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Tens of thousands of parents are discovering today whether their child has successfully been offered a place at their first choice of secondary school.
Last year, around one in five children missed out on their first choice and this is unlikely to change much this year.
The Telegraph’s Secondary School League table gives parents the power to see how well the school where their child will sit their GCSEs really performs.
The Henrietta Barnett School has topped the list since at least 2016, when new metrics were introduced to measure pupil performance at GCSEs.
Pupils sitting exams in the summer of 2023 gained an average Attainment 8 score of 87.5, and a 5+ rate of 100%.
Attainment 8 scores are calculated by combining the average results of students across eight subjects, including English, maths and at least three English Baccalaureate subjects, such as languages, history or sciences.
The 5+ rate looks at the proportion of students who received at least five GCSEs with a grade of 5 (equivalent to a B) or higher, including English and maths.
On the 5+ rate, the Henrietta Barnett School also performed best and is the only school where every pupil met the standard.
The girls school, located in Hampstead, north London, was founded in 1911 and former students include Baroness Evans, Leader of the House of Lords.
In 2022, the school received a “Good” inspection outcome from Ofsted, meaning the school is the only one in the top 10 state schools not to have an outstanding grade.
At the time, Clare Wagner, the headmistress, described the inspectorate as “not fit for purpose”.
Unsurprisingly, selective schools perform incredibly well in the secondary league table.
Of the top 20 schools in the country, 19 were grammar schools and just one was an academy, the King Edward VI School in Staffordshire.
In 2023, the top ten secondary schools based on Attainment 8 scores were:
The Henrietta Barnett School, Barnet: 87.5
Wilson’s School, Sutton: 86.2
Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet: 85.2
St Olave’s and St Saviour’s Grammar School, Bromley: 84.3
Kendrick School, Berkshire: 84.1
The Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston-upon-Thames: 84
King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys, Birmingham: 83.2
Chelmsford County High School for Girls, Essex: 82.3
Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, Cheshire: 82.2
Pate’s Grammar School, Gloucestershire: 82.2
Many London schools outperform the national average, with four of the top five schools in the country within London postcode areas.
This includes the top three schools.
In 2023, the top ten secondary schools based on Attainment 8 scores were:
The Henrietta Barnett School, Barnet: 87.5
Wilson’s School, Sutton: 86.2
Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet: 85.2
St Olave’s and St Saviour’s Grammar School, Bromley: 84.3
The Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston-upon-Thames: 84
Newstead Wood School, Bromley: 81.4
The Latymer School, Enfield: 81.4
Tiffin School, Kingston-upon-Thames: 80.3
Wallington High School for Girls, Sutton: 79.9
St Michael’s Catholic Grammar School, Barnet: 79.7
Across England, GCSE results declined in 2023 as the Department for Education attempted to reverse some of the grade inflation seen during the pandemic driven by teacher-assessed grades.
Last year, 22.4 per cent of exams in England were graded 7 or higher, equivalent to to an A or A*.
This was a decline from last year, when 27 per cent of exams received a 7 or higher.