Best Grammar Schools in Buckinghamshire: GCSE and A Level Results Ranked

Ranked by average Attainment 8 score, the best grammar schools in Buckinghamshire begin with Dr Challoner's High School in Amersham on 79.1, followed by Beaconsfield High School on 75.9, Aylesbury Grammar School on 74.5 and Aylesbury High School on 74.3. Below those four the figures sit close together, so the order in the middle of the table turns on small differences.

Thirteen schools are ranked on a single measure, the average Attainment 8 score from the latest DfE key stage 4 performance tables, where each pupil's grades across eight GCSE-level qualifications are totalled with English and maths double-weighted, to a maximum of 90. Schools on the same figure share a rank, and the table also shows the percentage achieving grade 5 or above in English and maths and the DfE's average A level grade.

Which grammar schools in Buckinghamshire have the best GCSE results?

Figures run from 79.1 at Dr Challoner's High School down to 70.1 at Burnham Grammar School, and the first place stands apart because Beaconsfield High School in second sits on 75.9. Ten schools, from Aylesbury Grammar School on 74.5 to John Hampden Grammar School on 72.3, fall between those two ends, which means a place or two in the order carries little weight. Aylesbury Grammar School (74.5), Aylesbury High School (74.3) and Chesham Grammar School (74) form the upper band of that group, and Dr Challoner's Grammar School, The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe and Wycombe High School all share rank =6 on 73.9.

Girls' schools hold ranks 1, 2, 4 and =6 (Dr Challoner's High School, Beaconsfield High School, Aylesbury High School and Wycombe High School), whilst the boys' schools sit at 3, =6, =6 and 12 and the co-educational schools at 5, 9, 10, 11 and 13. Chesham Grammar School on 74 is the highest co-educational school, and Burnham Grammar School on 70.1 has the lowest figure in the table. The grade 5 percentages in English and maths range from 99.5 at Dr Challoner's High School to 94.4 at Burnham Grammar School, with Beaconsfield High School on 99.4 and Aylesbury High School on 98.9 close behind the leader.

A level grades follow the GCSE order only loosely. Five schools show A-: Dr Challoner's High School, Chesham Grammar School, Dr Challoner's Grammar School, The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe and Royal Latin School, which is ninth at GCSE on 73.5. Beaconsfield High School, Aylesbury High School, Wycombe High School, Sir William Borlase's Grammar School and John Hampden Grammar School show B+, and Aylesbury Grammar School, third at GCSE, shows B alongside Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School and Burnham Grammar School.

How does entry to Buckinghamshire grammar schools work?

Entry to every Buckinghamshire grammar school runs through the Buckinghamshire 11+ selection test, a single coordinated assessment that standardises selection across all of the county's grammar schools. Buckinghamshire is one of the few English counties with a fully selective system, and approximately 9,000 children compete each year for around 2,400 grammar school places.

Competition varies by school, with oversubscription ratios reaching 5:1 or 6:1 at the most sought-after. Aylesbury Grammar School is highly oversubscribed, particularly for local catchment area applicants, and Beaconsfield High School is described as particularly competitive because of catchment area constraints and transport links to London. Families therefore need to check catchment areas, test requirements and allocation rules for each school they are considering, since a high place in the table does not indicate how likely an offer is.

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What do these results show and what do they leave out?

The table shows how each school's pupils scored on average at GCSE level and, where the DfE publishes it, at A level, for schools that all select by the Buckinghamshire 11+. Attainment 8 and the grade 5 percentage in English and maths describe results at age 16, whilst the A level grade covers the sixth form, which at Aylesbury Grammar School and Dr Challoner's Grammar School includes girls.

The figures do not show admission chances, travel time or the pupils each school has taken in, and gaps of a tenth of a point, such as 73.9 against 74, tell a parent very little. A figure such as the 99.5 at Dr Challoner's High School is a percentage of pupils reaching grade 5 or above in English and maths, so it reads best next to the Attainment 8 score.

Which Buckinghamshire grammar schools are boys', girls' or co-educational?

Of the thirteen ranked schools, four are girls' schools, four are boys' schools and five are co-educational. The girls' schools are Dr Challoner's High School, Beaconsfield High School, Aylesbury High School and Wycombe High School, and the boys' schools are Aylesbury Grammar School, Dr Challoner's Grammar School, The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe and John Hampden Grammar School.

The co-educational schools are Chesham Grammar School, Royal Latin School, Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School, Sir William Borlase's Grammar School and Burnham Grammar School. According to the county guide, Aylesbury Grammar School and Dr Challoner's Grammar School both have a mixed sixth form, so a boy at either school meets girls from the sixth form onwards.

How do grammar schools in the same Buckinghamshire town compare?

Aylesbury, High Wycombe and Amersham each have more than one ranked school, and the table lets a parent compare them directly. Aylesbury has Aylesbury Grammar School on 74.5, Aylesbury High School on 74.3 and Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School on 73.2, with A level grades of B, B+ and B respectively.

High Wycombe has The Royal Grammar School and Wycombe High School sharing rank =6 on 73.9, with John Hampden Grammar School 12th on 72.3. Amersham has Dr Challoner's High School on 79.1 at rank 1 and Dr Challoner's Grammar School on 73.9 at rank =6.

How the schools are ranked

The ranking covers every state grammar school in Buckinghamshire with a published Attainment 8 score in the Department for Education's key stage 4 performance data, ordered from highest to lowest, with schools on the same figure sharing a rank. Every school in the table selects by ability at eleven, so the figures reflect a selective intake as well as the teaching; Progress 8 was not calculated for this cohort.

The data is the Department for Education's own download from Compare school and college performance, so anyone can reproduce the order from the same file; the data year and source are listed in the key facts above.

Admissions guides for the ranked schools

• Dr Challoner's High School (ranked 1)
• Beaconsfield High School (ranked 2)
• Aylesbury Grammar School (ranked 3)
• Aylesbury High School (ranked 4)
• Chesham Grammar School (ranked 5)
• Dr Challoner's Grammar School (ranked =6)
• The Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe (ranked =6)
• Wycombe High School (ranked =6)
• Royal Latin School (ranked 9)
• Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School (ranked 10)
• Sir William Borlase's Grammar School (ranked 11)
• John Hampden Grammar School (ranked 12)
• Burnham Grammar School (ranked 13)

Related guides

• Buckinghamshire Grammar Schools Guide
• Best private schools in Buckinghamshire
• Best grammar schools in the UK by GCSE results
• Grammar schools in England: the full directory
• The 11+ entrance exam explained

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