‘QE is top London boys’ state school’: Sunday Times

Queen Elizabeth’s School has been named as London’s top boys’ state school in a Sunday Times feature on the capital’s schools.

The school is eighth in the newspaper’s London-wide rankings, headed only by fee-paying schools and by Henrietta Barnett, a girls’ grammar, which is in sixth place. Nationally, QE currently stands in joint-11th place in the Sunday Times’ rankings of the best 700 secondary schools, having risen from 17th place last year. In these national tables, it is again the leading boys’ state school.

The tables are based on the percentage of top grades at both A-level and GCSE.  For A-levels nationally, QE was joint-fourth overall, outstripping all other state schools, including Henrietta Barnett.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “It’s widely acknowledged that London has some of highest-achieving schools in the country, so to be named as its top boys’ state school is most gratifying. Our boys come from all sorts of backgrounds and QE is strictly a meritocracy: any pupil with talent and determination can achieve academic success at the highest levels here.”

Earlier this year, QE emerged in Government league tables as the top state school for A-levels anywhere in the country according to the new measure of how many students achieved a  benchmark of two A grades and a B in ‘facilitating subjects’.  These are core academic subjects, identified by the Russell Group of leading universities following its research into which subjects are more likely to secure university places. In 2012, 65% of QE’s A-level candidates reached this benchmark.