So it varies from school to school and depends on the head teacher? Or are there general guidelines on rankings?
In the system I was in, you had a competitive exam in year 5 (at 10 years of age) which was ranked nationally. Even private school children did it because it was considered good practice compared to the national curriculum. There were two exams. Language and mathematics.
Later, you had O/Levels in year 11 (16 years of age) and A/Levels 2 years afterwards. These were all nationally ranked.
Are there any public exams that are ranked nationally before O/Levels or GCSEs (is that the term?).
Personally, I enjoyed the competition. Yes, it meant that I put pressure on myself, not to mention pressure from teachers and parents, but I didn’t consider it a bad thing.
How would this affect picking a school for your children? Currently struggling to figure out how on earth you can judge a school because people (teachers) are saying Ofsted rankings are meaningless?