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.

'they also have choice to home educate'

tell that to a single mother of four in tower hamlets

Emsmum I will need a local knowledge later, we know the Penwortham end of Preston well as that is where my late in laws lived, we are choosing fulwood as the school bus for St Mary's Hall and Stonyurst picks up there, it is close to the M55 for mine and dp work and it is not Penwortham as dp has too many memories there because of his parents who recently passed away one of which was suicide.

The fees are high at both SMH and SH but not that much higher than previous places we had considered , we had looked at Kirkham Grammar as well, but i want her to go to a Catholic school as I think she gets a lot from being part of such a community and as a family it adds to our spiritual life. The fact that S and SMH are Jesuit schools is a bonus but not a necessity but for our family Catholic education is a must.

My statement out Highfield Priory was an assumption if I am being honest. We had looked at St Pius prep in Fulwood but were told that many of them go onto to Stonyhurst so thought we may as well send dd there from the beginning for continuity. DD has had a lot of upheaval in her life and I want her to change schools as little as possible.

What do you mean by low ranking for the area? I know its academic results are not outstanding but tbh dd is a clever little button and will do well whereever she goes, if we stayed in this town she would be going to the local state catholic secondary. We liked SMH and S because of the extra curricular oppurtunities and because dd hgas fallen in love with it. Although there are some problems with her current primary she is happy there but she wants to leave to go to SMH.

DD is 6 there is a place for her in her year group.

I was given the impression that there was competition for places onces they get to the college , and I know that numbers are rising.

Out of interest where do they go from Highfield Priory?

I may have a look at Highfield Priory.

I'm sure a lot of Pius kids do go to Stoneyhurst, it being RC - if you are a catholic then I can see why you might fall in love with it (its a beautiful place to stroll round!). But if you're not a catholic then its not an obvious choice;I guess with SMH and Pius nearby catholics are probably underrepresented at HP.

Theres quite a lot of destination schools - some opt for state (if in the catchment and v academic then Lancaster Royal and Girls grammars); other popular ones are Kirkham, Arnold, Westholme and Bolton. 2 boys went on to Stoneyhurst last year.

Anyhow - Fulwood is a nice bit of Preston and certainly good for access to motorways.

although having said all that...very pleased to see that dd1s potential state secondary has blown the traditionally brilliant state secondary (which we are not in catchment for and were considering moving for) out of the water

why arent all schools in list?

DS1's potential state secondary is on the list (which I'm not surprised about).....just as I'm not surprised to NOT find any of the 3 secondary school actually in our town on the list

PS twinset - meant to add, HP holds its carol service in RC church nearby, its not in any way anti!

mind you chuffed to see my old Secondary school is the Scottish Independent Secondary School of the Year

Do these tables split the A level results from private schools into those who arrived from the state sector at sixteen (often on scholarships) and those who arrived at 3,7 or 11.
Where I live the state schools have no sixth forms so the choice is from three privates, two faith schools, a state school in a nearby borough or two colleges (I have listed in order of entry requirements)
Many of the private schools demand an A/A* GCSE to begin an A-level course as opposed to a B/C which many state schools allow so it is not surprising that A level results from private schools are higher.

the school I teach in comes up the top 50 state schools with no 6th form. About 2/3 of the way down and has dropped nearly 20 places since last year! But we got our highest ever A-C % this year. We must have been so focussed on getting the grade D pupils up to a C that we forgot about the grade B pupils!

day, I don't think that makes too much difference. In our area where there are no state sixth forms there are state sixth form colleges where most students go. It doesn't affect the private schools or their results. My daughters started Habs and NLCS at 5 and 7 years and left at 18. I don't think they were less clever than girls who joined at 11 or in the sixth form by any means. NLCS takes about 20 girls into the sixth form each year which is a small number proportionately and does not affect the results. I have found in general at my children's schools that those joining later than the others are often not as clever or at least not as well educated rather than the other way around.

Ineresting about the bussing in. About 1/2 a mile from my houses there is a secondary which no local parent sends their child to if they can avoid it - and most do avoid it - even by home education if they can't do it any other way.
This is a solidly middle class area, house prices nothing below 600k for a semi/450k for a terrace surrounding this school. Kids come from other areas, and the reputation for knives, bullying, theft etc is hoirrendous - the police are always in or outside it. So the local 'middle classes' avoid it - clearly bussing in is not the the answer, becuae anyone with any nous then busses out in the other direction.

But I mean forcible bussing as they did in the American deep South and in a sense as Brighton is doing in picking state schools by lottery for the children wherever you live. The forcible mixing. I suppose people would then just move to another county or even further to areas where there are no children with those kinds of problems.

lol Enid, something to discuss at your next dinner party

"What most parents want is a system like there is in many other European countries - where all children go to their local school, which provides the same (or a similar) standard of (decent) education. NOT this ridiculously angst-inducing bunfight situation we find ourselves in in the UK. What choice do parents have? The choice to move to another area in order to give your child a good education - which only the middle and upper middle classes can do. The 'choice' to send your child to a selective 'grammar' - so only academically outstanding children are entitled to a good education now, are they?
Or perhaps you are talking about the choice to send your child to a private school (if you're rich) or a sink school (if you're poor). "

Hear hear. But this is the world we live in, so what would you have us do? I didn't cause this bleedin mess, there is nothing at all I can do about it. In the meantime I have a responsibility to my children to make sure they have a chance of being educated.

I have been thinking about it all day and I just can't imagine dd going to a non catholic school, so it will be SH and SMH or possible St Pius but probably SMH.

"What most parents want is a system like there is in many other European countries - where all children go to their local school, which provides the same (or a similar) standard of (decent) education."

Which countries are you thinking of?

Twinset - fair enough - I can't pretend to understand but its your choice! I've heard one or two negative things about Pius (e.g. a delegation of dissatisfied parents approaching HP governors to say they'd all defect... If HP wouldn't mind just becoming RC ) so your instinct to go with SMH is probably a good one. Hope your move goes well and your DD settles in happily.

It strikes me, that league tables have some use but what matters more is local knowledge and your own feeling about a school.

Depends what you're after for your children. If you're a fairly academic family and expect them to go to good universities then a more academic school might suit you. There is a huge problem for Catholic parents who don't want state schools, always has been. The Catholic schools have never got good grafeds in the private sector. Schools like Eton (C of E in a sense) have brought in new Catholic Chaplains and if you're clever and will board then you'd be better off there at a school with top 5 exam results in the country than a Catholic boarding school where results aren't very good in some people's opinions. My daughter at Habs was in charge of Catholic society I think at one point and they had mass in the chapel (which is also c of e of course) on a regular basis - in other words you can get Catholic elements at some of these good day and boarding schools. My mother thought religion was for home and our private secondary schools weren't Catholic and nor have I thought we really needed Catholic schools. Anyway at least there's a choice.

On the schools abroad I assumed she probably meant Switzerland but I might be wrong.

QofQ - which one - St Mary's or the High sChool???? whispers

I agree Emsmum I am not a league tables person at all myself and would never make a decision about a school based on league tables.

That is very interesting what you say about St Pius, TBH is HP was catholic we would use it.

We are an acdemic family and I think dd will probably go to a good university although she will make her choices but I have the faith in her and us to believe she does not need an "academic" school to do that. She does not even need a private school to do that.

My dd will be going to a Catholic school as our faith underpins everything we do as a family and I want her education to respect that fact and support us, in a good Jesuit education your faith permeates all that you do it cannot be constrained to a chat with a chaplain once a week. I am a great believer that a Catholic education can and should be one of the best a child can have as it should be driven by a vocation , I know this was the case for me when I taught in a catholic school. I have always been an admirer of the Jesuit principles of education the idea that education is there not just to collect exam results but to educate the whole person.

TBH if HP was catholic we wouldn't use it!
We're there at least in part as refugees from the faith-school dominated state sector in our area.

Fortunately we have the luxury of being able to make our choices and and agree to differ.
Totally agree that education should be about far more than collecting exam results though!

I have noticed that there are a lot of faith schools in the area, it must be all us catholics breeding like rabbits!

It is a good job that we all make different choices, we have more chance of getting our choices if we don;t all want the same thing.

Anna - my brother and his family live in France in a village North-East of Paris. I have visited on numerous ocasions, been to many dinner parties and there is total bemusement from them and their friends as to why we have agonised over our childrens education here in the UK. Theirs go to the nearest school - the only reason to go private is if you want a religious school - the state schools are secular, and parents seem very happy with the edcuation they provide. (They dont; dicuss house prices either )