This ranking has looked at Government data to sort the Steel City’s schools in order of the strongest A Level results – that is, what percentage of its cohort at the end of the academic year in 2022 who earned an AAB or higher.
This is far from a ranking of schools from “best to worst”, as several of Sheffield’s colleges that appear towards the bottom of this list specialise in technical qualifications and post extremely strong results in those every year.
Similarly, this ranking does not take into account other measures of a school’s success, such as how many of its pupils enter higher education or fulfil other ambitions after school, which you can read more about here.
The Star has left several schools off this ranking. Sheffield College does not post traditional A Level results, Al-Mahad Al-Islami school only had three pupils in its A-Level cohort last year, and UTC Sheffield Olympic Park’s figures were ‘suppressed’ by the Government for unknown reasons – however, UTC is not known for its A Levels and instead posts very strong technical qualifications every year.
Here are Sheffield's 14 sixth form offerings ranked by how many AAB results they got in 2022.
9. Notre Dame High School
Out of Notre Dame High School's 236 leavers in 2022, 21 per cent of them earned an AAB or higher in their A Levels. The latest data shows a third of its cohort per year enters a Russell Group University. Photo: JPI Media
10. King Edward VII School
King Edward VII School has had an arduous 2023 with the ongoing debacle that it could be "forced" into academization. At the end of 2022, 22 per cent of its 269 leavers earned an AAB or higher in their A Levels. Photo: submit
11. Birkdale School
One of the smaller Sixth Form cohorts in Sheffield, Birkdale School had 83 leavers in 2022, and 27.8 per cent of them earning an AAB or higher. For unknown reasons, data on how many of its pupils entered higher education is not available on the Gov.uk website. Photo: Google Maps
12. Tapton School
Tapton School had 238 leavers in 2022, with 28.2 per cent of them attaining AAB or higher. In 2021, an astonishing 43 per cent of its cohort entered a Russell Group University and, at five per cent of its cohort, had the highest proportion of students going to Oxbridge out of Sheffield schools that year. Photo: Google