Queen Elizabeth’s School had the best A-level results of any state school, according to the influential Sunday Times Parent Power survey’s first post-pandemic rankings published this weekend.
QE is the also the best boys’ state school in terms of GCSE results for 2022, the survey found.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This confirmation of our record-breaking A-level performance caps a fantastic year for QE. The achievement is all the more remarkable since this year’s leavers were disrupted throughout their time in the Sixth Form by the pandemic: my congratulations once again go to them – and to our staff – for showing such flexibility, hard work and fortitude in the face of repeated national lockdowns.
“The year began with us enjoying our new status as the Sunday Times’ Schools Guide 2022 State School of the Year – a title which is distinct from the Parent Power academic rankings and recognises overall achievements across all aspects of school life.
“2022 has also seen: the opening of our fantastic new Music building (The Friends’ Recital Hall and Music Rooms); the securing of 35 places at Oxford and Cambridge; the publication of an Ofsted report which found QE to be ‘outstanding’ across all areas, and this month’s royal visit by HRH The Duke of Gloucester. It has truly been Queen Elizabeth’s School’s annus mirabilis!
“My best wishes go to Wycombe High School, who will soon take over the crown as 2023’s State School of the Year.”
The Parent Power table was based on 2022 public examination results, with schools ranked by the percentage of GCSEs awarded A*, A, 9, 8 & 7 grades, and of A-levels graded A*–B, with the A-level results double-weighted. In first place was QE’s Barnet girls’ school neighbour, Henrietta Barnett, with 98.8% for GCSE and 97.3% for A-levels, while QE was just behind in second place overall, with 95.7% for GCSEs and 98.3% for A-levels.
The 2022 QE A-level cohort also set a School record for the proportion of grades at the very top (A*) which this year reached 70.7%.
The upper reaches of this year’s Parent Power state school table are dominated by grammar schools, with the top 28 schools all fully selective – a fact expounded by the Parent Power editor, Helen Davies.
“The trends may not be new, but they are reinforced: selective grammars are dominating…and those schools that push extra-curricular activities and wellbeing are thriving inside and outside the classroom,” she wrote.