GCSE Results and League Tables

Our pupils achieve exceptional GCSE results. Despite increases nationally in the numbers attaining higher grades, our Year 11s massively surpassed the national averages; almost half our grades were awarded at A*-A. 94% of our pupils left with 5 A*-C passes and, most importantly, 94% gained at least a C in the core subject of English. Despite the fact that Thames is a mixed ability school 65% of our students achieved at least 3 A* or A grades. Some pupils achieved A* grades in some subjects at the end of Year 10, a year earlier than usual and went on to achieve A grades at AS level in Year 11.

In terms of Value Add Thames Christian College is placed firmly in the top 5% of schools based on the government’s Contextual Value Add measure. Quite simply our profound Christian ethos, caring and encouraging staff and high standards of accountability bring the best out of all our pupils.

Our grades for 2008 were:

20% A*
48% A or higher
73% B or higher
90% C or higher

Our outgoing pupils now move on to a number of top schools for A levels or equivalent including James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, Kings College School Wimbledon, Tiffin Girls' School, The Brit School, Guildford College, Esher College, Graveney School, St Francis Xavier (SFX)  and San Diego College in the USA.

It is very hard to pick out specific names for congratulations because everyone did so well that all deserve a mention. We must remember that for an academically gifted student an A* grade may not be as big an achievement as a C grade is for a student whose real gifting is in Art, Sport or maybe just working with people. So whilst we are thrilled that some of our top academic results include one pupil achieving 8A*s, 2As and an A grade AS level, another 6A*s and 3As, another 3A*s and 6As, and one boy 5A*s, 5As and an A grade in AS level Mathematics as part of our extension programme, we are equally proud of the young man whose first language is not English who achieved 1A*, 2As, 3Bs and 4Cs.

Although Art again topped the subject tables, almost every subject (and almost every pupil) shared in the plethora of top grades with particularly high percentages gained in English, Maths, Science (Double and Separate Sciences), Spanish, Religious Studies, Physical Education and Business Studies. In addition almost all our pupils achieved a Level 2 ICT qualification with most taking the ECDL.

Education is not just about grades, its also about character and the most satisfying area for our staff is not that these teenagers now have the grades to give them choices for the next phase of their life, they also have the character to make the most of the opportunities that will now come before them.

Value Add

One of the most interesting measure in government statistics is the Value Add because this shows just how much a child progresses academically during their secondary school life. In brief the Value Add score compares actual Key Stage 2 SATs results with actual GCSE results. It measures whether or not an academically gifted child getting level 5s in primary school goes on to get A/A* grades as well as whether a more challenged child raises their standards to achieve C grades. Whilst the government only publishes these figures for maintained schools we compare our own performance.

For 2007 our Value Add score was 1059 which is then shrunk to 1029 to reflect the fact that small schools find it easier to add value than large schools! A score of 1029 puts Thames in the top 5%. If we consider the raw unshrunk figure then it is more likely to be the top 1%, which is where we would like to be!

League Tables

Parents are quite rightly interested in the league tables but how far can the information published by the government be trusted and is it really relevant? There are many games that schools can play to improve their percentages but these are not always in the best interests of pupils. At Thames we always put the interests of the pupil first, even if that means that our results may appear less favourable. We believe it is important for a child not to be penalised because they have a late birthday or may have to repeat a year if they have missed significant amounts of school because of illness. We also believe pupils should not be penalised if they are very gifted and ready to take exams early. Why hold our gifted and talented pupils back, becoming bored, just to maintain the best league table position? We therefore let pupils take GCSEs at the right time for them, meaning they may be a year older or a year younger than the government would expect. This distorts our league table position as many of the measures only include those who are rising 16 in Year 11.

In addition, the points awarded for certain qualifications are questionable. Some schools offer soft qualifications to gain points and give the impression of good results. These include qualifications where a significant proportion of marks are signed off by a teacher for work with only vague evidence that a pupil has completed the task. Sadly employers and colleges know the tricks and these soft GCSEs do not lead to further education that improves employment prospects. At Thames we do not offer any qualifications like this. All our qualifications are there for the purpose of education and are widely recognised and respected as such. Interestingly you may have noticed that in this years league tables Eton scored bottom place because it has chosen to do the International GCSE's. Eton believes these are harder and yet the government awards them no points!