SundayTimes Top 100 League Table

[Judy1234]

I wonder why today's table for top 100 secondaries - state and private merged is not on line. Anyway it's interesting in general. 18 state schools in the top 100 and my older children's old schools at I think placed 2, 12 and 18. I think 5 year averages are fairer. No state school in the top 20.

Interesting article says that although some state schools do get good A level results although they're completely eclipsed by the private schools who only educate 7% of children, they aren't as good at getting into university and that perhaps the reason is the schools don't educate broadly and roundly beyond cramming for exams.

well what do you think xenia

I don't know. May be I think more people live down here. More that can afford fees (18% where I live).
Also London state schools can be particularly bad as can all inner cities so that drives people elsewhere. More people in London I think than the whole of Scotland for example. We should may be declare our own independence.

my dd's primary is not in any list, despite it priding itself on being of such a high standard! ha. her potential secondary is in the top 500 state though

I have started a thread on this north south divide.

Dd's school (well I hope she will get in the seniors) has just missed top 200 private but it is the highest school state or private that is commutable and as I am not prepared or able to afford for her to board unless it is execptional circumstandces, I'm fairly happy.

Yesterday's Sunday Times listed the top 100, with state schools in bold. I think the top state school was Colyton school (sp?) in Devon?)
Any proud parents or teachers here from Colyton to tell us the secret of its success??

Yes I have it here. The top state school was 21st in the county Henrietta Barnett not too far from me and then 23 QE Barnet again not far from here. All South East.

Next one is Colyton Garmmar school which got 92.4% AB at A level and 88.5 A/A GCSE (compared with the top one 98.8 A/B and 99 A/A.

The Tiffin at 34. Then Latymer.42

So most of the best state schools too are in the South East.

lol ! a friend said today i was to wait for real league tables in jan - said these are slewed in favour of independants!!

they will be on bbc web site as they are now!

roll on jan xenia!

Here are the SCottish ones just so we're being fair in love and education and all:

www.timesonline.co.uk/parentpower/league_tables.php?t=scottish_independent_secondaries

My school's number 2 doncha know

Ahem - make that first equal (and St Mary's doesn't count because there are only about 3 pupils .

hmm

Mine on first page
dh's and the one we had earmarked for dd on second page

dd went to local primary instead though!

These are clearly not skewed. There are a good few state schools in there and they go by how many A and A* and GCSE plus A/B at A level which is a really good measure. It is possible they include children who do a GCSE a year young and it's possible they include the international GCSEs which are much harder and some independents do but which if you take and get say A maths internationl GCSE that goes in Government league tables as a fail apparently! Any skewing is done by the Government not this table.

SueW-from the top 500 independents;

Ockbrook at 85, Trent at 329, LHS at 105

The school at number 42 only does the IB - presumably the A level results are the equivalent - is that what you meant Xenia?

This seemed to me like a table that reflects accurately which schools are the better ones. I haven't studied how it works that out but if I were looking 20 years ago when I had a 3 year old entering schools aged 4/5 then a lot of the better schools then are still the better ones now. Sevenoaks just does the IB and my second daughter's school offers it as an option and I don't know how they deal with that but that is very very few schools and whether on A levels or IB or both NLCS is always in the top 1 - 3 or 1 - 5 consistently. SO it's a good list.

The table of 100 not on line which includes independents and state I am not sure if that includes Scottish schools or not. Perhaps that comparison is too hard. Percent of sixth form getting into Oxbridge would be another useful table.

I am feeling rather lucky that we live in Colchester now and plan on sending to state schools, just out of interest those of you who send your dc to private schools, if you lived somewhere like here where we have two of the top state schools would you still send your dc to private or would you then choose state?

Xenia - does the list include IB/EB schools?

Sorry, just read your post below re IB.

But of course, not treating the IB/EB schools distorts the list because many of the most able pupils these days prefer to do the IB because is is more challenging and is better received in the best Universities.

So the list is, as Issy so rightly says, about which schools get the best results at A level. Fine, but A levels aren't the world's best high school diploma, and schools that weed out all but the most able are not necessarily the best at drawing out the talents of pupils.

IB certainly in the UK because it includes Sevenoaks I think and also North London Collegiate (although the latter does a levels too and girls choose). Not sure what EB stands for.

Issy - you're right - it does what it says. The problem is some other state league tables recently haven't really done what they say which has led to some bizarre results.

It is certainly not added value but if you have a brilliant child why worry about added value anyway. The best academic schools add huge value to clever children. Private schools don't do SATs so you can't really compare those.

If you have 8 applicants per place at 11+ as some of these state and private selective schools do then you're bound to get better results but we're still left with 6% of children in the private sector getting 40% of the better university places etc. The private sector seems to add a lot of value. Even in some good state schools children won't apply for some places because they think it's not for them and they won't fit in (the class issue or the low expectation issue).

My taxi driver in the midlands last week was telling me about his very clever G&T granddaughter age 12. She wouldn't go to the good local state schools and ended up at teh sink one with her friends where hopefully she'll do okay but may be she won't. A different type of family would never have let that occur I suppose.

Sevenoaks is IB and is ranked rather highly (at least in the printed version). I think that it had 6 pupils who got a maximum 45 score.

Ibroughtcake - it would depend on whether I thought that the school was the best available one for the dcs, and whether the dcs met the entry qualifications (believe Essex still allows selective entry by some state schools). A ranking on exam results is only one piece of information about the school, and I would probably base my views on a number of other aspects.

The school we hope DD will go to after her prep school is in the top 120 private schools; boy's school is a fair bit lowe at 207.

The prep school attached to that girl's school is in the top 100. The one DD goes to, we know, does academically better than that but it doesn't do SATs so not listed.

It is really annoying that you can't search that site.

You can search the Times site on my first link above by name of school. That takes you to the placing - either in the top 500 state or top 500 private. It doesn't merge the two on line nor can you search that.

There is no easy good way to measure prep schools on tables so I don't think they are very accurate. Obviously the best ones are going to be the feeder schools to their seniors like Colet Court for St Paul's, Westminster Under school, Habs juniors, Dragon school oxford I suppose too or you could bast it on how many scholarships they get at common entrace atn 13 to very good schools.