First tier, second tier

[chopc]

I have seen several threads in which some independent schools are thought to be first tier, second tier, top 50 etc

Please could I ask who decides on the Tier and if anyone could refer me to the data/ article etc?

Thanks in advance

The tiering of independent schools

Tiering is dependent on either the school's snootiness or the parents who rank them

How is it snootiness to claim Westminster et al. as "top tier"? That's just fact
I have no skin in that game- we're hundreds of miles from London, but if my children went to any of those listed I'd be delighted. (Though their father won't let them board, so he wouldn't be!)

I was surprised to see Rossall is a public school, expat.

I remember this coming up when we looked round my children’s school. The head at the time made the point that once you’re looking at the top 50 schools, it comes down to which one would suit your child better because the difference between academic results won’t be all that marked.

For instance I’ve heard that Westminster is top tier and UCS is second tier. However looking at this list, Westminster comes 4th on GCSE results (97.1% A or A) and UCS comes 25th (87.5% A or A). I’d be happy to send my child to either of those schools (my children are too young to think about senior schools yet).