These are the top 5 independent schools in the UK

Britain’s schools and universities are some of the most reputable globally.

But what schools perform best academically, as measured through GCSE and A Level results? According to The Telegraph’s league table, private girls’ school St Mary’s School Ascot is in the top spot when it comes to GCSE performance among independent schools this year. It achieved a 97.5 percent A*-A or 9-1 rate. These are the top five schools with the best GCSE results:

Meanwhile, Cardiff Sixth Form College tops the chart for A Level performance, with 88.5 percent A-A* rate or equivalent. These are the top five schools with the best results for A Level:

The rankings are the latest examples of the “Quality of education” factor that motivates high net worth families to send their children to school and university in the UK. According to a survey last year by private tutoring company Keystone Tutors and executive search and advisory company Wild Search, the other key driver is the “prestige of school/university name”.

Despite the political turmoil of Brexit, the majority of high net worth families would still consider sending their children to study in the UK, with 61 percent of respondents claiming their clients’ appetites for UK education have not changed in the past 12-months, whilst 24 percent feel it has increased and only 16 percent feel it has decreased.

“UK independent schools have long projected an image of excellence, continuity and reliability in this uncertain world,” says Will Orr-Ewing, founder and director of Keystone.

“As this report makes clear, it is an image that continues to resonate with families from all over the world. Our schools are not immune to global trends but we hope that their ambition, their dynamism and their independence means that they continue to capitalise on these trends rather than succumb to them.”

Of the more than 500,000 pupils in ISC-member schools in the UK, there are 28,910 in ISC schools whose parents live overseas. This represents 5.4 percent of all pupils, according to the ISC Annual Census 2019, carried out in January this year and completed by all 1,364 schools in UK membership of the constituent associations.

Most ISC schools typically have less than 190 pupils, with the majority enrolling fewer than 300 pupils. The pupil-teacher ratio is 8.5 to one. One in six of all pupils worldwide achieve the maximum International Baccalaureate score of 45 points, with the majority (54 percent) continuing to a Russell Group university.

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