Who is included in a school’s results?

The population can change between GCSE and A level

A school’s GCSE results and its A-level results in the same calendar year concern different year groups. Even following the calendar forward does not establish that the pupils are the same: some may leave, new pupils may join, and the subjects or qualification routes may change. Subtracting one headline percentage from another does not measure pupil progress.

Westminster’s published School Life page describes a sixth form made up of pupils moving up from its lower school and pupils joining from other schools. Its 16+ admissions page describes entrance examinations and interviews. Those descriptions establish an entry route and a selection process.

For a historical comparison, the useful next evidence would be the entry route, prior attainment and subject choices of the actual pupils in each result cohort. A current admissions page cannot retrospectively supply those details.

Westminster: School Life — continuing pupils and external sixth-form entrants

Westminster: 16+ entry — the published selection process

Keep an institutional change attached to its date

Winchester’s 16+ admissions page, checked on 21 September 2026, describes day and boarding options for boys and girls and girls’ boarding provision from September 2026. Its published process includes school information, assessment, interviews and GCSE conditions. These are the school’s descriptions of its current entry arrangements.

Changes to entry routes make the composition of a later cohort worth investigating. They do not, on their own, explain an increase or decrease in an examination percentage. The relevant outcome follows the pupils through the course; the date of an announcement is not automatically a result year.

A change in leadership has the same limitation. A timeline can establish which pupils and policies overlapped with a leader’s tenure. Aggregate results cannot isolate that leader’s effect from intake, subjects, qualifications or wider changes.

Winchester: 16+ entry — current day, boarding and assessment arrangements

A documented process is useful evidence in its own right

Winchester describes Div as timetabled, non-examined learning across subject boundaries. Its current Futures page describes advice on university choices, course applications, apprenticeships, gap years and careers. These publications tell a reader something concrete about the education and advice the school says it provides.

That is a different finding from demonstrating that the provision improves admissions outcomes. A destination total cannot isolate the effect of Div or university advice. Applicants’ preferences, prior attainment, subject choices and university decisions remain alternative explanations of an observed pattern.

The same distinction applies to access. A published bursary route can establish that support is offered and describe its eligibility. The distribution of support, who takes it up and how the cohort changes require their own evidence. An award’s availability is not a measure of social composition.

Winchester: Div — the school’s account of its non-examined curriculum

Winchester: Exam Results & Futures — published scope of careers and university advice

Turn the explanation into a better question

When a comparison raises a question, retain its schools, qualification and years. Ask which pupils and entries are included, whether external sixth-form entrants can be distinguished, and whether applicants include former pupils. Then ask which support was available to that cohort and what evidence records its use.

Use the recorded results to describe the outcome and the dated institutional sources to describe the arrangements. A missing answer is a specific research question to save, rather than a reason to fill the gap with a verdict about school quality or an individual pupil’s chances.

Supporting evidence and limits

• The official school pages establish what each institution published about its arrangements on the check date. They are not independent evaluations of effectiveness.
• The held aggregate outcomes do not identify a causal effect of teaching, selection, leadership, financial support or university preparation.
• Current admissions information does not establish the intake composition of a past results cohort. Consult the school’s current page for subsequent changes.