Questions · KCS Wimbledon
Who is counted in a school percentage?
KCS’s tables show why you need to know whether a percentage counts subject entries or pupils, and which ones.
Covers: KCS Wimbledon’s 2018 GCSE headline and numbered-grade subset, followed by its 2025 list of where leavers went. The examples are separate populations and periods.
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The answer
Who a percentage counts is part of what it means. The subjects graded 9–1, all of a school’s exam entries, and its list of where leavers went are different groups. Swap one for another and the story can change although no figure has.
For years when a school’s GCSEs were graded on both scales, The Schools Record now also publishes comparable figures across all its GCSE and IGCSE entries, using bands that span both scales. For KCS in 2018 that gives 81.7% at A* or 9–8 across 1,555 entries, matching the 81.7% all-course top band KCS published, while grade 9 is still shown only for the 467 entries graded 9–1 (58.9%). The numbered-grade table in this article is still a subset of the year’s entries.
The figures
Each figure keeps its own year and group, and doesn’t change with your shortlist.
| Measure and evidence | Reported value |
|---|---|
2018 · GCSE transition / combined published band KCS · combined GCSE headline bandDefinition and populationTransition-scale headline across the wider course population.
| 81.7% |
2018 · GCSE 9–1 subset KCS · grades 9–8 in numbered subjectsDefinition and populationOnly the numbered-grade subject subset; not a school-wide replacement.
| 86.1% |
2018 · GCSE 9–1 subset KCS · numbered-grade entriesDefinition and populationThe denominator of the subset percentage.
| 467 |
2025 · Leaver destination record KCS · Oxford + Cambridge destinationsDefinition and populationLeaver-list places taken up, not offers.
| 37 |
2025 · Leaver destination record KCS · stored destination shareDefinition and populationThe publication’s own share, out of the leavers on its destination list.
| 15.8% |
Two GCSE percentages can cover different subjects
During a grading transition, a school can publish an all-course headline alongside results for only the subjects using numbered grades. In the KCS example, the numbered table explicitly covers a subset of the wider examination entry total. Its percentage describes that subset.
The larger headline uses a combined band across the transition. The two percentages therefore should not be treated as rival estimates of one identical school-wide grade share. The inspector retains the coverage description and the separate lettered, numbered and excluded Additional Mathematics entries.
A count of entries is not a count of children
Examination entries count subject results. Candidate counts count people under the source’s definition. A sixth-form pathway count can differ again where qualifications overlap. A useful school comparison needs the population relevant to its question, rather than whichever nearby total is easiest to find.
The comparison rules keep this transition subset out of a strict whole-school numbered-grade comparison. That exclusion preserves the historical example while preventing a narrow subject population from silently representing the whole school.
Destination rates need a matching leaver population
The second example uses the number of leavers on the destination list and the Oxford-plus-Cambridge share stored with it. It is separate from an offer headline and separate from an examination candidate count. An admissions application total would answer another question again.
Earlier interpretations can go wrong both in the denominator they select and in the story they tell about that denominator. The current evidence record supplies the values here. If we don’t have the number of leavers for another year or school, the honest answer is a count with an unknown rate.
Where these figures come from
Each record gives the full definition, the documents it came from and what we checked.
King’s College School, Wimbledon · 2018 · GCSE results · 2018 · transition
Transition-scale headline across the wider course population.
Checked against the original: top two bands and top three bands. Not yet checked: 5 figures, including additional Mathematics entries, candidates and entries.
King’s College School, Wimbledon · 2018 · GCSE results · 9–1 detail · 2018
Only the numbered-grade subject subset; not a school-wide replacement. The denominator of the subset percentage.
This figure hasn’t been fully checked against the original yet.
King’s College School, Wimbledon · 2025 · Leaver destinations · 2025
Leaver-list places taken up, not offers. The publication’s own share, out of the leavers on its destination list.
We don’t yet have a usable description of this figure’s source, or a check against the original. Its reference codes are kept for further research.
- A transition-scale headline is not a strict numbered-grade series.
- A denominator found in a different publication is not presumed to match the numerator.
About this answer
Editorial interpretation by The Schools Record. The research material below informed the questions; source passages consulted for this explanation are identified above. Displayed numerical examples come from this publication’s current evidence records; earlier research editions do not override them.
- Figures Bible v12.7 · consolidated reader edition · pages 22–23
- Figures Bible v12.8 · consolidated reader edition · pages 23–24, 32, 35
Reviewed for this edition on . This is an interpretation of the cited evidence, not a new check of every original historical publication.
Read corrections and unresolved publication differencesWhere next
What would you like to understand next?
Inspect KCS’s examination history
How do destinations differ from accepted outcomes?
How do percentages relate to the scale of entries?
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