Secondary school pupils preparing for their GCSEs right now will be moving on to the sixth form - and their all-important A Levels - before they know it.
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. We’ve used this new data to compare how schools across the Derby City and Derbyshire County council areas did, to create a league table of the best-performing local sixth forms in the last school year (2023/24).
We have 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 Derbyshire’s very top performing sixth forms - with many on the list also making the overall East Midlands top schools for A Levels list.
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 13 state sixth forms from across Derbyshire that led the pack:
1. St Mary's Catholic High School
At the top of the list is St Mary’s, a Catholic secondary academy and sixth form in Upper Newbold, near Chesterfield. 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
2. Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School
Queen Elizabeth’s is a Christian secondary academy and sixth form in Ashbourne, Derbyshire. Despite its name, it is a comprehensive school. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 37.7 - giving it an average grade of B-. | Google
3. Littleover Community School
This is a local authority-maintained secondary school and sixth form in Littleover, Derby. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 37.58 - giving it an average grade of B-. | Google
4. Chellaston Academy
This is a secondary academy and sixth form in Chellaston, Derby. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 37.32 - giving it an average grade of B-. | Google