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…

[BertrandRussell]

Well, if I was going to send my children private, it would be for the extras- the "stuff" that money can buy. For the cultural/social capital. For (probably) a higher %age of "people like us". For onsite provision of things that I think of as important and which I have to provide separately. I would not expect better results for privileged, well supported children. The only children who might get better results at a private school are children who would never in a million years go to one.

[notpushyinterested]

I think that people who send their kids to private school have to tell themselves that their child's gcses are worth more than those obtained at a state school to try and convince themselves it was worth all the money.

[SoupDragon]

The only children who might get better results at a private school are children who would never in a million years go to one.

Wrong again. DS2 would have underachieved in our local comp because he's a lazy arse.

[SoupDragon]

This will descend into the usual bollocks about private schools anyway.

[zenasfuck]

My sons education has cost similar

He joined the school at 11 and was in gifted and talented program at primary - way ahead of his peers

He Is year 11 at the moment and looking at 5/6's if he lucky

He simply doesn't care and doesn't work hard.
He was predicted A* for everything in year 7 but 5 years down the line with little effort that is no longer the case

I'm gutted but I can't force him to try harder

We just hope he gets enough to get on to his college course

I don't think it's been a waste of money as he has enjoyed his time boarding and gained some life skills. I worry that at our local school he would have been much worse

[Taffeta]

I was privately educated many years ago, at a well known school.

I was top of the class in most subjects.

Then financial disaster struck and I was placed in the local all girls leafy comp ages 14. I was convinced I’d wipe the floor with the oiks academically.

I was distinctly average there. Many fiercely bright kids who hadn’t been spoon fed.

So, although my experience is dated, I don’t equate private education with stellar results.

Round here, the brightest kids go to grammars and those that fail the 11+ go private.

[BoeandBall]

What's wrong with B's and C's at GCSE level? Also I got CCD in my A levels and I'm in my last year at uni and going on to do a masters. You sound really judgemental OP, what if your son gets more B's and C's? Will you disown him?

[Bestseller]

I agree school isn't only about results and IMHO the extras are far for valuable.

I was recently at an event aimed at aspiring engineering students currently in sixth form.

All the children there would be on track to get decent Alevel results but the public school kids were more articulate, confident, polished, charming etc etc. Those are the things that really get you places, (plus the contacts you make if you mix in those circles of course) not the difference between a B&C at GCSE.

My DS is currently applying for a field that's is dominated by the public school educated and I really hope there some positive discrimination because otherwise he has a serious disadvantage. They even look "superior" in their dress, and hair cuts etc, like they just expect to do well where ever they go.

[A580Hojas]

My child did English language and literature, maths, chemistry, physics, biology, art, RE, history, French, Latin and Citizenship at a fully comprehensive school in Lewisham (not far from Croydon then) and got 4 x A*, 4 x A and 2 x B and was by no means one of their highest achievers. A child who did their gcses there this year got 12 x 9s. So do please stop talking utter rubbish whoever it was who said you can't get a good education at a London comp ffs!

[RolyRocks]

Somebody sued - and won - their child’s boarding school because he totally failed everything.

Where did you find that ruling? I can only find articles that say the school won and that the mum openly condemned Scott Craddock for what he did, troll website included. I’m interested to find out what compensation he received.

A lot of people send their children to private school for the opportunity to learn in a perceived calmer environment, smaller class sizes, contacts/networking and what is offered, rather than guaranteed high results. Not all, obviously, but a young person’s results are down to a number of factors and not solely due to being dragged through the lessons, spoon-fed, with all responsibility taken away from them. I don’t see anything wrong with a private school teaching resilience as opposed to freaking out about the league tables (hence they are quite happy to do the IGCSEs, which don’t count in the tables)
Our nearest private school sent fewer students to Oxbridge than our local comp did (good on the comp!) but then they don’t have to send out texts to parents informing them of another knife attack just outside the school gates, like the comp has had to do, this week.

[Taffeta]

A580Hojas

A child getting stellar A level results from a school like that will have many more opportunities for Oxbridge etc success than a privately educated spoon fed child.

[AJPTaylor]

God what a mean spirited thread. Come share anecdotes about kids that didn't do well. All the better if their parents paid for their education. Not mumsnet at it's finest

[WitchesWeb]

Well you sound quite patronising tbh OP.

[WitchesHatRim]

So, although my experience is dated, I don’t equate private education with stellar results.

I agree.

Both DH and I went to bog standard secondary schools. He has a first from Oxford. I have a first from a Russell Group Uni.

[BigSandyBalls2015]

I know loads of kids that have done exceptionally well in croydon state schools.

[Bestseller]

This OP has another thread about how she has to protect her privately educated child from learning how the other half live atm...

[RolyRocks]

Ah. Thanks Bestseller.

[BertrandRussell]

"Wrong again. DS2 would have underachieved in our local comp because he's a lazy arse."

Why do you think the local comprehensive would have let him underachieve?

[BertrandRussell]

"BertrandRussell, just the usual manipulation of the figures one might expect from schools on a downward trajectory."
What sort of manipulation do you mean?

[Notatallobvious]

Going to a selective school does not make you clever...I had both a friend and a cousin who were privately educated and neither of them set the world alight! Both only came out with a handful of C grades.

[Anasnake]

Love how you think only state schools manipulate exam figures 

[WitchesHatRim]

Love how you think only state schools manipulate exam figures

Very true

[cakeisalwaystheanswer]

There has been a number of very odd threads about Croydon and Croydon schools recently and I am adding this one to my list. OPs other thread has just been deleted and I don't really see the point of this one. It certainly isn't in the spirit of MN.

I'm not sure if it's intentional OP but you are coming across as incredibly smug .

"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"

[HPFA]

No idea what the lowest score for individual children is at a grammar but Skegness Grammar and Boston Grammar have average Attainment 8 figures for their High Achievers of 57.7 and 57.6 respectively. To get a persepective on that Cherwell School in Oxfordshire has an average Attainment 8 figure of 60.2. Cherwell has a VERY privileged catchment area but even so nearly half its intake were not considered High Attainers.

Social class counts more than anything in English education!

By the way, Croydon looks to have a number of decent schools! Most have a positive Progress 8 and only 4 out of 20 schools have a Progress 8 listed as Below Average or Well Below Average. It doesn;t look a terrible place to live for schools.

[A580Hojas]

"There has been a number of very odd threads about Croydon and Croydon schools recently and I am adding this one to my list. OPs other thread has just been deleted and I don't really see the point of this one. It certainly isn't in the spirit of MN."

Oh, it's this poster again is it? I don't make a note of the names. Time for a banning don't you think HQ? (reported).