Best Private Schools in Oxfordshire: A Level Results Ranked

Magdalen College School, in Oxford, records the highest average A-level point score among Oxfordshire's private schools, at 51.54, equivalent to a grade A average on the Department for Education's scale. Abingdon School sits next at 49.02, followed by Oxford International College at 47.96 and Oxford High School at 47.76, both graded A-.

Twenty independent schools across the county appear in this ranking, ordered by average point score per A-level entry: the DfE's measure for its 16 to 18 performance tables, where an A* carries 60 points, an A carries 50, a B carries 40 and a C carries 30. Every school's rank, grade and A-level cohort size appear in the table below.

Which private schools in Oxfordshire have the best A level results?

Average point scores run from Magdalen College School's 51.54 down to Sibford School's 28.39 across the twenty schools, a range that crosses from a grade A average to a grade C average. Magdalen College School, Abingdon School and Oxford International College, the top three, sit close together between 51.54 and 47.96, ahead of a tighter cluster of five schools running from Oxford High School's 47.76 to d'Overbroeck's 45.82, all graded A-.

Below that, Kingham Hill School and Tudor Hall School pair at 42.51 and 42.14, both B+, and a four-school B-grade band runs from St Edward's School's 41.09 to Bloxham School's 38.48. Girls' schools appear through the upper half of the table: Oxford High School at rank 4, St Helen and St Katharine at rank 6, Headington Rye Oxford at rank 7 and Tudor Hall School at rank 10. Radley College, at rank 5 on 46.84, is the only boys' school in the ranking; every other listed school is co-educational. Day and boarding schools run throughout the list, from Abingdon School near the top to Sibford School at the bottom, whilst five schools, including Magdalen College School and Oxford High School, are day-only.

Cohort sizes vary sharply at both ends of the table: d'Overbroeck's reports 209 A-level students and Abingdon School 181, whilst Wychwood School reports 15 and Cranford School 20. Kingham Hill School's 39 students and Cherwell College Oxford's 19 sit at similarly small scale further down the ranking.

Entry points and fees at the ranked Oxfordshire 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 Oxfordshire private school has the best A-level results?

Magdalen College School, in Oxford, has the highest average A-level point score among Oxfordshire's private schools, at 51.54, grade A, from 156 students, in the latest DfE performance tables. Abingdon School follows at 49.02, Oxford International College at 47.96 and Oxford High School at 47.76; all three sit within the A to A- grade band at the top of the table.

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

Oxford High School records the highest average A-level point score among Oxfordshire's girls' schools, at 47.76, grade A-, ranked 4th overall from 61 students. St Helen and St Katharine follows at 46.71 (rank 6), Headington Rye Oxford at 45.89 (rank 7) and Tudor Hall School at 42.14 (rank 10). All four appear in the upper half of the twenty-school table.

Which Oxfordshire independent schools take boarders?

Fifteen of the twenty ranked schools offer day and boarding places, spanning the table from Abingdon School at rank 2 (49.02) to Sibford School at rank 20 (28.39). Radley College, the only boys' school in the ranking, is day and boarding at rank 5 (46.84), as is d'Overbroeck's, which has the largest A-level cohort in the table at 209 students. Five schools, Magdalen College School, Oxford High School, St Helen and St Katharine, Cokethorpe School and Cranford School, take day pupils only.

What does this A-level ranking not show?

This ranking reflects only the A-level entries recorded in the DfE's 16 to 18 performance tables; it excludes GCSE results, university destinations and any qualifications other than A levels. Cohort sizes vary widely, from d'Overbroeck's 209 students and Abingdon School's 181 down to Wychwood School's 15 and Cranford School's 20, so a school's average point score rests on very different numbers of entries. A school running a sixth-form curriculum other than A levels, or entering only a handful of students for A levels, would appear in this table only through those A-level entries, if at all.

How the schools are ranked

The ranking covers every independent school in Oxfordshire 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

• Magdalen College School (ranked 1)
• Abingdon School (ranked 2)
• Oxford High School (ranked 4)
• Radley College (ranked 5)
• St Helen and St Katharine (ranked 6)
• d'Overbroeck's (ranked 8)
• Kingham Hill School (ranked 9)
• Cokethorpe School (ranked 12)
• Bloxham School (ranked 14)
• Cranford School (ranked 15)
• Shiplake College (ranked 16)
• The Oratory School (ranked 17)

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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