Our pupils continue to achieve exceptional GCSE results. Despite increases nationally in the numbers attaining higher grades, our Year 11s significantly surpass the national averages. Over the past three years almost one third of our grades have been awarded at A*-A and in 2008 this figure was almost half. In 2010 all but three of our pupils left with 8 A*-C passes including the core subjects of English and Maths.
It is important to realise that Thames is a mixed ability school and overall percentages will vary each year. Over the last two years our willingness to tailor the curriculum has meant that almost every pupil achieved some grade B passes; almost all achieved one A*/A grade and approximately half at least 3 A*/A grades. Quite simply our profound Christian ethos, caring and encouraging staff and high standards of accountability bring the best out of all our pupils.
| A* | A*-A | A*-B | A*-C | |
| 2010 | 11% | 35% | 71% | 88% |
| 2009 | 10% | 25% | 62% | 89% |
| 2008 | 20% | 48% | 73% | 90% |
| Thames 3 Year Average | 14% | 35% | 69% | 89% |
| National Average 2010 | 7.5% | 23% | 43% | 69% |
Over the past few years our outgoing pupils have moved on to a number of top schools for A levels or equivalent including Gordonstoun College, James Allen's Girls' School in Dulwich, Kings College School Wimbledon, Tiffin Girls' School, Tiffin Boys' School, The Brit School, Esher College, Graveney School, St Francis Xavier (SFX) and Performance Preparation Academy, a top independent performing arts college which shares facilities with Guildford School of Acting.
Education is not just about grades, however, it is also about character and most satisfying for our staff is not just that these young people 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 face them.
Value Add
As all children are different we cannot expect all to achieve top grades in every subject - there are very few who are outstandingly good at everything! We use KS2 SATs results and CATs (Cognitive Ability Tests) as benchmarks to understand where a child's achievement stands on joining and what their potential is in the future. At Thames we expect, and almost always see, their achievement beat the expected average by a substantial margin. Typcially pupils perform at least one or two grades and in some cases over three grades ahead of their starting point across all subjects. Most importantly this is achieved in academic subjects such as English, Maths and Science and not through soft GCSE equivalents.
League Tables
Parents are quite rightly interested in 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 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 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. We also believe pupils should not be penalised if they are very gifted and ready to take exams early. Why hold 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. The figures published on our website are the true figures based on the number of pupils finishing their exams in Year 11; this explains any discrepancy between our figures and the ones published by the government.
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 rarely lead to success at further education or improved 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 the league tables, Eton College and other independent schools have scored bottom place because they have chosen to do the International GCSEs. Eton believes these are harder and yet the government awarded them no points!
Contextual Value Add
And finally a word on the Contextual Value Add score published for state schools. This compares the final grades of a pupil's best eight subjects with their KS2 results in Maths, English and Science. By completing a number of softer GCSE equivalent subjects, it is possible to raise the grades of the best eight without raising those of the all-important academic subjects of Maths, English, Science and a modern foreign language. Since the calculations take account of other factors such as SEN status, a school can achieve a very high CVA score by placing a large number of its pupils onto School Action or School Action Plus. Look closely and you will find that this is how many schools achieved outstanding CVA scores in 2009!
My daughter’s results are all that we had hoped for. Her progress is directly attributable to the personal and caring approach of the teachers.
