The Times School Rankings

[Ivybound]

Does anybody think that The Times' ranking of the schools maybe does not treat the IB in a truly comparable way to A-levels? Just looking at how G&L and NLCS see such a precipitous drop in going from their GCSE ranks to A-level ranks. 1 to 19 for NLCS and 5 to 25 for G&L. Yes, I know some top students might leave the school for sixth form, but still it seems like a very large drop which you do not see at other schools like City Girls, Guildford High, or JAGS for example

It is like comparing apples and oranges, don’t fret about it. I’m confident that this year’s decline will lead to next year’s increase: Times will change some factors to make some IB school parents happier and some others less in one year's time.

I should add, I am not a parent of G&L nor NLCS. Just looking at the numbers.

Can someone link the full list please, as it seems to be behind a pay wall.

I was fascinated by how much these schools invest in bursaries in the Ranking published today. Manchester Grammar School, Christ’s Hospital, and Latymer Upper each have about 10% of their students fully funded by bursaries, which is remarkable.

I have a subscription but I’m not sure it is actually behind the paywall. The site is a bit sh1t and buggy though to be honest, it’s best accessed on a computer rather than a mobile. Make sure you are in the “league tables” tab at the top, then you’ll need to filter to see which league table you’re interested in.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/schools-league-table

I am struggling to find the list too

Question - does it REALLY matter?

Everyone knows the academic prowess of these top schools. Are parents genuinely concerned to the extent that not being in the top 10 is somehow not good enough?

I’m not trying to be argumentative, just genuinely interested as to why this would be an issue.

Not all schools are included. For example, Haberdasher’s Boys and Girls Schools are not there, presumably because they didn’t submit their results. Others will be missing too.

Thanks, but you definitely need a subscription.

You need a subscription to read the articles but I’m 99% sure the league tables aren’t behind the paywall. See screenshot, the fact it says “subscribe” in the top right corner shows I’m not logged in. If you use “filter the guide” you can select the independents and other league tables

I find it helpful to compare different schools and their academic records. I know that there are lots of reasons why a schools results may be better or worse than another school’s and it’s not a question of top results = good school, mediocre results = bad school. And it’s also not the case that the league tables can tell you what results your child will get.

But we decided we wanted academic but not hothouse school for our son, and I’ve therefore ruled out some of the super high achieving schools for him as I think it would be too much. Too much pressure from the school to retain eg a top 20 league table place, and probably the boys are super bright and my son may end up in bottom sets (he’s bright but not a genius), which would demoralise him.

Equally, I’ve ruled out a Catholic indy (was never keen on the Catholic bit but it’s local and co-ed) because its results are significantly worse than our very good local comps. It’s at best 50/50 whether we’d get in our nearest comp due to tiny catchment but if the Catholic indy doesn’t look likely to deliver to the same level, then what’s the point, for us?

This year our target school and another we looked at have both fallen quite a bit in the league tables. While I may ask around as to why I don’t really care as I’m still happy the results are decent and it’s otherwise a good fit for my son.

The league tables are just one data point but quite a helpful one.

@Meredusoleil I followed the link that @BarqsHasBite sent and click on the tables header to see them. I don't have a subscription.

I really enjoy reading the league tables. I especially like how this year you can sort by individual A-level grades, super helpful. It's also fun to see the differences, up & down, of going from the GCSE ranking to the A-level ranking.

For DD's, start at NLCS for the best set of GCSEs, then it's Cardiff Sixth Form College seems like it's definitely the place to go for A-levels.

My DD is very academic. She got a place at one of the consistently top 10 schools in these league tables. We were encouraged to apply there by her current school. They were absolutely right about academic fit but it just didn’t feel a good fit for everything else. We turned the place down and we were told we were utterly mad by other parents.

She ended up at a school very much seen as a “backup” by many. Think a school more about value add than league tables. They send one child a year to Oxbridge if they’re lucky.

She is on track for all 9s at GCSE, her academic needs are met but she is thriving on everything taking place outside the classroom and it is 100% the best place for her. The league tables never even cross my mind to be honest (hence my curiosity). I just look for consistency in results year on year. I was very happy that during the covid years their grades stayed almost identical to pre covid and now are actually better now we’re back to full external assessment.

I do worry about those who choose to leave somewhere like NLCS to go to SPGS. I mean, what’s the point? The difference in results is minimal. Is it simply prestige and the name?

People would be crazy to leave NLCS, they have the best GCSE results in the entire UK. And now with Vicky running the place and she's talking about bringing in AI to help students, it will be incredible.

It’s not a complete list, which is quite poor given all state school data will be available on the government schools comparison website. Our local “best” school, for example, isn’t on it.

I wonder why it's not a complete list? Can schools opt out of being on this one (Times)

Got it to work in the end!

I do worry about those who choose to leave somewhere like NLCS to go to SPGS. I mean, what’s the point? The difference in results is minimal. Is it simply prestige and the name?

I guess some people might just fancy a change or a different atmosphere. Having said that, DD is at SPGS and the majority of the girls who have joined for A Levels (there aren't that many) seem to have come from considerably less academic schools rather than eg NLCS or wherever.

Results are not everything.

They have to opt in, not out. They also have to publish their full, detailed results on their websites so the Times can access them..It is unverified data, published by the schools themselves. The Government's verified data for A levels isn't published yet, and is't published in such detail.

Does anyone know when the league tables of secondary schools by London Borough will be available?

This works, but only gives the top level list. You have to subscribe to drill down.

Would someone with a subscription please filter the list for Physics A Level and post the full ranking?

About 5% of the students who join SPGS come from NLCS junior, according to someone I heard.