Ranking of secondary schools

[june79]

Is it a good way to consider ranking of a school while choosing a secondary school? Ofcourse, open day visit is essential and get a feel. But do you consider ranking too?

I would consider things such as Progress 8 figures; not sure if that's what you mean by ranking?

Tbf tho "choice" is a misleading word; if I were to list the three highest-achieving secondaries local to me, my dc would not have got into any of them. Parents can state a preference but need to include a school they are likely to be allocated.

I think it depends on the school and the child. Progress 8 is based on the scores children get in the Ebacc which is a set array of subjects (English, Maths, science etc.). For whatever reasons an individual child might benefit from some flexibility in the GCSEs they take - maybe they really struggle with a language so would benefit from dropping that and having more support in English. A school which is very focused on their progress 8 score might push the child to continue the language although they might get a low score and it might impact the grades in their other subjects.

Other schools might have some students sit a GCSE early - if this is maths then I don't think it will count towards their Ebacc, so their scores will look lower even though those students have gone on to sit an AS.

These are more child centred reasons so might make the school more attractive to you. It can of course though also suggest a school which is struggling.

Essentially the Progress 8 is a somewhat blunt tool and whilst it can be useful for an average child in an average school it may not show some of the nuance of what will best suit your individual child. I would ask the school why the ranking is lower than another school and see what you think of the explanation.

I would look at what is important to your DC - are they keen on sports - what sports are offered, opportunities to play in competitive matches, after school clubs.
Do they like reading actual paper books - what’s the library like.
Where is the school - access to public transport
Do they offer a good range of subjects at GCSE - although can change if the teachers leave
Whats the school uniform - draconian or practical

Assuming you mean ranking in terms of GCSE (or A Level) results, then it's a piece of information I look at to check it matches up with other things I know about the school.

A school's exam results are largely linked to its intake (if you take in more able chlidren, you are going to get better results). If a school with an average intake gets average results, that's a neutral piece of information. If a school with a very strong intake only gets slightly above average results, I would want to understand why.

Also bear in mind that school organisation may affect results. For example, my DD's school let anyone take triple science GCSE unless they really struggle with it - and about 45-50% of the year group take it. At a neighbouring school only the top 10% are allowed to take triple science. Guess which school gets the "better" results?

I don’t think the precise ranking matters, but I would look for how well the school
does with the attainment group which your child falls into (you can split the stats by low, middle and high prior attainers) and I would also want to understand the reasons behind any results that were lower than average for the local schools.

As Parker says, I’d also want to look at all the other things that make a school suit a child - sport, music, drama, clubs, ethos, mixed versus single sex etc.

@Parker231
>Whats the school uniform - draconian or practical

apart from the desirable relaxed approach in the heatwave, I don't see how it could possibly be the deciding factor

Are you talking about selective private schools? If not then you are down to your catchment area which is a choice of very few schools. GCSE pass rate is important and Progress 8, Attainment 8 but not extremely precisely. For instance, here where I live I am in catchment for 1 grammar, and 4 state/faith schools with 7+ GCSE grades in Math and English at 40%, 42%, 46% 50%. I am not mentioning 5+ grades as they are all above 70-80% in each school. Progress 8 and Attainment 8 is good in every single of those schools.

Anyway, when looking for a school I will not decide on a few per cent left or right because it changes a bit each year. I look at the school specialty ( STEM, music, sports etc) versus the needs of your child. What is pastoral care ?( tough thing to find out but ask parents about bullying). Does it have a good Six Form or will my child have to change? What are after school clubs?
If your child is non-academic, do not give him to any top-performing school as this is not his cup of coffee and he/she will suffer with the educational pressure imposed at him/her.
I personally don't pay much attention to the uniform. Least of my concerns.

ahm and OFSTED report does matter as you can find a lot of interesting information there about the nature of the school. not only grading by Ofsted

At the top end of the ranking, it is highly correlated to intake competitiveness and parent pushness, which indicate the kind of education environment exposed.

So yes I think it does make sense to consider it for your secondary school choices, it is more objective than open day visit feeling though.

Where the school is situated.
What the value added is
What the specialism is
What the pastoral care is like
What extra curricular activities there are
What the Ofsted reports say, but that wouldn’t hold the most sway for me
What the school is like on an ordinary day.

I wish people would remember that they are not choosing a school, as PP said. They’re expressing a preference and making a list in order of preference.