The 10 best UK private schools based on grades, and how tragically expensive they all are

If you want to fantasise about what to spend your lottery winnings on, then here are the best and most academically rigorous (read: stressful and soul destroying) private schools in the UK in 2024. The Telegraph has worked out the percentage of students that got As or A*s for their A-Levels in 2024 at the best UK private schools. I found out how rediculously spenny the day and boarding fees are from each school’s website.

The Telegraph worked out the percentages of students who got top grades by analysing data from the Independent Schools Council (ISC).

Note: a few of the bougiest UK private schools, such as Winchester College, Eton College and Harrow School don’t give their data to the ISC. Although, it doesn’t look like any of these schools would have made the list. The Winchester College website says that 77.9 per cent of its pupils got As and A*s in 2024. 80 per cent of Eton grades were As and A*s in 2023. The Harrow website is very vague about its exact results.

This ranking isn’t applicable for every UK private school in 2024. A few of the fanciest schools, like Sevenoaks School and The Abbey School actually make their students take something called the International Baccalaureate (IB) instead of A-Levels for unknown reasons.

That all being said, here are the best UK private schools in 2024 according to The Telegraph, and how much they all cost.

10. The Perse School

This fancy day school in Cambridge costs £22,350 each year. 81.4 per cent of sixth form students at The Perse School got As or A*s in 2024.

9. The National Mathematics and Science College

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82.4 per cent of students at this specialised sixth form college got top grades in their A-Levels. It costs £15,750 to be a day pupil  at The National Mathematics and Science College, and £48,750 to board. The prices go up for international students.

8. Wycombe Abbey

This boarding school is for girls only. It’s surrounded by grounds in the Buckinghamshire countryside that are straight out of a Jane Austen adaptation. 82.4 per cent of students at Wycombe Abbey got top A-Level grades in 2024. It costs £50,925 to board there.

7. Guildford High School

(Credit: Colin Smith via Creative Commons License)

Guildford High School is a day school in (no surprises) Guildford. 82.7 of Year 13s got A*s and As in their A-Levels in 2024. The fees are £22,308 per year.

6. Queen Ethelburga’s College

I don’t know who Queen Ethelburga was, but her spirit seems to have blessed her sixth form students with braininess, because 84.4 per cent of them got top A-Level grades in 2024. Queen Ethelburga’s College is a boarding school in York. Day fees for sixth form students are £21,480 per year, and boarding fees are £40,260 per year.

5. King’s College School, Wimbledon

For those who can’t bear to be too far from the tennis, King’s College School, Wimbledon costs £30,326 per year for older senior school students. And that’s just to have lessons there each day. It’s not a boarding school. 86.1 per cent of the 2024 cohort got top grades in their A-Levels.

4. Brighton College

(Credit: Image via Creative Commons License)

86.4 per cent of students at bougie Brighton College got A*s and As in their A-Levels in 2024. Being a full boarder (i.e. one who’s not allowed to run away home at weekends) in Year 13 (sorry “Upper 6th” costs £55,470. Yikes.

3. St Michael’s School

This is easily the cheapest (or, the least extortionately expensive) school on this list. Boarding at St Michael’s School in Llanelli only costs £15,225 in sixth form. 86.8 per cent of the students got A*s and As. I can kind of see why The Telegraph declared it the best value private school in the UK.

2. Westminster School

Westminster’s central London location next to Westminster Abbey makes it the school of choice for spoilt teenagers from Chelsea and Kensington. 87 per cent of them got top grades in their A-Levels this year. Boarding there in sixth form costs an alarming £52,488. Guess something’s got to fund the fifteen chefs and private shooting range.

1. Cardiff Sixth Form College

This day school has yet again the best A-Level results in the country. 90.7 per cent of the 135 Year 13 students at Cardiff Sixth Form college got top A-Level grades this year. That level of success has a price, though. The day fees are £24,100. Boarding in the bougier rooms can cost £62,700 a year. And that’s not including all the deposits and admissions fees.

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• A rundown of the most middle-class things on the John Lewis uni ‘essentials’ list 2024

Feature image credit: Cmglee under Creative Commons License. Image was resized and the colours were made brighter.