the news at the time.

I’m sure the answer to your question is lots of kids totally fail everything at private schools.

@SaltyMyDear I went to that school

you can only grow daffodils from a daffodil bulb

Indeed. However, a daffodil bulb given plenty of water and light, planted in good soil, not overcrowded and kept at the right sort of temperature will probably do better than an identical bulb growing in less good conditions. I assume that's the logic.

Many parents are not keen to admit it but a big reason for sending their children to independent or selective schools is to ensure they mix mostly with children from similar backgrounds and acquire that self-assurance bordering on arrogance that can pay dividends later in life.

(We sent our children to independent schools for part of their secondary education and those weren't our reasons, but it would be hypocritical of me to say there were no social factors in our decision-making.)

Parents need to remember they are not buying grades when they send their child to independent schools whether selective or not - they are buying opportunities. It will still be down to the individual child to work for their grade and level of support they receive outside of school as to how successful they are in exam results terms.

I suspect the CCD A level indie student has picked up social skills and is confident in herself and this has landed her the job in uptown property sales. Indie schools offer so much more than grades (imo).

Surely if other kids who have sat in the same classrooms, being taught by the same teachers, have come away with straight As, the school can hardly be blamed if one particular child hasn't done well? Perhaps they just didn't engage with or revise the material, or were just lazier or not as able as their peers, no matter what score they may have got in one entry exam they sat on one day when they were 10 or 11.

Look to our own dear Royal family. They've had some shocking results over the years! .

Doesn’t happen often round these parts as the independent in our nearest city invite pupils and their parents in for a chat at how you ‘might like to find a school better suited to you’ before the common entrance exams . But then again, for competitive sport, they also have A team, B team and er, .....’card making’. I say card making in jest but they really don’t allow those who they deem not good enough to be in the sports teams that go out and compete with other schools.

royal family qualifications

Someone in my year at a state grammar school got no O levels. (You were expected to clear 5 out of 8, below a C was a fail) He had to stay on until the November retakes.

My dd got a stars and a s from a Croydon comp thank you very much.

Nobody sends their child private for the results. Whatever they tell you!

Yes, I find the ability of the Royal Family to get pretty rubbish results in the circumstances pretty baffling!

Dinglit,

Which one? Coloma? Coloma is the only school I would consider if we had a DD.

At the Croydon indes the children study for 10-12 GCSEs/iGCSEs. But here's the rub...

They're all academic/proper qualifications. Are all of your DS's qualifications academic? Be honest. We could never consider the Croydon comps because they are all creative with their results. AVCE (God knows what this is) has been included to boost the results year after year at at least one local comp in our area.

Indeed. However, a daffodil bulb given plenty of water and light, planted in good soil, not overcrowded and kept at the right sort of temperature...
Absolutely, but it will oy even be a daffodil, not an orchid. Not everyone is able to be an orchid / brain surgeon / rocket scientist / straight A* student

"We could never consider the Croydon comps because they are all creative with their results."

Really? How do they manage that?

Incidentally, I may be wrong, but I don't think AVCE has been around since the early 2000s. It was a vocational qualification- the sort of thing that we are sadly lacking now we are trying to make all kids jump through academic hoops regardless how suitable/useful they are for them.

No it was an academy, and yes they were all academic, including triple science, and additional maths, she took her maths gcse in year 9. She went on to a grammar for sixth form and is now doing a masters degree in engineering.

May I suggest you look at Riddlesdown? A friends 3 dc got outstanding GCSEs there.

Dinglit,

Sorry I meant DD not DS.

BertrandRussell, just the usual manipulation of the figures one might expect from schools on a downward trajectory. We're stuck here for family reasons and unable to move. Aside from our property going up and up we've been stung for private school fees for two children since 5 yo. Now we have the knife crime epidemic to contend with.

DS2 to me the other day: ''Why did the people from Croydon build the Grenfell Tower bonfire, Mummy?''

We cannot wait to get away.

I like daffodils a lot more than orchids! [misses point]

That's a very sweeping statement, Bertrand. We didn't send our children private for the results, but we certainly did send them there so they could study subjects that either weren't available in our local state schools or weren't guaranteed to be taught by graduates in those or closely related subjects. We looked at results along with a whole lot of other stuff to see what the schools were like. The traditional academic education was a huge part of what we were paying for.

Nobody sends their child private for the results. Whatever they tell you!

Why did I send my children private then? Do tell.

@Vanguard121 ... yikes.. how bloody rude to suggest that dingit's son's GCSE's achieved at a comprehensive school must be worth less than those acheived at an Independent one.

Sadly, as your attitude painfully demonstrates, those that are lucky enough to be in the 7% of students in the country who are privately educated, do gain an inexplicable advantage in life that has got nothing to do with actual qualifications, intelligence or good manners but is due to ingrained snobbery and elitism.