QE is the country’s top boys’ state school, according to the FT’s influential Top Schools annual rankings. The School has held its position as eighth overall among English secondary schools from both the independent and state sector.
Published later in the year than in previous years, the rankings are nevertheless based on 2011 A-level results, rather than those from this summer. They show that QE boys gained an average of 277 points per examination entry (with 300 points representing an A* grade and 270 for A) and that 85% of entries were graded A or A*. The methodology used in compiling the tables takes account only of core academic subjects, as defined by the University of Cambridge.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “I am very pleased that we have retained our eighth place in a table that carries considerable academic credibility. At QE, we pride ourselves on being a school where boys from any background may succeed at the highest level. Our success in pursuing that determinedly meritocratic approach is underlined by the fact that, as a state school, we have again outstripped many of the famous fee-charging public schools.
“I look forward to seeing how QE is ranked next year, when the tables will presumably be based on our 2012 A-level results, which were our best ever.”
In a specially written column accompanying the rankings, philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust and of the Education Endowment Foundation, highlighted the dominance of independent schools in the FT league tables, notwithstanding QE’s high ranking.