How did your school do?
Clarendon has a deep fear of league tables. Growing up a Middlesbrough FC fan tends to have this effect on one. Not to mention that Clarendon used to go to a school where everyone’s exam results were read out in reverse order, with the thickos read out first being roundly jeered by the rest of the year.
Nevertheless, the Times has released its latest UK school table rankings for 2026 and Clarendon has overcome its trauma to give you the highlights.
Top 10 independent schools
- St. Paul’s
- Brighton College
- North London Collegiate
- Godolphin and Latymer
- Guildford High
- St. Paul’s Girls
- King’s College School Wimbledon
- Westminster
- City of London School for Girls
- Latymer Upper
A big rise for North London Collegiate, who – along with St. Paul’s and Brighton College – scooped up all the awards.
Not a pretty read for boarding schools. Of course, St. Paul’s and Brighton have boarding, but the first recognisable boarding school is Eton at 14.
London and the South East dominates. Of the top 20, 13 are London schools and 19 are from the South East.
There are schools that don’t release their results, so they are not included in the table. Bryanston headmaster Richard Jones declared that league tables were anathema to what education is about and an extremely reductive way of looking at the value of a school.
Clarendon agrees with Richard Jones to an extent, but think that there could be data to show off the work his school is doing: academic improvement data; % of children doing a creative art; % of children doing some form of public speaking etc.
If you want to know more about a specific school, do get in touch.
Best wishes and happy Christmas
Photograh by Wayland Smith (CC BY-SA)
