When it comes to secondary schools punching above their weight in GCSE performance, there’s no shortage in the East Midlands.
The government’s brand new preliminary performance figures for state-funded secondary schools were released last week, with primary school and sixth form data expected to follow shortly. Using this data, we’ve created a league table ranking the top state secondary schools across the East Midlands region for the 2023/24 school year - based on their latest Progress 8 scores.
This is a unique figure based on GCSE results and other student achievements, which helps to determine how quickly students at any particular school are learning and progressing compared to peers arriving from similar primary schools nationwide. Any score above 0 is positive, but we’ve selected only those above 0.5, which are considered ‘well above average’ - the highest band available.
We’ve also made sure that all schools included on the list also had an overall Ofsted rating of ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ before this measure was recently dropped, or, if they’ve been inspected more recently, had passing marks across the board. This means that the quality of education, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and safeguarding all met or exceeded government standards the last time the school was inspected.
Here are the 26 schools from across the East Midlands to make the grade:
1. Madani Girls' School
Madani Girls’ School is an Islamic girls' secondary school in Leicester, which shares a site with Madani Boys School. It was formerly rated ‘good’ overall by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an outstanding Progress 8 score of 1.14 - earning it a firm place in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
2. The King's School, Grantham
The King's School is a selective boys' academy in Grantham, Lincolnshire. It was previously rated ‘good’ by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it also had an outstanding Progress 8 score of 1.10 - or ‘well above average’. | Google
3. Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School is a selective all-girls academy in Grantham, Lincolnshire. It was formerly rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an excellent Progress 8 score of 1.04 - ‘well above average’. | Google
4. Northampton School for Boys
The Northampton School for Boys is a boys' secondary school and sixth form in Northampton, formerly rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. In the 2023/24 school year, it had an Progress 8 score of 0.95 - placing it firmly in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google