Rutland is still the county of England with the highest proportion of A-level entries receiving the top grades

Figures from Ofqual show 39.7% of entries in Rutland this year were graded A or above

Author: Ian Jones, PA Published 15th Aug 2024

It's been revealed Rutland has held on to its position as the county of England with the highest proportion of A-level entries receiving the top grades.

Some 39.7% of entries in Rutland this year were graded A or above, up from 36.8% last year and 33.7% in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

In second place was Surrey, with 35.6% of entries getting grades A or A*, followed by East Sussex (34.4%) and Hertfordshire (33.0%).

Rutland and Surrey held the top two spots last year, while East Sussex has jumped from sixth to third place and Hertfordshire has moved from seventh to fourth place.

The figures, which have been published by Ofqual, also show the mainland county with the lowest proportion of entries awarded A or above this year was Bedfordshire, at 19.1%, though the Isle of Wight had an even lower figure of 15.8%.

Of the 47 counties - or equivalent areas - included in the data, nearly three-quarters (35) saw a year-on-year increase in the proportion of entries receiving the top grades.

Northumberland recorded the largest rise, up by 4.8 percentage points from 20.0% to 24.8%.

Herefordshire saw the biggest fall, down by 1.6 percentage points from 25.5% to 23.9%.

Most counties (39 of 47) saw a higher proportion of entries awarded A or above this year than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.

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