UK state school in one of London's poorest boroughs outperforms ETON with 250 straight As on A Level results day

The Sun

4 days ago

A STATE school in one of London's poorest boroughs has outperformed Eton with 250 straight As on A level results day.
Over half of the pupils at Brampton Manor in East London, achieved a full set of A* or A grades.
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Dozens of pupils at the East Ham school defied the odds to gain places at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial and UCL.
The remarkable achievement eclipsed some of the richest schools in the country such as Eton College despite significantly less resources.
Over 250 students at a London academy have achieved straight A grades as the successful school celebrated its best-ever results.
The school in Newham, one of London's poorest boroughs, became famous for sending more students to Oxbridge than Eton.
More than 400 have earned places at the esteemed establishments in the 12 years since it opened its sixth form in 2012.
At Brampton Manor Academy last year 150 students achieved straight A* grades, while 349 pupils received either an A* or A in all their subjects.
Many of the high achievers at the school are from ethnic minority backgrounds, in receipt of free school meals or will be their family's first to attend university.
One student at Brampton Manor, Mate-Stefan Berghes, achieved four straight A*s and will study Engineering Science at the University of Oxford.
Meanwhile, another talented student called Abraham achieved three A*s and will now go and study Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge.
And Leona, who achieved A*AA and will study Law at Durham in another fantastic accomplishment.
It comes after students across the country celebrated opening their results this morning.
Jenny Gilruth apology as thousands of students received 'blank' result certificates
And thousands more students bagged the highest A-level grades this year.
Fresh figures show 83,334 papers were awarded the coveted A* - a rise of 0.1 percentage points on last summer — even though total entries dipped by 0.5 per cent to 882,509.
The proportion of A*–A grades climbed to 28.3 per cent, meaning almost one in three results hit the top band, defying predictions of little change.
UCAS data also reveals more school-leavers have secured places at university, with 439,180 acceptances so far — up 3.1 per cent on last year.
For the first time in seven years, boys have outperformed girls at the very top, with 9.9 per cent of male entries earning an A* compared to 9.1 per cent of female entries — a gap of 0.8 percentage points.
Girls still matched them overall when A* and A grades were combined, but the shift marks a return to the pre-pandemic pattern before teacher-assessed grades flipped the tables.
Sir Ian Bauckham, chief regulator of Ofqual, England's exams regulator, said the standard of work required to achieve grades has 'held constant' since 2023.
He said any changes were because a 'smaller, smarter cohort' of students had sat their A-level exams this year compared to previous years.
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Sir Ian said: 'Students this year have got the grades they deserve, and their grade will hold its value over time because it represents a stable standard of achievement.'
Maths held firm as the nation's favourite subject with 112,138 entries - up 4. 4 per cent in a year and more than 21 per cent higher than a decade ago.
But there is a clear gender divide, with boys significantly more likely to choose the subject than girls.
Psychology remained in second place with 75,943 entries, while biology stayed third on 71,400, though both saw small drops.
Physics has surged in popularity, jumping from ninth to sixth after attracting an extra 1,843 students.
Economics saw the fastest growth among the top ten subjects, up 5.5 per cent, while chemistry and business studies also gained ground.
By contrast, French and German continued their long decline, with French entries down 9.1 per cent and German down 8.5 per cent, while English literature fell 4.4 per cent.
London led the regional league table with 32.1 per cent of entries at A*–A, compared to just 22.9 per cent the North East.
Jill Duffy, chairwoman of JCQ board of directors and chief executive of the OCR exam board, said: 'Regional inequalities are getting worse, not better.
'The gap at top grades (A*-A) has grown again.
"London is once again the top performing region and is now 9.2 percentage points ahead of the North East.'
She added: 'These regional inequalities need more attention.'
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