Hi - see my post here on Beware School League tablesCongrats!!Hi. Son has a high score so expecting an offer later. Need to decide between St Paul's and QE and struggling. Grateful for thoughts and insights. Also what's the best way to find out about car pools etc for QE from Ealing?
I have QE + Westminster. Money is somewhat a consideration (not unaffordable but a stretch!).
St Pauls great for sports if your child is specially into Rugby and / or Rowing + Cricket. of course great academics
I am tilting towards QE given the marginal difference in results + cash saved can be redeployed to cover the gaps + govt tilt towards more state school representation for Oxbridge. Some concern around whether QE will be too cut throat and exit pressure at GCSE if results are not good, but if not good enough for QE, then good enough for a top indy. I have friends at Westminster who think the same.. Its cut throat but you have broader choice.
Rounded personality will give independents an edge + if you want broader subject choice at A levels, however, I guess it also depends on what outcomes are you looking for.
QE: STEM Academic focus + increasingly incorporating broader capabilities (drama, sports etc). School will strongly encourage to pick A levels based on where they think the child has potential for As. I guess more conformist in nature but boys are self assured. i met plenty
Indy (St Pauls) - Academic focus + broader choices + great at sports + broader horizons generally - quiet dissent attitude
Regarding academic performance only (I.e. putting sports and broader issues aside ) It may appear like Westminster and QE rank very closely but this is because the popular league tables use crude percentages of A*/A pass averages etc for the whole school and show an incomplete picture. For example both schools have an average A-level grade of A+ but looking carefully at the data a somewhat different picture emerges.
A better ranking approach
The raw Dfe data for 2024 shows that the percentage of A-Level students with AAB passes or better is 78% for QE boys and 67.5% for Westminster. However the real picture is a bit more stark. Most of the top performing schools (both state and private) seem to prevent underperformers from taking A-Levels but at Westminster around 20% of those doing A-Levels don''t take 3 A-levels ( 1 or 2 do PRE-U which is being phased out). At QE, they 'cull' at the entry to 6th form (in 2024 going from 188 to 173 in 6th form) When you allow for the missing QE and Westminster students then the adjusted percentage of students with AAB passes for Westminster would be something like 55% as opposed to 72% for QE !
In the Times Best-Schools-league-Table (select combined state and private schools), Westminster is ranked 5 and QE boys ranked 11. However, in an alternative ranking based on an adjusted percentage of students with AAB passes or greater then QE boys would be ranked 6 and Westminster ranked 61 !
The data suggests Westminster achieves their results by more exam 'culling' ( preventing A-levels from being taken unless the student is really strong) than QE (yes QE also does that but to a lesser extent). Westminster (and other private schools) appear to focus on the high flyers at the expense of the remaining students ( who may nevertheless be very good ).
In a nutshell:
An adjusted analysis of the DfE data reveals that although Westminster and QE Boys appear similar in raw A-Level results, once exam culling is accounted for, Westminster’s performance is notably lower compared to QE Boys. However, when comparing these schools from an academic perspective, remember that QE Boys’ tougher entrance exam means its students are pre-selected for high performance, whereas at Westminster, non-high flyers are more likely to be culled from A-Level participation—so ask yourself whether your child is already a high flyer or has the potential to become one.
Statistics: Posted by YetAnotherDad — Mon Mar 03, 2025 11:10 pm
