Two Cheshire schools named in top 10 by The Sunday Times

The 29th edition of the guide reveals the highest-achieving schools across the UK and ranks them based on their examination results from 2017-19.

Two Cheshire schools were in the top 10 primary and secondary schools in the North West. 

Lower Peover Primary School near Knutsford was in the top 10 independent secondary schools list and The Grange School in Northwich was ranked highly in the primary school list.

Alastair McCall, the editor of Parent Power, said:

“The need for clarity about school examination performance has never been greater after two years of teacher assessed grades, during which for completely understandable reasons, the numbers of top grades increased dramatically.

“We felt it was important to go back to the last sets of moderated public examination outcomes from 2019, 2018 and 2017 to get the most accurate and current view of school academic achievement. By taking a three-year average, we mitigated against relatively poor performance in a one-off year.

“At a time when some schools are making hard to substantiate claims of academic prowess based on outcomes from 2021 and 2020, we believe these rankings – and all the additional information on offer in Parent Power – provide parents with a more reliable guide to academic achievement in schools today.”

An exam hall (Canva)

Where did The Grange School rank? 

This year, The Grange School in Northwich came in at the sixth-best independent secondary school in the region. 

The school had 82.8 percent A-level exam grades at A*- B, just below The Queen's School in Chester which had 85.5 percent at A* - B. 

It achieved 72.1 percent of GCSE grades at A* - 7, placing it 89th in the 2022 national rankings. 

Where did Lower Peover Primary School place?

Primary schools were based on the average outcomes achieved by schools in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in 2017-19.

The Sunday Times aggregated the scaled scores – where 100 indicates the standard which children are expected to achieve aged 11 – for reading; grammar, punctuation and spelling; and maths in each of the three years and ranked schools on the average aggregated score.

Lower Peover Primary School near Knutsford had an average reading score of 110.3, a grammar score of 112 and a maths score of 111.3.

The overall score of 333.7 put Lower Peover Primary School at eighth on the list in the North West, giving it a national rank of 58 for 2022. 

You can see the full Parent Power Guide via the Sunday Times website.