Choosing the right sixth form school or college to sit their A Levels can make a big difference to how a young person ends up doing - which in turn impacts their options after school.
The Government last week released the latest performance figures for state-funded sixth form colleges and secondary schools, meaning England’s top A Level performers have now been named. It comes ahead of secondary school offers - which are expected to be sent out over the coming weeks - while many young people are already mulling over conditional offers from sixth forms even as they prepare for their GCSEs.
We’ve used this new data to compare how schools across all of the East Midlands’ local authority areas did, to create a league table of the region’s best-performing sixth forms in the 2023/24 school year. They have been ranked them by their A Level performance point scores, a unique measurement derived from students’ A Level results that gives them a score out of 60. We’ve also included the average grade each school’s students achieved across their A Level entries.
The list is made up of only the very top performers - with each school on the list having at least a B- average. We also checked that those included had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before this measure was recently dropped, or, if they’ve been inspected more recently, had at least ‘good’ grades across the board. This means that the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management and student safeguarding were all found to meet or exceed government standards last time the school was inspected.
Here were the 20 state sixth forms from across the East Midlands that rose to the top:
5. The West Bridgford School
This is a secondary school and sixth form in West Bridgford, just south of Nottingham. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 40.07 - giving it an average grade of B. | Google
6. St Mary's Catholic High School
St Mary’s is a Catholic secondary school and sixth form in Upper Newbold, Chesterfield in Derbyshire. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 39.18 - giving it an average grade of B. | Google
7. Northampton School for Boys
This is a boys’ secondary school and sixth form in Northampton, formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 39.06 - giving it an average grade of B. | Google
8. Harington School
Harington is a sixth form college in Oakham, Rutland, formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 38.94 - giving it an average grade of B. | Google