Grammar beats private schools at A-level

A state school has recorded the best A-level results in the country, beating hundreds of prestigious private schools which charge fees of up to £27,000 a year.

King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford, Essex, is on course to be ranked as the top performing school in the Government's performance tables, having achieved the equivalent of nearly five A-grades for every pupil.

The school, which was founded in 1551, beat the top-ranked independent school, King's College School Wimbledon, an all-boys' school that charges up to £14,325 a year.

Tom Sherrington, the head teacher at King Edward VI, said: "We are delighted from the point of view of being a state school coming top. But league tables are only part of the picture." He said the top ranking proved the important role played by grammar schools in helping the most gifted children achieve exceptional results.

"Some of our most talented students come from very modest-income backgrounds," he said, adding that the results "demonstrate what grammar schools have to offer". Most sixth formers at the school take at least four A-levels, plus general studies, with many high-flyers taking six or seven courses.

The Independent Schools Council (ISC), which represents most of the UK's private schools, indicated yesterday that King Edward VI outperformed all 468 private schools in the tables with an average point score of 580.5 per pupil.

However, 57 leading private schools, including Eton, Winchester and St Paul's boys' school in west London, have refused to submit their data to the ISC, arguing that it was time to end the "tyranny of tables".

Also boycotting the tables is Sevenoaks, which topped the private school rankings last year. Sevenoaks is one of a handful of schools where all pupils do the International Baccalaureate, which is considered by many university admissions tutors to offer pupils a broader sixth-form curriculum and to be more challenging than A-levels.

King's College School Wimbledon, the top ranked private school of the 468 which submitted their results, has now dropped A-levels in favour of the IB – this summer's was the last set of A-level results after years of running both qualifications.

Andrew Halls, the headteacher, said he felt "uneasy" that schools were boycotting the ISC rankings, arguing that they were fairer than the Government's tables, which do not recognise alternative qualifications such as International GCSEs taken by many private schools.

"By coming out of the tables they are leaving the public with very incomplete information," he said. "I completely understand that some heads feel that league tables have created an ugly competitiveness between schools. I personally do not feel that... This is important information and we should not keep it hidden."

A-level results were published last week and they showed a record performance by state schools, but the independent sector releases its results a week later. The rankings will be confirmed in the Department for Children, Schools and Families rankings in January, which judge schools according to their average point per pupil, using the points tariff of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service.