GCSE results London 2016

Following the release of last week’s A-Level results, schools across the country have now also released their GCSE results 2016, which enables us to compile a ranking specifically for London day schools. GCSE results give us a more recent picture of how a school is performing, since the pupils who take the exams have usually joined the school at 11+ not too many years ago. A-Level results can also be skewed by the fact that schools have a sizeable new intake into their Sixth Form, or that only some candidates take A-Level exams while others pursue the IB Diploma. For this reason, I consider the GCSE based ranking the best picture of how well a school is doing academically at the moment.

As always, results are ranked by the percentage of entries marked A*, as it is simply too easy in this country to gain an A, so there can be a big difference in a candidate who achieves an A or an A*. A* grades this year were reserved for 6.5% of entries, while 21.7% were marked A. This percentage was down on last year, of course, which caused some stir in many newspapers, but the truth is that if the top mark is awarded to more than 20% of pupils, it really loses its “top mark” quality, so the percentage of A*’s is really what tells you which schools have the highest performing candidates.

While the top 5 in the table are very stable, Notting Hill & Ealing High and Wimbledon High, two GDST schools, have certainly moved up considerably in recent years. Francis Holland Sloane Square has also done really well this year, in fact better than its sister school Regent’s Park, which is supposed to be harder to get into. We’ll find out next year if this is a blip or the beginning of a trend, which would be great. Here are the top 25 senior schools in London: