The North West is playing with the big boys when it comes to supporting students to reach their A Level potential, with many of the country’s very highest performing schools to be found dotted across the region.
The Government released the latest performance figures for state-funded sixth form colleges and secondary schools last week, meaning England’s top A Level performers have now been named. We’ve used this new data to compare how those across the North West’s local authority areas did, from Cumbria to Cheshire, Liverpool to Manchester, to create a league table of its stand-out sixth forms in the 2023/24 school year.
They have been ranked by their A Level performance point scores, a unique measurement derived from students’ A Level results that gives them a score out of 60. You’ll also see the overall ‘average grades’ each school’s students achieved across their A Level entries - and we’ve only included those with at least a B average.
We also checked that each school 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 - with the exception being one brand new school without a ranking yet. 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 21 state sixth forms from across the North West that made the grade:
7. Sale Grammar School
This is a selective secondary school and sixth form in Sale, Greater Manchester, formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 44.42 - giving it an average grade of B+. | Google
8. Sir John Deane's Sixth Form College
Sir John Deane’s is a sixth form college in Northwich, Cheshire. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an excellent A Level point score of 44.31 - giving it an average grade of B+. | Google
9. Tauheedul Islam Girls' High School
Tauheedal is a Muslim girls’ secondary school and sixth form in Blackburn, Lancashire. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 42.27 - giving it an average grade of B+. | Google
10. Lancaster Girls' Grammar School
This is a selective girls’ secondary school and sixth form in Lancaster, Lancashire. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an excellent A Level point score of 42.24 - giving it an average grade of B+. | Google
11. Saint Ambrose College
Saint Ambrose is a selective Catholic boys’ secondary school in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester, formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an excellent A Level point score of 41.46 - giving it an average grade of B. | Google
12. Cheadle Hulme High School
This is a secondary school and sixth form in Cheadle Hulme, in Greater Manchester’s Stockport borough. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an A Level point score of 41.29 - giving it an average grade of B. | Google