Alleyn's beats JAGS at A level!

[Townleygreen]

Just seen the Telegraph Independent schools league tables, located here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/leaguetables/9498024/A-level-results-2012-Independent-school-results-table.html

Alleyn's are 14th with 77.6% gaining A* or A at A level,

JAGs are 19th with 76.6,

Dulwich 74th with 62.4.

All fantastic results of course, well done, but is this the first time ever that Alleyn's has been no.1 locally??

[womanofdulwich]

who cares?

[JessM]

Lots of people actually.

Well done to all the students for doing so well!

[zeban]

my thoughts exactly womanofdulwich!

[Monkey]

I do. Tks, Townleygreen..

[tiddles]

now if it had been a state school beating a private school, that would have caught my attention!! Yes well done to ALL the hardworking children at ALL the schools.

[dul_resident]

Interesting that there's only one all-boys school in the top ten.

[Gidget]

Thread should be subtitled - Elite thread.

[Townleygreen]

>>Thread should be subtitled - Elite thread.

Hehe :-)

[ianr]

"The ... table shows the percentage of students obtaining A*/A or equivalent qualifications at independent schools across the country."

Does anyone know what this means?

[Townleygreen]

ianr, if you are wondering what they mean by equivalent qualifications, then it means the IB and Pre-U which are alternatives to A level than schools can opt to do in some or all subjects. Their grades are then translated into A level equivalents.

[edhistory]

ianr:

I suspect your maths are better than mine.

The quoted result for Alleyn's means it came 14th in this league table. No more, no less.

The original thread title is erroneous.

John K

[ianr]

Tg: that bit's clear from para. four of the article.

Let me prune things: "The ... table shows the percentage of students obtaining A*/A" means what?

[Townleygreen]

>>Now, ianr you have clarified your question I can try to answer it.

It means the percentage of the year 13 cohort who gained A or A* in the exam subjects that they took.

So if 100 students took (say) 350 A level subject exams between them, then in the case of Alleyns, 77.4% of those results were A/A*.

If James was taking geography, history and english, and gained an A or A* in all three then he would have scored 100%.

If Mary was taking French, Biology and Economics and gained A, B C respectively then her score would have been 33.3%.

[dulwichgirl2]

With regard to previous queries on who would care about these stats., the answer is that a lot of people would. For example, anyone who realises ED house prices are linked to there being some vg schools around, anyone with a child at either, anyone considering either school and, lastly, anyone interested in the fact that a mixed sex group has done better than the stereoptypical all girls one in controlled social economic circumstances.

I tend to think that mixed education has to be better than all girls but had veered towards all girls on the grounds of achievement: accordingly it is fascinating to see that I'm wrong and a mixed group can do better academically while, I am convinced, reaping other benefits as well.

[womanofdulwich]

These 2 schools are very selective in their intake. 14th or 19th nationally would not be a reason to choose between the 2. If your child it lucky enough to get in they will probably do very well academically. There are other things to consider and I don't think 14th or 19th would be a consideration for anyone as to choice. Issues such as single sex/ mixed/ facilities/ sports/ music/ ethos are more important at this end of the tables.

[Queenie23]

womanofdulwich I salute you!

[LondonMix]

Couldn't agree more woman of dulwich!!!

[Ann]

I do too. Facts are we have two of the most successful schools in the whole of the UK on our doorstep. The downside is that both have quite stringent entry exams and are expensive.

Alleyn's is somewhat unique being a top rated mixed Independent day school, a definite plus. JAGS is all girls and incorporates the intense competitiveness that girls can thrive on. My 18 year old daughter has several friends at JAGS, the cohort quoted by the op, she would be the first to say that JAGS girls do work extremely hard. Not surprisingly they now compete to gain the new A* at A level - your a bit of a failure if you don't achieve at least one!

Needless to say they all get their preferred university but it's heartening to know that The Charter have got their best results ever at A level with some notable achievements.

[zeban]

Me too WoD

[minder]

There was a a two page spread in Thursday's Southwark News about A Level results. It included students from Harris Academy, Walworth Academy, St Saviour's and St Olave's and Bacon's College. Two students from Bacon's had got a place at Cambridge University and one was off to Oxford.

There was also a pic of students from The Charter celebrating their A Level results. One of them was going on to study Aeronautical Engineering (he had 3 As and 1 A star) and two students from The Charter were going on to study at Oxbridge. Over 90% of Charter students got their first choice of uni.

The Charter have also had great GCSE results too.

[dulwichgirl2]

Let me add another layer to it...

In all of the previous tables I had seen, Jags had come out considerably better than DC and quite a bit better than Alleyns. This fed into my positive prejudice re girls' schools. This year that situation is neutralised and reversed As we are discussing.

So, you see, it isn't just a question of comparing two vg schools; it is a more interesting issue of how Alleyns' boys, I presume but am not certain, have improved. It is multifactorial which, Womanofdulwich, I appreciate you might not have realised coming at it cold.

[ianr]

Townleygreen Wrote:

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

> >>Now, ianr you have clarified your question I can try to answer it.

>

> It means the percentage of the year 13 cohort who gained A or A* in the exam subjects that they took.

>

> So if 100 students took (say) 350 A level subject exams between them, then in the case of Alleyns, 77.4% of those results were A/A*.

That's not a percentage of pupils. It's a percentage of exam entries.

>

> If James was taking geography, history and english, and gained an A or A* in all three then he would have scored 100%.

> If Mary was taking French, Biology and Economics and gained A, B C respectively then her score would have been 33.3%.

Are you saying these 100% and 33.3% figures are used in deriving the published statistics?

[LondonMix]

The thing about these league tables is there are a thousand ways to rank the schools-- % of A/A*, average point score per pupil for A levels (for which Alleyn's as recently as 2008 was tied with JAGs by the way), % of good GCSE / point score at GCSE (for which Alleyn's beat JAG's in 2011).

What struck a note with me about WoD's post is how the introduction of league tables has really changed the way people assess both state and private education, and in my view, this change is for the worst. More information for parents regarding how schools are objectively performing is welcome but we as a nation have become obsessed with what are really minute differences in academic performance (rather than education) at the expense of the more qualitative and subjective aspects of a school that are uniquely fitted to each child.

For instance, Dulwich College offers a fantastic education and its lower test scores are more indicative of the fact that its less academically competitive to get into(intake is comprised of the top 15% of academic performers according to the Head compared to the other top boy's schools). If your child is a top performer they will still excel there. If you want single-sex education for you child and you agree with the school's ethos, it is just as good a choice as any of the top boy / mixed schools in London. I personally prefer co-ed though.

[womanofdulwich]

But we all know which schools will get the best academic results because they are the hardest to get into. If you start with very motivated results driven children and parents then this is what you will get- give or take the cases of anorexia / breakdown / depression on the way. It is ridiculous to look at the results wihtout realising that they are a result of what is fed into each school in the first place.

AS a nation we are not obsessed at all, it is just small pockets of people who have a choice , especially in London who are obsessed. Money of course gives you more choice.