The Sunday Times Top Schools List 2025

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What are your thoughts? Any surprises? Any experience of the schools that feature? Will it influence any schooling decisions for your DC?

Link (hopefully a share) here: https://www.thetimes.com/best-schools-league-table/secondary/article/top-secondary-schools-revealed-6wgtfpnwk

I tend to agree with the Head of Wellington College that it shows the growing disparity between private/public schools and the state sector. Only 7 state schools (all super selectives) in the top 50.

The school my son goes to is listed as the best state school in the southeast region and is only at 68 in the full list. .

I read an article about the top 20 schools based on the top Progress 8 scores earlier... a bit more of a diverse list.

You would expect selective schools to get the best results overall seeing as they cater for the most academic...

Edited to add link

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/education/england-top-20-state-secondary-schools-2024-named-based-on-government-latest-gcse-data-4897164

The school we are aiming for is in the top 10. Was excited to see this but also slightly concerned applications will increase 😅

Hardly any of my local schools are in the list. They mustn't have replied to the request for info.

It rather skews the results for me if the data is so incomplete.

It's far from comprehensive - a few of our local top schools aren't in it at all.

The gov.uk data has been released today, and it's much more reliable (and comprehensive)

This table has all schools in England, including independent and you can see that there are many state schools well in the mix with private schools....The Michaela school is interesting...

I don't know how skewed it will be in reality. Where I live there is one school that is generally head and shoulders above all the others, by a long way. This is under both Attainment 8 and Progress 8 scores.

But this school is about half way down the list - and it is by far the best school in the city.

Looking regionally, there are only 19 secondary schools listed in the whole region, so it is a fair point you make that many schools are not included at all. In total they have 730 secondary schools. But, certainly where I live, these missing schools wouldn't feature highly at all.

Another thing to point out is that this survey is just done based on GCSE and A Level grades. So the most selective schools come out at the top.

I don't know if this link will work for non-subscribers:

https://www.thetimes.com/best-schools-league-table

But here is another link with a share token which will give some information

https://www.thetimes.com/article/f1e42639-0a93-46b9-969e-6669503dbefa?shareToken=9044675015decaab5f3408df91ccd9ea

If you look at A level results in the .gov.uk data it is predominately private/public schools in the top section with an occasional super selective state grammar thrown in: All schools and colleges in England - Compare school and college performance data in England - GOV.UK

Looking down the first page of 50 there are only 14 non-independent schools (sorted by "Achieving AAB or higher..." column).

There is a huge gulf in achievement between state and private sector.

(Edited for missing bracket)

Our local senior school has been awarded the title Indie School of the Year 2025. But my preferred school, which held this title last year or the year before, has dropped in the rankings. It’s still within the top 10 but not in prime position anymore.

I can’t say I much care as they are both good schools and I will consider both when the time comes.

I agree with a previous poster, it does show the disparity between indie and state – but I don’t know if that's a revelation. I do wonder, however, if in the coming years as more ex-indie children move to state, whether this will impact future results.

Surely you mean there is a huge gulf in achievement between highly selective and non selective schools?

Which is hardly a big shock to anyone.

Exactly! If you only allow children to progress to a level who are getting 7s,8s and 9s across the board, you would be doing something wrong if those kids did not leave with very high a level results?
You are just not comparing like with like - these tables are meaningless.

I had a quick look at my DCs schools and noticed their close rival is about 10 places higher despite their A stars and As at A level being lower than DCs school because they have 93 v 92% A star to B . It's all pretty marginal in the top 30 or so!

Is there an equivalent list of Prep schools? @Another2Cats do you have a magical share token for that?

The list only gives independent secondary schools. There is a list of state primary schools but that only includes about 1,000 schools.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/393f24a4-7ea5-4e63-b33a-eb3362b1f973?shareToken=e097fbe0d951cd6f8dd3ec1ee52a83e3

The list leaves off a lot of schools. For example, I live in a city of 215,000 people and not a single primary school in the city is listed and only one of the secondary schools in listed.

I went to a super-selective school in London-so that I don't make it obvious, it is always in the top ten schools in the UK. Obviously they get good results because of their intake. However, my son's school, which is not in London and is not super selective does well by its intake. None of the schools where I live are super-selective because they can't be due to number of children who live here. I know times have changed and schools offer more these days but I can't help but be impressed by what my son's less super-selective schools does.

Reigate Grammar School is the Independent Secondary School of the Year 2025. I am sure it is a terrific school but I also wondered if ST are trolling Keir Starmer. They mention that it is his alma mater and that his government has shaken the independent sector with its decision to impose VAT on private school fees from January.

Are they missing or did they just not make the list?

My DD’s secondary school is the top performing state in the county by the DfE tables. It never appears in these lists.

Hi there

Can someone tell me the ranking for City of London Boys in the Times 2025 list? Thank you, sorry I don’t have access to the link.

This is interesting. Our local state school has a very high progress 8 score (above 1.10) but seems to achieve this through the strict discipline approach. It’s not Mossbourne or Michaela but probably similar vibes.

We were considering moving areas to but the school in question’s progress 8 is lower (though still good) - 0.57, and attainment lower too.

DC are still young (year 2) so it’s way too early to decide, but very hard to know what to prioritise.

Re the results in general - it’s obvious that academically selective schools will get better results than non-selective. I don’t think the state/independent distinction is relevant at all.

They are 25 jointly with Queen Ethelberga’s College (York).

The Times list claims not to just look at exam results.

Thank you, how about the ranking for Allyens, Dulwich college, Emanuel and Hamilton? Many thanks

31, 53, 71. Couldn't find Hamilton.

Sorry last 2 wrong way around!
Alleyn's 31
Emanuel 53
Dulwich 71