Secondary school is where things get serious. The primary years are an essential setup for every child, but they’re just that – a setup. It’s secondary where you sit your first set of proper exams which, in some cases, determine the trajectory of your life.
Exam results aren’t the be all and end all, but it makes sense that you’d want to send your kids to a secondary school with a track record for turning out high achievers. The Telegraph has just released its official list of the best in England, so that you make sure you get a place at a high-quality institution secured.
In order to create its ranking, the Telegraph used a complex points system. This is based on 10 different criteria ranging from average class size to all important exam results, measured as the percentage of pupils who achieved at least a 5 in GCSE English, maths, a science, a language, and a social subject like history or geography.
Each factor is worth a set number of points, the total available being 40. If multiple places scored the same, they were then ranked by exam results to create the final list.
Once the number crunching was done, four schools received perfect scores of 40, but only one managed to secure the win. King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford came out on top of the top performers thanks to an incredible 96 percent of students getting a 5 in all the necessary subjects. When you compare that to the national average of 18 percent, you start to realise just how impressive that stat actually is. The school is boys’ only at secondary level, but girls can join for sixth form.
This Telegraph list only included state schools, with four of the top five being selective, including King Edward VI and St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School, which came second place. It is an all-girls school (until sixth form, when it becomes co-ed), and 71.9 percent of its students achieved the top grades in their GCSEs.
In third place was Sheffield’s High Storrs School, the highest ranking non-selective on the list. It also received 40 out of 40, but had slightly lower GCSE attainment levels at 50.2 percent. This is still well above the national average, though.
One final place managed to get the coveted 40; Stroud High School, a girls’ academy in Gloucester.
The top 10 state secondary schools in England
Here are the top 10 secondary schools in the UK according to the Telegraph along with their scores out of 40 and percentage of students achieving 5s in their core GSCEs:
- King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford: 40, 96 percent
- St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School, East Finchley: 40, 71.9 percent
- High Storrs School, Sheffield: 40, 50.2 percent
- Stroud High School, Gloucestershire: 40, 40.9 percent
- Wilson’s School, Camberwell: 39, 98.4 percent
- Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Greater Manchester: 39, 95.5 percent
- Chelmsford County High School for Girls, Chelmsford: 39, 94 percent
- Colyton Grammar School, Devon: 39, 93.3 percent
- Urmston Grammar Academy, Greater Manchester: 39, 88.7 percent
- Alcester Grammar School, Warwickshire: 39, 81.7 percent
You can find all the schools in the Telegraph’s ranking here.
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