Best Private Schools in Greater Manchester: A Level Results Ranked

The best private schools in Greater Manchester on A level results are Withington Girls' School, with an average point score of 50.59 per entry (grade A), followed by The Manchester Grammar School on 49.98 (grade A) and Manchester High School for Girls on 46.10 (grade A-). Stockport Grammar School comes fourth on 41.91, and the ranking continues down to Abbey College Manchester on 28.75.

Fourteen independent schools are ranked, all on a single measure: the average point score per A level entry in the Department for Education's latest performance tables for post-school study, where A* scores 60, A scores 50, B scores 40 and C scores 30. The grade shown beside each figure is the DfE's fine-grade expression of that average, and the student count is the number of A level students behind it.

Which private schools in Greater Manchester have the best A level results?

Figures run from 50.59 at Withington Girls' School to 28.75 at Abbey College Manchester, and the table is far from evenly spaced. The first three schools sit at grades A, A and A- (50.59, 49.98 and 46.10), whilst the next group of schools sits between 41.91 and 36.15, so the largest gap in the upper half of the table falls between third and fourth place.

Several schools sit very close together. Stockport Grammar School (41.91), Cheadle Hulme School (41.82) and Bury Grammar Schools (41.61) occupy ranks 4 to 6, and St Bede's College (40.54), Bolton School Boys' Division (40.36) and Bolton School Girls' Division (40.08) follow at ranks 7 to 9. Chetham's School of Music (38.07), Hulme Grammar School (37.76) and Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya (36.15) form a further group at grade B-, and Bridgewater School (32.38, C+) and Abbey College Manchester (28.75, C) close the table.

Girls' schools hold ranks 1, 3 and 9 and boys' schools hold ranks 2, 8 and 12, with the remaining schools co-educational. Chetham's School of Music, Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya and Abbey College Manchester take boarders alongside day pupils. Cohort size varies sharply, from 211 students at The Manchester Grammar School and 117 at Cheadle Hulme School down to 19 each at Bridgewater School and Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya, so the averages for the smallest cohorts tend to move more with individual results.

Entry points and fees at the ranked Greater Manchester schools

Fees and entry points vary widely across the ranking, so the table below sets them side by side for the schools with an admissions guide on this site; each figure comes from the school's own website and carries the academic year it applies to.

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Which are the top girls' schools in Greater Manchester for A levels?

Withington Girls' School has the highest average point score of any girls' school in the table, at 50.59 (grade A) across 91 students, and it is also first overall. Manchester High School for Girls follows at rank 3 with 46.10 (grade A-) across 85 students.

Bolton School Girls' Division is the next girls' school, ranked 9 on 40.08 (grade B) with 97 students. The boys' division at rank 8 sits on 40.36 with 101 students.

Which is the top boys' school in Greater Manchester for A levels?

The Manchester Grammar School has the highest average point score among boys' schools, at 49.98 (grade A), and it is ranked 2 overall. It also has the largest A level cohort in the table, with 211 students.

Bolton School Boys' Division is next at rank 8 on 40.36 (grade B) with 101 students, followed by Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya at rank 12 on 36.15 (grade B-) with 19 students. The last of these is a day and boarding school.

Which private schools in Greater Manchester take boarders?

Chetham's School of Music, Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya and Abbey College Manchester take boarders as well as day pupils, and the table lists each as day and boarding. Every other ranked school is listed as a day school.

Chetham's School of Music is ranked 10 on 38.07 (grade B-) with 58 students, Darul Uloom Al Arabiya Al Islamiya is ranked 12 on 36.15 with 19 students, and Abbey College Manchester is ranked 14 on 28.75 (grade C) with 31 students. Chetham's and Abbey College are co-educational, whilst Darul Uloom is for boys.

Which Greater Manchester private schools are missing from this ranking?

Any independent school with no A level entries in the DfE performance tables cannot appear here, because the ranking uses one measure only, the average point score per A level entry. Schools that teach the International Baccalaureate in their sixth forms, or that have very few A level students, are therefore absent from the table.

Within the table, the smaller cohorts show how much a single figure can depend on cohort size: St Bede's College is ranked 7 on 40.54 with 38 students, and Bridgewater School is ranked 13 on 32.38 with 19. A parent weighing these schools may want to check what each sixth form offers beyond A levels before relying on the rank alone.

How the schools are ranked

The ranking covers every independent school in Greater Manchester with a published average point score per A level entry in the Department for Education's 16 to 18 performance data, ordered from highest to lowest, with schools on the same figure sharing a rank. The figure counts A level entries only and is not adjusted for pupils' attainment on entry, and many of these schools select by entrance assessment.

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

• Withington Girls' School (ranked 1)
• The Manchester Grammar School (ranked 2)
• Manchester High School for Girls (ranked 3)
• Stockport Grammar School (ranked 4)
• Cheadle Hulme School (ranked 5)
• Bury Grammar Schools (ranked 6)
• St Bede's College (ranked 7)
• Bolton School Boys' Division (ranked 8)
• Chetham's School of Music (ranked 10)
• Hulme Grammar School (ranked 11)
• Bridgewater School (ranked 13)

Related guides

• Best private schools in the UK and London by A level results
• Independent school fees compared
• What is a bursary? Private school bursaries explained
• 11+ and 13+ scholarship exams explained
• Boarding schools in the UK

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