A level results 2026: 51% A*s at Highgate School

Sixth formers across Muswell Hill, Hornsey and Highgate collected A level, BTEC and vocational results on Thursday 13 August, and four schools in the area have now published how their year groups did.

Fortismere School in Muswell Hill said that “almost one in three A-level entries was awarded an A* or A grade and almost two thirds of grades were at least a B”. Every BTEC student achieved a Merit or above, and the school said more than 96 per cent reached Distinction or Distinction*.

The figure Fortismere leads on, though, is not grades but progress. It says the Year 13 class of 2026 “is set to achieve the highest value-added progress measures for a 6th Form cohort in the school’s history”, and that it expects to be placed alongside the top 10 per cent of post-16 providers nationally. Value-added progress compares results with what students achieved at GCSE, so it is a measure of distance travelled rather than raw attainment, and the school’s expectation will not be confirmed until the Department for Education publishes verified post-16 data.

Headteacher Zoe Judge said: “Results day is a joyful milestone, but fourteen years of education can never be reduced to letters on a page. We could not be prouder of the Year 13 Class of 2026.”

Council leader Cllr Mark Blake and Cllr Georgia Twigg, cabinet member for children and schools, visited Fortismere on results day.

Greig City Academy published destinations, not percentages

Greig City Academy in Hornsey took a different approach and published where its leavers are going rather than a grade profile. Its Year 13 students have places at Warwick, York, Southampton, Bristol, Loughborough, King’s College London, Queen Mary, Brunel, Royal Holloway, UCL, Aston and City St George’s, on courses including mechanical engineering, midwifery, cellular and molecular medicine, computer science, accounting and finance, economics and crime and security science.

Highgate School and Channing

Highgate School in N6 reported 51 per cent of all grades at A*, 86.5 per cent at A*-A and 98 per cent at A*-B. Of pupils who applied to university, 94 per cent were offered their first or insurance choice, and 13 are going to universities abroad including Harvard, Duke and the University of Chicago.

Head Adam Pettitt said the leavers “have positioned themselves so well for university places”. Deputy head (academic) James Newton picked out the school’s bursary pupils, “all of whom received grades exclusively in the A* to B range”.

Channing School on Highgate Hill reported 90.9 per cent of grades at A*-B, 62.4 per cent at A*-A and 22.3 per cent at A*. More than a third of its students achieved straight A*-A grades, and of the fifth of the year group who took an Extended Project Qualification in Year 12, 81.8 per cent were graded A*-A. Headmistress Lindsey Hughes said 92 per cent of the year group are taking up their chosen course at their chosen institution, “including overseas in the USA, Canada and France”.

How that compares nationally

Ofqual issued 835,950 A level results in England on 13 August. Of those, 28.3 per cent were graded A or above and 78.1 per cent C or above. Haringey Council said 32.7 per cent of A level entries across London were graded A* or A.

Set the two independent schools against the national figure with care. Highgate and Channing select their intakes at 4, 11 and 16 and both charge fees, so their grade profiles are not comparable with a comprehensive’s, and none of these numbers is a league table position. The Department for Education’s verified performance data for 2026, which includes progress measures, is published later in the academic year.

Two other local secondaries with sixth forms, Highgate Wood School in Crouch End and Alexandra Park School in Muswell Hill, had not published 2026 results on their websites when we checked on 15 August. We will add their figures when they do.

What it means for you

If a grade looks wrong. Post-results services are run by the exam boards, not the school, but a school or college has to make the request on a student’s behalf. The Joint Council for Qualifications sets the deadlines: priority reviews of marking, the ones used when a university place depends on the outcome, close on 20 August 2026 for A levels and Level 3 vocational qualifications. All other reviews of results, including standard reviews of marking, clerical re-checks and reviews of moderation, close on 24 September 2026. Requests after the closing date will not be processed. An appeal can only be lodged after a review outcome is received, so the review comes first.

Grades can go down as well as up at review, and a student’s written consent is needed before a school submits one.

If you did not get the place you wanted. UCAS Clearing is open, and Haringey Council points students towards their school or college careers staff, council youth services and Haringey Works for apprenticeships and training routes.

If you have a Year 11 in the house. GCSE and Level 2 results follow on Thursday 20 August 2026, the day Ofqual updates the same statistical release to cover level 1/2 and level 2 qualifications.

Sixth form places, and the schools that feed them, are one of the things that keeps demand for family houses in this part of Haringey high; our Crouch End house prices page tracks what that currently costs.