The East Midlands is famous for its plentiful contributions to British cuisine, and for striking the perfect balance between access to city living and the countryside.
But perhaps it should also be recognised for its many superb secondary schools, which are scattered right across the region and provide a high quality education to the next generation of Britons. But with everything from selective grammar schools for high achievers, to faith-based institutions, from larger urban high schools in the likes of Leicester and Nottingham to smaller, local schools, parents can find themselves hard-pressed to find a secondary school that works for their child, and their family.
We’ve created a league table of the East Midlands’ state secondary schools, ranked by their ‘Progress 8’ scores for the 2022/23 academic year - the most recent currently available. These are based on GCSE results and a series of other student achievements, and help determine how quickly a school’s pupils are learning and progressing compared to a nationwide average. Any score above 0 is positive, but we’ve selected only those rated ‘above’ or ‘well above average’.
We’ve also whittled it down to only schools that have been given top marks in their Ofsted inspections, and have an ‘outstanding’ rating. This means that the quality of education provided, student behaviour and attitudes, school leadership and management, and student safeguarding have all been found to be excellent.
Here are the 21 secondary schools from across the East Midlands that made the top 21:
1. Rushey Mead Academy
Taking out the top spot is Rushey Mead, a mixed, non-selective secondary school in Leicester. In the last academic year, it had a fantastic Progress 8 score of 1.09, putting it in the ‘well above average’ band - the highest rank available. | Google
2. Kesteven and Grantham Girls' School
Kesteven and Grantham is a girls’ secondary school in Grantham, Lincolnshire. It has a selective entry policy, meaning pupils will usually have to pass an exam to get in. In the last academic year, it had an excellent Progress 8 score of 1.01, putting it in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
3. Northampton Academy
Northampton Academy is a Christian secondary school in Northampton. In the last academic year, it too had an exceptional Progress 8 score of 1.00, putting it in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google
4. Rushcliffe Spencer Academy
Rushcliffe is a secondary school in Nottingham. In the last academic year, it had a Progress 8 score of 0.84, securing it too a spot in the ‘well above average’ band. | Google