Celebrating excellence 

Each year we explore the English A level and GCSE exam data looking for schools where the results in individual subjects shout out that here is some really special teaching - and then we give the best of them awards.

And the winners are...

A list of award winners is found at Good Schools Guide Awards: the winners.

To view the certificates of any award winning school- locate the school via school name search (top menu) - click on the appropriate school link. Once you are on the school's page click on either:


For A-level awards





For GCSE awards


 

How are the winners chosen?

We measure subject performance on 3 bases:

1) Relative popularity

We compare the popularity of each subject (the percentage of pupils taking it) that the school offers with the popularity of that subject in similar schools.

Scores range from 100 (the maximum) to zero; the line at 50 indicates subjects that are averagely popular (or have so few pupils taking them that we can't make a judgement).

In our experience, subjects that are well taught become popular, as their reputation spreads from pupil to pupil.

Relative popularity also gives you an insight into the spirit of the school. Schools can be places where science is king, or boys don't do art, or girls have to do English, and these long-lasting prejudices may shape - for better or worse - your child's choices.

2) Relative success

We look at the grades obtained by pupils taking each subject. We compare them to the grades those same students get in the other subjects they take.

Scores range from 100 (the maximum) to zero; the line at 50 indicates subjects where pupils do (on average) the same as they do in all their subjects (or where so few pupils are taking a subject that we can't make a judgement).

In our experience, subjects that are well taught tend to inspire students to better results than they achieve in other subjects.

3) Weighted percentage of A and B grades

We give a double weighting to the percentage of A grades (or equivalent), then add that to the percentage of B grades and  then scale back to an overall percentage. This gives a measure of absolute subject performance.

Scores range from 100% (the maximum) to zero. Subjects which only have a few pupils taking them are scaled back to the national average.

Our final measure, the "WOW Factor", combines all the above measures to give a single indicator of subjects in which the school excels.

We add together relative popularity, relative success and a third of the weighted AB percentage, and scale this back to give scores ranging from 100 (the maximum) to zero.

We give awards to the schools that come out best on this measure.

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