Industry News
Parents advised to ignore league tables
Posted on 18th January 2008
Parents should ignore government league tables when selecting which private school to send their children to, according to a headteacher.
A number of leading independent schools appeared at the bottom of the latest GCSE tables because the Department for Children, Schools and Families refuses to recognise the IGCSE.
Robert Karling, the principal of King Edward VII and Queen Mary School in Lytham St Annes, said that decision meant government performance tables are now "fatally flawed".
He told the Blackpool Gazette: "My advice is to disregard league tables. There is no substitute for visiting a school and talking to teachers, pupils and crucially parents who have had first hand experience of what a school offers."
Mr Karling's comments come as his school prepares to drop GCSE maths and instead teach the equivalent IGCSE course.
The IGCSE qualification is widely regarded as being more academically rigorous than GCSEs and has been described as a throwback to O-levels.
Explaining his decision to switch to IGCSE maths, Christopher Jeffery, the headmaster of Grange School in Cheshire, told the Northwich Guardian that the course is more interesting and better preparation for A-levels.