KING Edward VI School in Stratford has retained its position as the top state school in the West Midlands.
The school was named West Midlands State Secondary School of the Year in The Sunday Times Parent Power guide at the weekend.
It has held this accolade since 2018 and has also moved up one place, to ninth, in the UK’s top ten schools.
Parent Power is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative annual survey of the country’s best schools. The rankings in the secondary school league tables are determined by the percentage of examination entries gaining A* to B grades at A level and the percentage of entries returning 9 to 7 grades at GCSE.
At KES, 90 per cent of A level papers were graded A* to B and 85 per cent of GCSE papers were graded 9 to 7 – both record-breaking results for the school
Headmaster Bennet Carr said: “It’s obviously very gratifying for us to be ranked so highly again but any plaudits we receive are down to the collective hard work and dedication of our students.
“These were the first public examinations with normal grading since the pandemic and for them to achieve record results in these circumstances was quite remarkable. It is a tribute to both their hard work and dedication, as well as that of their teachers who have prepared and taught them so effectively.
“We should also not lose sight of the fact that a great deal of the holistic education we aim to provide cannot be measured by grades. I would therefore like to recognise the superb commitment our students and staff make to the wider life of the school. These activities are crucially important but are less easily accounted for in league tables.”
Stratford GIrls’ Grammar School came in fifth in the same category.
In neighbouring Warwick district, North Leamington School and Kenilworth School were placed third and fourth respectively in the Top Comprehensive Schools in the West Midlands category.
King’s High secured fourth in the Best Independent School in the West Midlands category, with Warwick School ranking tenth.
