League Tables

[11+Newbie]

Hi, did anyone see the league tables in the Telegraph this week? Apparently QEGS Horncastle was the top secondary school in Lincs with 100% of pupils passing 5 GCSEs at Grades A-C.

Caistor came second I'm told, and Alford 3rd. Haven't seen it myself yet, just off to do an online search.

[wonderwoman]

Yes, saw them at timesonline/education. I'm not clever enough to put a link on I'm afraid, but a search should find them.

I think QEGs, Horncastle actually got 100% GCSE passes not just 5 A* to C. But so it should being a grammar school!

Also in The Times this week, The Priory, Lincoln 2nd best comp scores in the country.

So all in all fantastic schools in Lincolnshire.

[ourmaminhavana]

Also in The Times this week, The Priory, Lincoln 2nd best comp scores in the country

It rather begs the question: 'what is a comprehensive' though, doesn't it?

[wonderwoman]

It rather begs the question: 'what is a comprehensive' though, doesn't it?

I'm not sure what you mean. I can't remember the actual percentage of 5 A* - C for The Priory, but for a non-selective school they were impressive as is being 2nd in the country and better than several grammars in the county.

[ourmaminhavana]

I mean I don't regard their intake as 'comprehensive' ie taken evenly from across the whole spectrum of ability. They take two children from each primary school in Lincoln and the surrounding area, presumably the top two! This is hardly non selective Plus a further ten percent on aptitude. Their admission procedure isn't primarily based on catchment. Incidentally, I know that a few of the' top' children at my son's primary school were offered places at Horncastle, but are trying to get into LSST.
I think the difference is that with the grammar schools there is total transparency about their selection processes.

I think even with a good 'comprehensive' like William Farr, you have self selection by parents moving into the catchment area so again it's not truly comprehensive.

[wonderwoman]

It is certainly true that people do move into catchment areas of schools they prefer.

I really think that children do cover the ability range at the Priory. Only 10% can be selected on aptitude. The places allocated to partner primaries can be more than 2 depending on how big the primary is and the children are not selected on academic ability. I used to work in a partner primary, some way out of Lincoln, when the Priory first opened and it was very popular with parents right from the start.

[ourmaminhavana]

That's interesting Wonderwoman. I'd be fascinated to know how they select the children if not by academic ability. Do you feel they don't give priority to children in Year 6 who attend their advanced maths classes etc?
Perhaps it's pure altruism?

I'm just going on what I've heard and my husband's experience of the school as a teacher. He thought it was extremely selective. Also, at the time he was there, results were undoubtedly skewed by what courses the pupils were being taught eg there was some sort of IT course that I'm pretty sure counted a several GCSEs.

All I'm saying is I don't think you can compare it with a school such as say St Clements in Skegness which takes all of the children who have failed to get into the grammar school and are from poor socio economic backgrounds with little parental support.

I think grammar school students and those who go to Will Farr and LSST have a significant advantage over some of the other schools in the area in their strong parental support.

A little off topic but I wouldn't take any set of results at face value. I think it would be more useful if league tables provided data on how many students undertook the course, not how many passes those put in for the exam ultimately achieved(and I mean any school!)

I'd like to add that I don't have any particular axe to grind about LSST.



Best, OMH

[Alex]

I'd be fascinated to know how they select the children if not by academic ability. Do you feel they don't give priority to children in Year 6 who attend their advanced maths classes etc?

The School Admissions Code prevents academic selection by Comprehensive Schools (apart from the 10% which is supposed to be by aptitude not ability in specialist schools). I don't think there is any evidence that The Priory Academy LSST does not apply its admissions policy correctly nowadays and this would certainly not allow for any priority to be given to children who attend the Master classes.

This does not mean that its intake does not end up pretty near to a selective intake with a large number of children entering with high prior attainment at KS2.

My feeling is that they achieve this firstly by getting some parents to "deselect" themselves by promoting the school at open evenings etc as an academic school which does well with academic children (and concomitantly not so well with children who are not so academic), by directly putting off parents with children with special needs, and by emphasising the strict discipline and heavy work commitments imposed upon the children. Secondly, the 10% who get admitted on aptitude are done AFTER the allocations to the partner primaries have been done (thus some bright children in those schools are already in and (assuming that the aptitude test does actually include an element of ability testing even though it shouldn't) that enables a few more of the bright ones in. Lastly, but by no means least, there are over 30 successful appeals each year. I am sure that it is at this stage that the more academic children have a far greater chance of success than the less academic ones - and here of course that having attended a Master Class stands you in very good stead. I have been told (but don't know if it is true) that the school do not like to turn away a child that it has "already been educating". Those whose children have done the Master Class tests will know how competitive they are.

I think the successes at Priory Academy LSST are genuine enough. Most schools will encourage some children to take subjects which earn lots of GCSEs for basically one subject but Priory Witham Academy is probably a better example of this. There are a lot of very clever kids at LSST and the school fosters their talents - it gets a few to Oxbridge most years. Indeed at year 9 options evening they had someone there for pupils and parents considering Oxbridge to speak to so that they made sure they chose the "right" subjects for GCSE and did not prejudice their chances by choosing badly.

[ourmaminhavana]

Yes Alex, I'd forgotten that they tend to discourage pupils they don't want. Presumably, over time, taking the siblings of your ten percent of academically selected students also mounts up.