Forum Topic

It's official  - Isleworth & Syon school are simply the best!

Isleworth & Syon School have topped the secondary schools league table for Hounslow and are among the top 3% of schools in the country. Congratulations to all the wonderful staff who have made this possible and to the students for their hard work.

Vanessa Smith ● 6484d7 Comments

Congratulations - a good school doing well!

Corinna Smart ● 6483d

The tables on the government web site suggest that Isleworth and Syon performs less well than other schools in the area both at GCSE and A Level and is below the national average for both.

Mike Hardacre ● 6480d

The assessment is based on a measure of the average ability of the school intakes at year 7 and subsequent levels of achievement. It is not a measure of the overall level of grades achieved by a school. Rather, it is a measure of "value added" by the school. If subsequent results reflect the level of abilities of the initial intake the overall result will be 100% of the initial intake's expected result. Less than 100% means the school has underperformed, over 100% means results are better than could be expected.In crude terms, Isleworth & Syon has produced significantly better than expected results than might have been expected from the original intake a number of years earlier.

John Connelly ● 6479d

The value added scores for key stage 2 to key stage 4 (from the start of the school to GCSE?) are published on the government web site.There it states that I&S has a score of 999.4 i.e. the pupils achieve slightly less than they would be expected to on entry.The top school in the borough on this measure is St. Mark's Catholic School followed by Lampton and Heathfield School. The Green School also does well. Gumley House and Gunnersbury do add value on this basis and are ahead of I&S but not as much as the other schools mentioned.I'm sure Isleworth and Syon is a very good school but claiming it is 'simply the best' doesn't really stand up to much scrutiny.

Mike Hardacre ● 6479d

John, You are correct that this score is the contextual value added score - 1042.5 - of last year's exams. These CVA scores are calculated by comparing student's A level grades with the target they were given after taking their GCSEs, plus other considerations. It is this CVA target that has put I&S at the top of the borough's league table, but as we all know some people just like to knock any good news.

Vanessa Smith ● 6479d

They are 11 out of 16 in the borough for their GCSE results with only 48% of pupils obtaining 5 GCSEs inc. Maths & English with grades A*-C.I am in the process of secondary school applications & I will not be sending my son to I&S.

Lynn Clark ● 6479d

My intention is not to 'knock good news' but if a claim is made that one local school is better than the others then you must expect it to be scrutinised. The high score you refer to relates to GCSE to A level. It could therefore just as easily be an indication that the school is failing pupils at GCSE level only to redeem itself by providing better teaching in the sixth form. One explanation is that disruptive influences are holding back brighter pupils who only manage to achieve their full potential when the trouble makers have left.I would reiterate that I have generally heard good reports about this school but attempts to spin the available information to claim that it is 'simply the best' are not very credible.

Mike Hardacre ● 6478d