The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) produces performance tables to enable parents and others in the community to see how their local schools compare with levels of performance in schools elsewhere, and with average levels in the local education authorities and across the country as a whole. Although, they cannot give a complete picture of a school, performance tables provide a guide to how well a school or college is doing.
Probably the best guide to school performance of the figures shown on the tables is Value Added: rather than showing how many pupils reached a particular level, Value Added figures shows how pupils have improved in their time in that school. When looking into which school you would like your child to attend, we would recommend considering the ethos of the school as well as results, which can never give a full picture taken alone.