Queen Elizabeth’s School has been named the best boys’ school in the country in a guide which aims to give a more complete picture than league tables based only on examinations.
The Real Schools Guide seeks to give parents a good idea of which schools will help their child prosper, regardless of their background. It uses a wide range of measures including GCSE results, but also: pupil-teacher ratios; the proportion of leavers going into further or higher education and jobs, and the Government’s Progress 8 measure, which quantifies the progress children make between the end of primary school and their GCSE results.
Overall, QE came third in the guide’s 2018 list of top schools, which is headed by Wembley High Technology College, Brent, with Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School in Blackburn, Lancashire, in second place. The rest of the top ten is dominated by grammar schools in the South East, including Wilson’s School in Sutton and The Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston upon Thames.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “While our School always appears at or near the top of national league tables based purely on examination results, I am very pleased to see QE faring equally well in this guide based on a more holistic look at what schools do. As a selective school, we naturally have a very bright intake of pupils, but, as the Real Schools Guide shows, we then effectively challenge and stretch those boys so that they make the most of their potential.”
“It is interesting to note the prevalence of our fellow grammar schools in the top ten,” Mr Enright added.
Compiled by researchers from the data unit of Reach plc (the newspaper group formerly known as Trinity Mirror), the guide is based on a rating system using some 50 different measures, put together from the latest publicly available data and broken into four categories; attainment, progress, attendance, and outcomes.
Now in its sixth year, the Real Schools Guide has been praised by ministers and education experts alike. Former Schools Minister David Laws called it “public-service journalism in the best tradition”.