Private school but 5s,6,7,8S gcse results ?

[ROZ12]

Hi all

I feel proud of my dd for achieving all passes but part of me feels disappointed with the school as I paid so much money and expected her to get 7-9s. Am I being silly? I feel like the classic photo of the girls getting all 9s should have been my dd. At least their investment paid off .

With the best will in the world, the school can only work with your DC. They cannot take the exams for her. (Unless that's what you really paid for which is another issue entirely!!!). Your DC grades have improved greatly. That is the return on your investment.

LatteLove

Never will I voice this to her.

Ok I’m moving on I appreciate everyone’s comments .

I felt a bit aggrieved also as dd achieved 6s in subjects that she was predicted 7s in. She worked really hard as well. However, she also sang in a choir twice a week, played hockey or swam twice a week, acted in two plays and got so many comments on her lovely postive hard working attitude. At the last parents evening her tutor showed me the levels she entered the school at, they didn't look brilliant, she was working at a level 2 in chemistry for example. She got 77 in double science. So its really important to keep it in perspective. It is hard when everyone is getting 9s and 8s for everything, but I remind myself and her that we actively wanted that ethos, where academics were seen as 'cool' and where there were bound to be lots of high achieving girls.

Wow given where she was in year 6, she and the school have both done brilliantly.

What is she doing next?

You’re not paying for grades you’re paying for your dc to get the most out of her education.

She’s done really well, celebrate that and look forward.

Like all schools.... there are good private schools and not so good ones. Not all private schools can churn children out with top grades, and they also tend to be more selective with the children they intake

But in your situation it sounds like the school served your child well

She will be doing a levels and a BTEC ,

Wow given where she was in year 6

This. The fees really paid off. Going from SATs at 4-5 to the grades she got is half great teaching and half magic.

She did do the Igcses thou? Are these harder?? As you work in private school why do you think parents place their children there? If not go achieve high grades?

The general consensus is that IGCSEs are easier. In my subject, AQA's boundary for a 9 was 88% whereas in Pearson Edexcel's IGCSE it was 77%. So taking IGCSEs should have improved her chances for high grades.

Why do I think parents place their children in the school I teach at? For the same reasons any parent chooses any school - the ethos it subscribes to, the quality of the pastoral care, the range of activities available, how parents perceive the students are treated holistically, the quality of the teaching. If their child is capable of high grades, they know we will help them achieve those high grades, but - whatever the child's ability - they trust us, by and large, to support their child in gaining the best they are capable of.

We do get the odd one or two who take the "I'm not paying you to get him Cs" approach but most parents understand the job and their own child well enough to know that that's not how it works.

Level 4-5 sats at KS2 would not have been put in a bottom set at my dc’s state school though. She would have been set 2 out of 4 probably . I think that it must be easy to lose sense of the yardstick at a high achieving private or super selective school where your dc is surrounded by such high achievers. I have some sympathy for you Op but try not to compare to her peers!
Your Dd did very well OP! Don’t forget that! Her lowest grade is a C equivalent and her highest is an A*! That is not to be sniffed at.
Who knows what would have happened elsewhere!? She may have not achieved so well or she may have been happier being nearer the top ability wise .No one will ever know!
She did fab.

Schools can improve grades to an extent but in the end it’s down to the student’s abilities. Perhaps your expectations were unrealistic. She will have benefitted from her environment in other ways.

I don't think you can compare igcses and gcses. Yes in a PPs subject it looks at first glance like it might be easier to get a 9, but the grade boundary might be lower for a reason!

Oh my goodness why do people put children into private school if not for high grades!

I also work in a private school and that is not the reason parents choose us. They choose the school as it provides a holistic all round education- beyond just academics. In my experience sadly the sort of education that is being squeezed out of many state schools due to the relentless pressure for grades/ebacc /Progress8 etc.

Thank you but I also was told by the teachers the papers are harder and that IGCSEs have been considered to provide the best educational value and the best preparation for A-levels. I was told at parents evening a Bb is equivalent to a 8 sin the new GCSEs by the head of Science . Im just saying what I was told I don’t want any rude comments from posters please!!

They choose the school as it provides a holistic all round education- beyond just academics. In my experience sadly the sort of education that is being squeezed out of many state schools due to the relentless pressure for grades/ebacc /Progress8 etc

Totally agree. We are moving dd3 from state to private for this very reason. There are plenty of extremely high achieving kids at the state school she is currently at but the all round experience is lacking. Plus it turns out that every single parent i know whose children took gcses at the state school had tutors.

Owensarmadillo

Thank you !! Very kind words.

Schools can improve grades to an extent but in the end it’s down to the student’s abilities.

If only. The stats only get calculated and published for state schools but as a 4-5 prior attainer, in a shit state school similar children would not even get 5 good passes. Statistically, amongst state schools the difference and be as much as 2grades for the same child.
Obv indies vary too but this one seems to have done an amazing job.

As other children got top grades I’m guessing there wasn’t anything terrible with the teaching. I can totally understand you feeling disappointed you spent all that money but had she gone to a state school with bigger class sizes she might not have passed at all. As long as she put the work in and revised as much as she could then you should absolutely feel proud.

Some state schools are amazing though, I’m lucky my son is in one of 60 ‘super school’s across the UK.

You can't just buy excellent grades. If she's not 9s material, how did you think she was going to achieve that?

My son is at private school. He got 6s, 7s, 8s, and 9s. He struggles to study and the school have put an enormous amount of effort to help him achieve this. He was predicted much lower grades when he started, even though he was coming from private prep school.

The school can't do miracles. Be happy and proud. She got good marks so go and celebrate!

I think private schools are purely for connections. I don't think it guarantees better grades and I also don't think the teaching is better.

Grammar schools are the best and after that, it's the reliance on the determination of your child.

I'd be fuming tbh, you paid for a service and they just pocketed your money.

But who cares - you can't do anything

I don't think you really know or understand anything about private schools pnppr

And right back at you, my niece is at a grammar (not available in all areas btw) and it seems a super depressing environment. She has no interests other than her academic studies, got rejected by oxbridge and you'd think the sky had fallen in.

I think 4-5 SATS would be very much online for grades 5-8 at GCSE. I don't think it shows huge progress. It is certainly what I would expect from a state school. I've seen a lot of children with these SAT results come out with very similar GCSE results.

However, it's never an exact science and I assume there were other benefits from having been privately educated. You know your child. In a less academic setting she may have been one to drift more and got lost in a state system. My DD1 and DD2 both got A*-As and 8-9s in their state school at GCSE but they were very driven and focused and all children are not like that. DD2 sat her GCSEs last year (so the first year old) and had to teach herself large chunks of the Geography syllabus, parts of the science syllabus and we had to get a Spanish tutor and private dance lessons specifically for her GCSE dance. It was a really stressful year and I think a lot of others with children in state school would say the same so perhaps you just avoided that?

I had a scholarship to a private school. Lots of the kids there got low grades and lots got high - it depends on the ability of the child!

I went to a super rough school in Brixton and had nil support at home (alcoholic schizophrenic Mum who was a single parent with no support) and got 10 A*s and As (which got me my scholarship to the independent sixth form).

If you’re paying for private school you’re paying for things like the lower class numbers, more teaching support and networking. In some cases that will raise a child’s grades, but not always!

My dd was driven as others around her were high achievers, she is the type of she was not around that she would have drifted.

Also she needed the discipline and the family small setting environment as many personal issues were going on at home at the time .

I can’t get my money back but posters have made me see the bigger picture and appreciate that of what she got out of it all not just about grades. Thanks

Teachers are not miracle workers and children are not all geniuses. We have six boys (spectrum of ages) and three very high achievers-straight A grades in A level for all three-two who are middle of the road able-achieve or will achieve B's mainly-and one who struggles academically for whom C grades in core subjects will be a massive achievement and testament to his hard work. Our least able son academically has some amazing talents and attributes that the others don't have and vice versa but in the same way that we have phenomenal teachers (in the main) to thank for top grades for some of our boys, those same teachers have worked just as hard with the others. As a previous poster has said, you don't know what grades your child would have got without private school so celebrate what she has achieved and move forwards.