‘Predicted grade inflation was endemic at Sevenoaks’

Practice for university applications was laid down in teachers’ handbook and minutes of meetings

GOVERNORS at one of Britain’s top private schools were informed about “an issue” with predicted grades in 2018, The Daily Telegraph can disclose, as a cache of documents lays bare the extent of its culture of predicted grade inflation.

Sevenoaks School, in Kent, had a policy of increasing the predicted grades of its lowest-performing students to help them secure offers from good universities, according to papers which date back nearly two years.

The school – whose former students include Daniel Day-lewis, the actor, and Lord Evans of Weardale, the former head of MI5 – also boosted the grade predictions of some better-performing students so that they were eligible for courses that might have otherwise been out of reach.

The practice could have given students at the £38,700-a-year boarding school an unfair advantage over university applicants from schools which took a more stringent approach.

Ucas, which handles university applications, states on its website that predicted grades should not be “influenced by university or college entry requirements or behaviours”.

The Sevenoaks grade inflation was even laid out in the teachers’ handbook and in the minutes of staff meetings.

Documents seen by this newspaper show that the school governors were also informed about an “issue” with predicted grades at least 18 months ago, but that the practice remained enshrined in the teachers’ handbook until this year. “Predicted grades continue to be an issue – even being taken to governors,” minutes of a 2018 meeting of heads of department state.

The papers also reveal the school only inflated grades for students applying to UK universities, and not those in America because “US universities do expect students to achieve their predicted grades”.

For pupils applying for courses in the UK, the school told teachers that requests to increase the grades of low-performing students are “usually accommodated” if doing so “opens up many more courses”.

The teacher’s handbook stated that “accurate predicted grades are important both for the student … and for the school”, but added that in around 20 cases a year where students’ predicted grades are “not sufficient for [their] higher education aspirations”, heads of departments would be asked if the predictions could be “upgraded to facilitate the application”.

Last night, the school denied any suggestion it unfairly exaggerated Ucas predictions, and said it made changes to its handbook after a review by governors, “so there can be no doubt that the school follows Ucas principles”.

Most students accepted to universities based on inflated predictions would still be required to attain certain grades before entry.

However, in some cases those pupils who fell short could have a higher chance of being allowed on to the course anyway than if they had simply approached through clearing.

Tom Richmond, founder of the education think tank EDSK, said: “It’s all about opening doors … from a university perspective. With a student they are already in contact with through the normal application process, it is much easier to say: ‘Well, you only missed it by one grade or two grades or three grades,’ instead of waiting for another wave of applications through clearing.”

Mary Curnock Cook, former chief executive of Ucas, said it is “understandable” for schools to present students in the most optimistic light, but “it’s embarrassing for Sevenoaks that deliberately overpredicting students’ grades is in writing in their guidelines”.

While the culture of predicted grade inflation may have unfairly boosted the chances of many past Sevenoaks pupils, the coronavirus pandemic meant teachers were responsible for assessing students’ final grades for the first time this year.

Sevenoaks uses the International Baccalaureate system rather than Alevels, and submitted a set of predicted grades to the International Baccalaureate Organisation in February, before the pandemic took hold. There is no suggestion that these predictions were inflated.

In a carefully worded letter in April, shortly after exams were cancelled, the school warned teachers they would have to be prepared to defend the gap between any predictions sent to Ucas and those sent to the exam board.

A Sevenoaks spokesman said: “We are confident in the integrity of our processes and refute any suggestion that we would unfairly exaggerate Ucas or other predictions. We have been in contact with Ucas and are confident that our processes are in line with their guidelines. All Ucas predicted grades are based on what is realistic and achievable for the pupils.

“It would not be in Sevenoaks’s, or any other school’s, interests to inflate

‘It’s embarrassing that deliberately overpredicting students’ grades is in writing in their guidelines’

predicted grades artificially so students could not attain them.

“The school’s successful record in relation to university entries is clear evidence its predicted grades processes are effective and justified. Of our leavers in 2019, 96.5 per cent met or exceeded the conditions of their university offers.”