Girls dominate league of top private schools
From The Sunday Times, Nov.20, 2005

GIRLS’ schools have surged ahead of boys’ to take eight of the top 10 places in a new Sunday Times league table of the country’s leading independent secondary schools.
The highest-ranked boys’ school comes in at only number eight in the Parent Power rankings — based on A-level and GCSE results....
Leading boys’ schools such as Westminster, Eton and Winchester have slid down the rankings, although they are still among the best performers in the country.
For the fourth consecutive year, top place has been taken by St Paul’s girls’ school in London. In its sixth form, 99.1% of A-levels were graded A or B this year.
Its closest rival among boys’ schools — St Paul’s — has moved down from fourth place last year to eighth, even though its A-level and GCSE results are its best ever. Out of its A-level papers, 95.7% were graded A or B. The other boys’ school in the top 10 is Westminster school in London, although it has girls in the sixth form.
Among the girls’ schools that have joined the top 10 is the King Edward VI high school for girls in Birmingham.... It has jumped 35 places in the independent table to fifth place. City of London school for girls, in second place, has moved up from 10th to challenge St Paul’s.
Out of 700 GCSE papers taken by girls at King Edward VI this year, only two resulted in D grades. At A-level, 77% of papers were awarded the top grade. The school, which has an upper sixth form of 80, sends about a quarter to Oxbridge. This year, one pupil achieved six A grades at A-level.