The Department for Education has unveiled its provisional key stage 4 results for the 2024/25 academic year, revealing a new league table of England's highest-performing secondary schools. This year, the rankings carry a significant change, as schools are ordered by their Attainment 8 score rather than the traditional Progress 8 measure.
Why Attainment 8 Replaced Progress 8 This Year
Government officials confirmed that the standard Progress 8 metric could not be calculated for this year's cohort, nor will it be available next year. The reason stems from the lasting impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to the cancellation of key stage two SATs tests in 2020. Without this primary school baseline data, it is impossible to measure the progress pupils make between ages 11 and 16.
Consequently, the focus shifts entirely to raw achievement. The Attainment 8 score provides a snapshot of a pupil's performance across eight qualifications. It assigns double points for English and Maths, includes three subjects from the English Baccalaureate (such as sciences, languages, or history), and three other approved GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. A higher score indicates stronger overall GCSE results.
Birmingham's Academic Elite: The Top Performers
Using this Attainment 8 data, a clear picture emerges of Birmingham's most academically successful state secondary schools for the latest school year. The city's grammar schools dominate the upper echelons of the list.
Topping the local and national table is Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls, which achieved a remarkable provisional Attainment 8 score of 79.3. In second place is Bishop Vesey's Grammar School with a score of 77.1.
The rankings continue with other prestigious institutions:
- King Edward VI Five Ways School in Birmingham secured third place with a score of 75.7.
- King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys in Kings Heath followed closely with a score of 75.6.
The full list names fifteen schools in total, highlighting where pupils in the region are excelling in their studies based on the latest available data published on 2nd December 2025.
What This Means for Parents and Pupils
This year's unique ranking system offers a pure assessment of GCSE outcomes, free from contextual progress measures. For families, it provides a clear, if singular, indicator of academic excellence at the end of secondary education. The results underscore the continued strong performance of selective state schools within Birmingham's educational landscape.
While the absence of Progress 8 data limits the understanding of a school's value-added contribution, the Attainment 8 scores firmly establish which institutions are delivering the highest levels of pupil achievement in their final examinations. This information will be crucial for parents making informed choices and for schools benchmarking their performance against local and national peers.
