Primary schools league tables out now

[Monkey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/education/school_tables/primary/11/html/210.stm

Well done, Goose Green.

[Otta]

ED Schools not overly impressive. Fair bloody play to Bellenden though!!!

[Coach Beth]

Thank you Monkey!

Yes, as a Goose Green parent I am pleased to see how well Goose Green Primary School has done.

Other schools in the area have done well too of course!

Goose Green School - 80% of students reached the expected level in English & Maths, 83% in English and 87% in Maths.

Bessemer Grange - 82% reached the expected level in English & Maths, 87% in English and 95% in Maths (wow - well done!)

St. John's - 64% reached expected level in English & Maths, 76% in English and 65% in Maths

Goodrich - 72% reached the expected level in both English & maths, 87 in English and 72% in Maths

Heber - 77% reached the expected level in both English & Maths, 87% in English and 85% in Maths

Bellenden - 100% reached expected level in English & Maths 100% in English 100% in Maths (WOW - BIG CONGRATS!)

Dog Kennell Hill - 72% reached expected level in English&Maths 84% in English 76% Maths

*edited to include Bellenden's very inspiring results too and to correct my typos!

[Otta]

Just checked Lewisham. Since when has Aske's been primary and secondary?!?!?

[emc]

How about St Anthony's? - we're East Dulwich too!

[emc]

St Anthony's - 90% reached the expected level in English and Maths 98% in English 90% in Maths

[Queenie23]

The old school was Monson Primary - failing school in New Cross. Askes took it over about 2 years ago.

[Huggers]

Otta- a couple of years now, since Askes absorbed a local primary school which is now known as Askes Temple Grove and is temporarily on the upper school site.

[tomk]

A major indicator for some ED parents will be the 'Higher Level Pupils %' - ie what % of pupils achieved top-level (level 5) in Eng AND Maths. Very interesting bit of data. Click on it at the top of website to order list by it.

[BB100]

I think Grinlings Gibbins in Deptford should win some kind of award for 90% level 5 passes and 100% level 4.

[nylonmeals]

Thanks for sharing this. Interesting to see the Higher Level Pupils figure pulled out too. When you look at this metric St Anthony's for example does better than Dulwich Hamlet.

[gwod]

Although there are a few exceptions, these figures seem a bit meaningless without the "value added" column that they used to have, which indicated how much children progressed between KS1 and KS2. I fear these figures largely show what the initial intake of each school was like, and in some instances, how much outside tutoring kids get, (in the case of schools with a wealthier intake who have a large no. of pupils planning to jump out of the state and into public education after year 6)

New parents - beware of the stats - I think it gives a skewed view of which schools are "the best"!

[vesti]

Lies, Damned lies and statistics...

Then you also have to look at the percentage of pupils with statements and on School Action Plus. A school with a higher percentage of pupils with significant needs is unlikely to get 100% of pupils through level 4 and highly unlikely to get the higher no of level 5's. Just checked and St Anthony's has 3.8% with statements or on school action plus and dulwich hamlet has 6.1%.

[prickle]

tomk Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> A major indicator for some ED parents will be the

> 'Higher Level Pupils %' - ie what % of pupils

> achieved top-level (level 5) in Eng AND Maths.

> Very interesting bit of data. Click on it at the

> top of website to order list by it.

What do you think this indicates though? Does a good score indicate that the school supports academic children well? Does it mean that it has more 'able' children on its rolls? Does it mean that the intake is more middle class?

My child goes to Dog Kennel Hill which has a goodish score (28% I think). I know that it has been criticised by ofsted for not supporting able children that well. I have had on-going battles with them to give my child more challenging reading books and tasks that challenge the more academic. I am inclined to think that the high score there is due not to the efforts of the school but of the nature of the intake and the efforts of the parents.

[vesti]

And DKH has a much higher percentage of pupils with special needs

[nylonmeals]

Prickle, being a new parent so new to all this - it sounds like you and Ofsted were in agreement about DKH that it needs to be better about challenging more academically able pupils? This shouldn't be something that you should have to fight for surely. But it may be that I am way out of touch, I left my (state) school many many years ago.

[Scruffy Mummy]

Yes, all these stats need to be read in context of a whole range of factors. One interesting place to look is the year-on-year comparsions for each school on the more detailed report about each school. This can show if a school is improving year on year - therby pointing to there having been positive improvements to teaching/standards in the school and that hopefully should continue. But again, you need to look at the school and speak to the head to see if this is true - stats alone don't prove this, they just provide an indicator.

[prickle]

nylonmeals Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Prickle, being a new parent so new to all this -

> it sounds like you and Ofsted were in agreement

> about DKH that it needs to be better about

> challenging more academically able pupils? This

> shouldn't be something that you should have to

> fight for surely. But it may be that I am way out

> of touch, I left my (state) school many many years

> ago.

Yes, they had an ofsted a few years back that criticised their lack of support for more academically able and I felt that it was valid. They had another ofsted at beginning of autumn where they appeared to make some progress (was a better report all round) but I'm still not fully convinced that they have addressed all the issues.

Having said that the school has a large number of SEN children and the socio-economic backgrounds of the children are very mixed. They have a lot of children with English as second language too. It is a very challenging mix and by and large the school is successful in meeting most needs. The school community is also warm and nurturing.

So it probably comes down to priorities and challenging able children comes quite low down. Perhaps the school expects the family to step up and fill in the gaps - something that we have done ? but not all families want/able to do.

The school will feel vindicated by the good score, but not the entire picture, so treat stats with caution!