http://blog.isc.co.uk/2008/08/29/school-league-tables/ Thoughts, views and opinion on the independent school sector Thu, 21 Apr 2011 08:13:23 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://blog.isc.co.uk/2008/08/29/school-league-tables/comment-page-1/#comment-455 Neil Jones Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:58:43 +0000 http://blog.isc.co.uk/?p=30#comment-455 Holly, There is also the same, very real & immediate problem facing prep & independent primary schools. We follow the National Curriculum, the natural extension of which is to assess pupil progress against learning goals through KS2 SATs in May. We still have to wait for the annual debacle that is the Sunday Times Parent Power league tables which aggregate KS2 SATs results and rank schools according to their scores. We have no control. It is just done! The point that the Times seems to miss is that we are Independent & that scores, as you say, do not reflect the schools themselves. It deliberately misleads parents because we are not in an arms race to reach ever more impossible levels of achievement, as are our beleaguered colleagues in the maintained sector. We are in it for the children & the annual publicity is unnecessary. As a head, giving tours, such "statistics" are more grist to the mill and can serve as an excellent point of discussion with prospective parents, and indeed current parents. Holly,
There is also the same, very real & immediate problem facing prep & independent primary schools. We follow the National Curriculum, the natural extension of which is to assess pupil progress against learning goals through KS2 SATs in May. We still have to wait for the annual debacle that is the Sunday Times Parent Power league tables which aggregate KS2 SATs results and rank schools according to their scores. We have no control. It is just done!
The point that the Times seems to miss is that we are Independent & that scores, as you say, do not reflect the schools themselves. It deliberately misleads parents because we are not in an arms race to reach ever more impossible levels of achievement, as are our beleaguered colleagues in the maintained sector. We are in it for the children & the annual publicity is unnecessary.
As a head, giving tours, such “statistics” are more grist to the mill and can serve as an excellent point of discussion with prospective parents, and indeed current parents.

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