Shocking League Table Of Bucks and Herts Secondaries!

[BucksorHerts]

I stumbled upon this article about rankings and I'm perplexed at the 2024 league table.
https://britannia-study.com.my/state-schools/best-state-secondary-schools-in-the-uk

I was surprised to see St George's School Harpenden ranked at 37
Dr Challoner's High at 28
Dr Challoner's Grammar (not found in the 2024 league table. How can it now make the of 184 schools? Is the site unreliable then?)
Chesham Grammar at 35
DAO ranked at 53 (Why so low? It's so highly regarded)
Sir Henry Floyd st 54
Parmiters at 98 (Surely this is an error??)

Is there a more reliable site for league tables to compare rankings?
I'm interested in Bucks and Herts.

You can compare schools on the dept of education website, looking at progress 8 as well as attainment 8. That might be clearer for you?

I would just compare schools in the gov.uk site. St George's is the second highest rated secondary school in the country on your link so that is pretty impressive. Quite a few of the schools on the list that score higher than Dr Challoner's high are super selective, so admit the top few percent compared to the top 30-35% in Bucks. So you would expect these schools to have higher scores. Not sure why Dr Challoners grammar didn't make the cut.

I don't think that is a very accurate table. I just looked up a couple of schools that I know of locally and the figures in the table for various exams are just plain wrong.

The table is a bit meaningless. The ones near me are super super selective with kids tutored to get in and then tutored to keep up. The non selective one on the table near me doesn't allow kids to take a certain GCSE unless they'll get a high mark... so in effect creates a misleading result. It's well known

Just to point out that Britannia StudyLink is not a UK organisation, and appears to be geared mostly towards getting Hong Kong students into British schools and universities. It may well offer an excellent service, but I would have to question its evidence base for judging schools throughout the UK - at the very least I would need to see evidence of robust research of the kind carried out by CUG and other school and university league tables before I set much credence by it.

Is it legal for the school to prevent a student from taking an exam?

Which league tables do you recommend or deem most accurate?

Thanks.

The new Times Parent Power rankings should be out in the next 2-3 weeks if you can wait for those.

For state schools, can just check out the official attainment 8 data.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/4859338-where-can-i-find-league-tables-of-all-state-secondary-schools?reply=127980524

@StrawberriesSW1 schools do it. Eg only the top linguists can take two languages. If you are rubbish at history but love it they'll tell you no as you'll not get a good grade if you pass at all. Unethical but that's some schools

Surely that must be illegal??

@PreplexJ thank you.
@BarqsHasBite no rush. Shall look out for it.

No - schools can set own policies on what they offer. Traditional grammars near us don't offer half the GCSE options that the big comp does. Countless kids everywhere are told they can't eg take three humanities and have to take one language etc etc

@BucksorHerts have a look at the current thread about triple science not being on offer

@BucksorHerts Every grammar in Bucks is a decent school. Most parents are delighted with them. They might have a few ups and downs with cohorts but, in general, all are great. Why are you so bothered about league tables? A higher percentage of dc in the south of the county pass than in the north of the county where it’s not 35%. Why do you want to know?

The school culture is what needs to be looked at. Some of the “better grammars” have the least good cultures.

This is a big issue at DCGS. Forced to take a sciences and a language. For children wanting to take 3 humanities and 2 arts, for example, this isn’t an option.

Times Parent Power league tables now out. While the articles are behind a paywall, I’m 99% certain the tables themselves aren’t. If you scroll down to “filter the guide” then you can select the table you want to see.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/schools-league-table

@barqshasabite shall check on my laptop later. Filter isn't coming up on my phone.

Wow. That's a shame.

If you mean one science subject and one language eg Biology and English is that not the norm?
I studied out side the UK and although it was private it was practically how all schools operate.

I think double science (two qualifications covering all three of Physics, Chemistry and Biology) is compulsory at pretty much all schools in the UK these days, as are English Language and Maths.

The reason that lots specify a MFL and a humanity is because they want high percentages of children taking eBacc subjects (league tables report this) which was supposed to mean that all children would get a broad and balanced education up to 16. For a lot of children this may not matter too much and the choices available are still close to what they might have chosen given free rein.

In practice what it can sometimes mean is eg a child who is brilliant at both History and RE having to choose only one of these because they have to do Spanish which they aren't particularly good at. Or a child who would really love to be doing French, Spanish and a creative subject like Art not getting to do one of these because they have to do History or Geography, neither of which they like.

I don't think it has worked out particularly well in many ways and it was one of the reasons we went for an independent school at 11. The GCSE choices available at our local comprehensives (which are really good schools) were a bit limited and didn't take account of individual talents and preferences to the degree I would have liked to see. Part of it is funding, of course. Few state schools are going to want to run a GCSE class with five students in it. It's not the best use of the limited money they have available.

I meant to say 3 sciences. It would be interesting to see the results for each.

3 x science. 2 x English, 1 x MFL. 1 x humanities, 1 x maths + 2 more. They take 10. 11 if further maths.

The science teaching, even at A level is patchy and staff turn over in the department is high. same for MFL. I was surprised by the number of boys getting 4 and below ie Us in Spanish and German. I don’t know for French.

For a school that loves the thought of students going on to study medicine, off the top of my head, from a large 6th form, 4 to do medicine, 2 bio sciences & one veterinary.

Parents choose this school but maybe dc don’t want to be doctors! You cannot force this career on the boys. Years ago DCGS was an engineering powerhouse. Also many dc see themselves working in London.

It’s perfectly reasonable to say grammar school dc should be able to do a MFL. Two sciences or triple should be offered. If parents don’t like the school, there are alternatives!