The 19 best secondary schools in and around Birmingham according to The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2025

Recognised as the definitive ranking of the UK’s top state and independent schools, this guide remains an essential resource for parents seeking the very best in education for their children.

A handful of outstanding state schools have beaten some of the most expensive and famous private schools in the UK, turning in better A-level and GCSE results this summer, according to the 2025 Sunday Times Parent Power league table. But overall, since the pandemic state schools have slipped down the combined rankings as private schools surge ahead.

The guide includes a fully searchable national database of over 2,000 schools by name, local authority, town and postcode. As well as an assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, Parent Power enables parents to compare the performance of a given school with other schools in the same town, local authority or nationally.

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Girls are powering ahead in the West Midlands. Leading the way is King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls, a selective grammar school in the Kings Heath suburb of Birmingham.

The school, which dates from 1876 and is part of the King Edward VI Foundation, has risen ten places in the national tables to break into the top ten. Doing so has earned it the accolade State Secondary School of the Year for Academic Excellence in the West Midlands 2025 and overall State Secondary School of the Year 2025.

For the first time the school’s average A-level grade this summer was A, while a record 89.8 per cent of A-level grades were at A*-B, and 17 pupils secured places at Oxford or Cambridge. GCSE results were also a significant improvement year on year, with 43 per cent of grades at 9 and 88 per cent at 9-7. The average grade outcome across all GCSEs was 8, while 15 star students achieved 11 straight grade 9s.

Karen Stevens, the head teacher, says the secret to her school’s success is the commitment to providing the best possible learning experience with a broad curriculum and challenging, carefully designed lessons.

“Intervention to support students who might need a little extra support is commonplace through our dedicated learning mentors and specialist subject staff,” she says. “The influence of AI on learning is also becoming a significant part of our teaching and learning discussions.”

Welfare is just as important as academic success at Camp Hill Girls, which celebrates its diverse, multicultural population; offers 66 extracurricular clubs; and encourages fundraising for local and national charities, with students raising well over £10,000 last year.

In November the school achieved a silver Trauma Informed Attachment Aware Schools (TIAAS) accreditation, which equips all staff with the skills to understand trauma and attachment theory, and provides strategies to support children and young people. A wellbeing hub will be ready for the next academic year, and a new art department and library are under construction on the 50-acre site.

If a school does not appear on the Parent Power league table it is most likely because it did not respond to our requests for its A-level and GCSE results, and the results could not be found in the public domain.

You can read the The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide 2025 in full by clicking here.

Secondary schools ranked by highest A-Level and GCSE results.