And the top secondary school in London is…. the King’s College Maths School, a selective state Sixth Form college in Lambeth! Pupils outperformed their peers at highly selective independent schools Westminster School, St Paul’s Girls’ School and King’s College Wimbledon, among others. These are just headline numbers and the picture will look a bit different if we go into the details of A-Level courses and subject choices, but it is nevertheless a very impressive performance.
We already highlighted Kings College Maths School London as a school to watch last year.The school offers pupils A-levels in Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Computer Science and Economics only. 40% of its students are girls. 30% of their leavers got offers to study at King’s College last year, with a further 22% getting into Oxbridge this year. When reading the results below, please note a few schools have not published their results in terms of % of A*’s awarded yet, so a few important schools (St Paul’s, Godolphin & Latymer, City of London School, UCS) are still missing. The table will be updated once these results are published.
Top 20 London schools ranked by % of A*’s at 2017 A-levels
| A* | ||||
| 1 | King’s College London Maths Academy | state | Co-ed | 58% |
| 2 | Westminster School | private | Co-ed | 57% |
| 3 | St Paul’s Girls’ School | private | Girls | 46% |
| 4 | City of London School for Girls | private | Girls | 45% |
| 5 | Haberdasher Aske’s School for Boys | private | Boys | 44% |
| 6 | King’s College Wimbledon | private | Co-ed | 43% |
| 7 | NLCS | private | Girls | 43% |
| 8 | Henrietta Barnett School | state | Girls | 43% |
| 9 | Queen Elizabeth School, Barnet | state | Boys | 41% |
| 10 | Alleyn’s | private | co-ed | 39% |
| 11 | Highgate | private | Co-ed | 38% |
| 12 | Latymer Upper | private | Co-ed | 34% |
| 13 | Lady Eleanor Holles | private | Girls | 33% |
| 14 | Hampton School | private | Boys | 33% |
| 15 | Habs Girls | private | Girls | 32% |
| 16 | Tiffin Girls | state | Girls | 30% |
| 17 | Channing School | private | Girls | 30% |
| 18 | JAGS | private | Girls | 30% |
| 19 | South Hampstead High School | private | Girls | 28% |
| 20 | Putney High School | private | Girls | 26% |
When reading the results, it is also important to note that far more A*’s are awarded in STEM subjects such as Maths and Physics, and the lowest number of A* grades is awarded in the subjects English Literature and Psychology. This might have favoured some boys’ schools and co-ed schools in the league tables. The King’s College Maths School in particular benefits from this, as pupils here cannot sit A-Levels in humanities subjects. Once schools publish full results by subjects, we will check if King’s College Maths School really outperformed Westminster School or King’s College Wimbledon in Maths, Physics and Computer Science.GCSE results 2017 will be released on Thursday 24th August, which will provide potentially more up to date info on the ranking of London secondary schools. Since some schools (such as NLCS, King’s College and Godolphin & Latymer, for example) offer their pupils a choice of A-Levels and IB Diploma and many schools accept external candidates into their Sixth Form, GCSE results tend to reflect the quality of a senior school more accurately.
All that said, it is an exciting achievement for a new free school in Lambeth to be ranked top of the country a few years after its opening. It is also fantastic to see co-ed schools like Alleyn’s, Latymer Upper and Highgate moving up the league tables, busting the myth that you have to attend a single six school if you want the best academic school. As competition for places at co-educational schools continues, this trend might well continue.
South Hampstead is ranked almost the same as CLSG at GSCE, but then drops quite a bit down at A levels. Is this because girls leave for other sixth forms more at South Hampstead than City? Any idea why?
Yes, that is part of the reason, as some very strong candidates switch to SPGS / City / Westminster. In addition, it could be a matter of a particularly strong cohort this year (which will be reflected in the A-Level results in 2 years time). Some cohorts are stronger than others, even if everything else stays the same at the school.
Where’s Godolphin & Latymer?
in Hammersmith
No wonder the elite stay the elite, generation after generation!