Southend High School for Girls says half its A level grades were A* or A this year, its best ever. The national figure was 28.3%, and 43.4% at grammar schools.
Southend High School for Girls has recorded the best A level results in its history. The school says half of all grades were awarded at A* or A, and 77% at A* to B. It also reports that 67 students averaged an A* or A across three or four A levels (SHSG, 13 August 2026).
Headteacher Jason Carey said the year group had produced “the best A Level results in the history of Southend High School for Girls”. He linked the outcome to the school’s most recent inspection, saying it was “particularly special following our Outstanding Ofsted inspection”.
That inspection record checks out. Ofsted inspected the school on 2 July 2024 and graded it Outstanding overall, and Outstanding on all four judgements plus sixth form provision. The report was published on 10 September 2024 (Ofsted, Southend High School for Girls, URN 136444).
How half compares
A school’s own percentages are easy to misread, so it helps to set the A*-A figure against the national statistics Ofqual published on results day.
- England, all A levels: 28.3% of results were at grade A or above in 2026, from 835,950 results. That is up from 28.2% in 2025 and 26.6% in 2023.
- East of England: 27.9%, from 98,595 results, fractionally down on last year’s 28.0%.
- Grammar schools across England: 43.4%, from 83,585 results.
- Independent schools: 48.6%. All state-funded centres together: 25.4%.
Source: Ofqual, Qualification results in England: summer 2026, tables 8 and 9.
Southend High School for Girls is a selective academy, so the grammar school row is the fair comparison rather than the England average. On that basis a figure of about half at A* or A sits several points above the 43.4% recorded across grammar schools nationally.
The 77% figure has no national twin
The A*-B number is the one to treat carefully. Ofqual’s published tables report only two thresholds for A levels: grade A and above, and grade C and above. There is no national A*-B line to compare against, at regional or centre-type level.
So 77% at A* to B tells you something about this school against its own previous years. It cannot be ranked against anywhere else, and any table that appears to do so is comparing different measures. Schools also differ in whether they fold vocational results into a headline percentage.
Where the year group is going
The school named several students in its own announcement, with destinations including the London School of Economics, the University of Warwick, the University of St Andrews and the University of Surrey. We have not repeated the names here. Individual results belong to the students and their families, and the school’s release is the place they chose to publish them.
Nationally, 835,950 A levels went to 320,505 students across 2,835 schools and colleges this year, 2.7% more results than in 2025.
What it means for you
If you are choosing a sixth form this week, the useful comparison is centre type, not the England average. A grammar school sitting near 43.4% at A or above is performing in line with its peers; a sixth form college is measured against 25.6%, and a further education establishment against 12.8%.
Southend High School for Girls opens for GCSE results and sixth form enrolment at 9.00am on Thursday 20 August. External applicants without an offer can join its waiting list in person between 9.30am and midday. The full Southend results day times and entry requirements are here.
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