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Secondary education

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Original poster

What a screwup at NLCS

96 replies

PermanentTemporary · 24/12/2022 09:00

Anyone else read this?

www.theguardian.com/education/2022/dec/24/north-london-collegiate-school-investigated-a-level-grades-2021-malpractice-allegations

Appalling stupidity and lack of professional integrity. No wonder the Head has resigned.

OP posts:
MarchingFrogs · 24/12/2022 09:44

Well, a modicum of integrity on someone's part, given the whistleblowing...

diian · 24/12/2022 14:46

Just looked at the grade inflation from 2019 to 2021... shocking!! How did they think they could get away with it? So the E grade physics student gets an A star just because teachers can set the grades. This is malpractice at its worst.

www.nlcs.org.uk/userfiles/nlcsmvc/pdfs/Senior%20School/Exams/2021%20Results%20for%20marketing%20and%20evaluation1.pdf

www.nlcs.org.uk/userfiles/nlcsmvc/pdfs/EXAM%20RESULTS%202019%20-%20Jan%202020.pdf

perhapsLAter · 24/12/2022 16:05

From the other thread it seems she didn't resign she was asked to leave by the governors

pointythings · 24/12/2022 16:29

Reading this made me so angry. My DD2 did A levels in 2021 in our local state school. She and her peers sat exams under full exam conditions. Grade range no different from 2019. And meanwhile this corrupt school pushes its already privileged pupils even higher up the ladder at the expense of others.

Fortunately she did get the grades she deserved and got into her first place uni, but honestly any schools found to have acted like this need to be in massive trouble.

PreplexJ · 24/12/2022 18:50

NLCS was the worst of the grade inflation scandal and deserves the scrutiny. At least the head took responsibility and stepped down (or pushed out) .

Let's not forget there are hundreds schools (both state and private) involved. Not being the top inflation school does NOT mean these schools have better integrity...

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/private-schools-gamed-covid-rules-to-give-their-pupils-more-top-a-levels-6z0z6w9r5

NLCSmummy · 26/12/2022 10:15

So sad to see, the school used to have such an outstanding reputation. Increasingly, junior school students go elsewhere. Let's just hope that in a few years Vicky can restore the school to its once former glory, but it won't be easy.

LongFlamingo · 26/12/2022 11:08

Thank goodness Vicky Bingham is going there. It is exactly what the school needs to quickly get back on track. She is outstanding.

Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 26/12/2022 11:16

pointythings · 24/12/2022 16:29

Reading this made me so angry. My DD2 did A levels in 2021 in our local state school. She and her peers sat exams under full exam conditions. Grade range no different from 2019. And meanwhile this corrupt school pushes its already privileged pupils even higher up the ladder at the expense of others.

Fortunately she did get the grades she deserved and got into her first place uni, but honestly any schools found to have acted like this need to be in massive trouble.

Yes, dd's school did much better in 2022 than the covid years because they rigourously assessed them throughout. Yet still dd's GCSE grades will be seen as 'covid' grades outside of this context.

PreplexJ · 26/12/2022 13:28

@LongFlamingo SHHS also inflated the grades substantially during the covid year (top 10 on the list?) so not sure Ms Bingham can help in this context 🤔

CruCru · 26/12/2022 13:44

It’s a real shame for all the pupils who got their A level results. Plenty of them will have deserved their high grades but will be viewed with suspicion as they got them in 2021.

JaffavsCookie · 26/12/2022 23:27

I bloody hope they get thoroughly investigated and appropriately sanctioned, so unfair on the thousands of kids whose teachers assessed them fairly and reasonably.

Elij00 · 27/12/2022 00:35

NLCS will be fine. They are still after all one of the Best schools in the Land. People tend to underestimate the amount of leeway we as parents give the best schools in the Land be it independent or state. This little scandal might affect an also ran independent school not a big name like NLCS.

Original poster
PermanentTemporary · 27/12/2022 08:14

What a terrifying post Elijj.

I remember my headmistress (old-fashioned term but seems right for her) telling us how important the integrity of exams was. That she wouldn't hesitate to pursue any example of cheating she identified, not just to punish us as individuals but because the name and quality of the exams we were taking were important to the functioning of the country. I can't imagine her getting involved in something like this.

My ds's state school statistics barely shifted.

I'm really distressed to hear that you'd give 'leeway' to a school you think is a big name. A school that cheats and undermines national qualifications is not a good school.

OP posts:
CruCru · 27/12/2022 08:26

I suspect Elij00 is taking the mickey. But she is probably right - NLCS is extremely oversubscribed. Even if their applications fall by 20%, their intake won’t change.

NLCSmummy · 27/12/2022 08:39

PermanentTemporary · 27/12/2022 08:14

What a terrifying post Elijj.

I remember my headmistress (old-fashioned term but seems right for her) telling us how important the integrity of exams was. That she wouldn't hesitate to pursue any example of cheating she identified, not just to punish us as individuals but because the name and quality of the exams we were taking were important to the functioning of the country. I can't imagine her getting involved in something like this.

My ds's state school statistics barely shifted.

I'm really distressed to hear that you'd give 'leeway' to a school you think is a big name. A school that cheats and undermines national qualifications is not a good school.

I agree. This is clearly not something to just blow over and be ignored. You do not change your school head in the middle of an academic year for no reason. Note, Vicky is finishing out the school year at SHHS, she's not just leaving them mid-year. Clearly, there's many things going on here. The Oxbridge percentage has been falling, more Junior School kids are going elsewhere, and then this exam scandal. Is NLCS still a good school, of course, but this will take years to fix and restore it to its former glory. Vicky is very capable but even she will take some years to repair the school's reputation. Personally, I really hope that the school can be repaired.

CarmenOHara · 27/12/2022 08:44

DS is at a grammar- their results actually went up in 22. This cheating is unfair on all the kids at schools who marked fairly, and unfair on the NLCS girls whose grades will now forever be questioned, many of whom will have deserved their marks. It’s appalling. We had considered this school for DD and I’m so glad we didn’t send her.

It will blow over but not for a while, I think.

Shinyredbicycle · 27/12/2022 08:47

Is anyone genuinely surprised by this?

The school has delivered what it's paying customers wanted.

It's just an additional rung of the ladder of privilege these kids are on.

CarmenOHara · 27/12/2022 08:57

Plenty of private schools didn’t inflate their grades. Having parents who pay is no excuse.

Aquasulis · 27/12/2022 09:24

Feel sorry for all of the teachers pressured into it - all of the A grade pupils who were actual A grades. Same with the GCSE results as well - all of them 99.4% a level 8/9 and 95% of them a 9?

diian · 27/12/2022 09:39

CarmenOHara · 27/12/2022 08:44

DS is at a grammar- their results actually went up in 22. This cheating is unfair on all the kids at schools who marked fairly, and unfair on the NLCS girls whose grades will now forever be questioned, many of whom will have deserved their marks. It’s appalling. We had considered this school for DD and I’m so glad we didn’t send her.

It will blow over but not for a while, I think.

"Many of whom will have deserved those marks..." But MOST won't have deserved them, 56% of them in fact if not more. How can every physics student be awarded an A star when in previous years there had been a spread of marks from A star to E?

Remember only 17% of predicted A level grades for UCAS applications are accurate, 5% are under estimated and around 78% over estimated.

CloudPop · 27/12/2022 11:51

CarmenOHara · 27/12/2022 08:57

Plenty of private schools didn’t inflate their grades. Having parents who pay is no excuse.

This. Plenty of private schools were extremely careful with their TAGs and didn't overinflate at all

Shinyredbicycle · 27/12/2022 13:08

No, it's not as excuse but also not a surprise.

It's also not great for those kids with over-inflated grades. It must be quite embarrassing at some level to know that you didn't and couldn't have earned the grades given to you.

Unexpecteddrivinginstructor · 27/12/2022 16:31

Shinyredbicycle · 27/12/2022 13:08

No, it's not as excuse but also not a surprise.

It's also not great for those kids with over-inflated grades. It must be quite embarrassing at some level to know that you didn't and couldn't have earned the grades given to you.

They might also now be at university on courses which are moving too fast for them considering their abilities and they might struggle to complete degrees they were never capable of achieving. Only the school itself would have gained from this.

123DS · 30/12/2022 20:03

Is there an official report regarding the outcome of an investigation?
I have to say, looking at the results published on the NLCS website for 2022 I am less critical about the scale of the grade inflation. For example in Physics: 10 out of 12 were A*, 1 A and 1 C ( choosing this as an example as Physics was mentioned in a previous post). This is an outstanding achievement.

Xenia · 30/12/2022 20:11

It has been in the tp 3 of any kind of school for A levels at times and was the first academic school for girls. I was against the cancellation of exams. I do think if the grades were out of line and the rules were broken for TAGs then that is not on, but have not seen a final report yet. The school is very academically selective. One of my daughters went there and I am sorry this has happened and it remains a very good school.

The state decided generally for everyone that grades would in 2022 in the first year of real exams slowly drop back to teh 2019 normal year so it is likely 2022 results are higher for all schools than 2023 will be and 2023 will be similar to 2019 in terms of percentage of As, A stars etc

I have not read the rules which set out how the TAGs or whatever had to be done were set. May be the rules were not clear and it is possible that ultimately a court will have to decide if laws were broken.