QE becomes first school in London to achieve 100% in key Government GCSE measure

Queen Elizabeth’s School is the first in London to achieve a 100% pass rate in the English Baccaulaureate, the Government’s new league tables reveal.

All 179 GCSE pupils at QE attained the performance measure, which was introduced in 2010. Devised by Education Secretary Michael Gove, the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) requires pupils to achieve A*-C grades in English, Mathematics, at least two sciences, a foreign language and History or Geography. The only other school in the country to achieve a 100% EBacc pass rate this year is Chelmsford County High School for Girls.

The Headmaster, Neil Enright, said: “I think the EBacc results reflect our strength as a school in core academic subjects – as well, of course, as underlining a tremendous amount of hard work by our pupils, supported by very dedicated teachers.”

The league tables also confirm that 100% of last summer’s candidates at QE gained the benchmark five A*-C passes, including English and Mathematics, at GCSE.

And they reveal that the School has a high ‘value-added’ figure of 1046.5 at Key Stage 4 – indicating that pupils at 16 are achieving considerably more than might have been predicted based on their educational level at age 11. Overall, 49% of pupils at QE do not have English as their first language.

The School’s performance today attracted regional and national media interest. Speaking to the Evening Standard, Mr Enright rejected suggestions that the EBacc devalued subjects not included in the measure: “I don’t think it has to be like that. Whilst we have a traditional curriculum here, last year 40 boys took GCSE Music, 35 took Art and more than 50 took Design Technology.”

London grammar school celebrates perfect English Baccalaureate score – Evening Standard, Thursday 23 January 2014

Gove's revolution: pupils return to traditional subjects in huge numbers – The Independent, Friday 24 January 2014

The percentage of A* grades at GCSE in 2013 set a new QE record for the second consecutive year. Among the Year 11 pupils, 66% of examinations taken were awarded A*. This represents a further improvement on the 2012 figure of 63.9%, which was itself a substantial jump over the 55.3% recorded in 2011.

A-level results were also impressive, matching the record-breaking figures of the previous year. In 2013, 98.3% of A-levels taken at QE were awarded A*-B grades, while almost four in every ten examinations (39%) were given the A* grade.

The current Sixth-Formers also look set to continue the record of high achievement. The School is on track to equal its record for the number of boys sent to Oxford and Cambridge, with 37 pupils having received Oxbridge offers this year.