Sutton A Level Results 2026: 89% at A*-C, school by school

Sutton’s sixth formers collected A level results on Thursday 13 August, and the council’s early borough figure was 71% of results at A to B and 89% at A to C. (Sutton Council)

Set against the national statistics Ofqual published the same morning, the second of those numbers is the one that means something. Across England, 78.1% of A level results were at grade C and above this summer, from 835,950 results in total, and 28.3% were at grade A and above. (Ofqual, Qualification results in England: summer 2026, table 8)

London did better than every other English region on both measures: 32.7% at A and above and 80.5% at C and above, from 168,505 results.

What each Sutton school published

Schools are not obliged to publish anything on results day, and roughly half the borough’s sixth forms had put figures out by the time this was written. These are their own numbers, taken from their own websites.

Nonsuch High School for Girls, Cheam. 81% of all grades at A to B, 23% at A, and 56% at A* to A. (Nonsuch High School for Girls)

Glenthorne High School, Sutton. 31% of all grades at A to A, 68% at A to B and 88% at A to C. Six students secured straight A grades, and the school lists destinations including King’s College London, UCL, Bristol, Exeter and Leeds. (Glenthorne High School)

Harris Academy Sutton. 28% of all A level grades at A or A, and 62% at A to B. The academy notes that full Department for Education performance data does not arrive until the autumn. (Harris Academy Sutton)

Cheam High School. 21% of entries at the top grades and 53% at B grade or higher. Read that one carefully: Cheam’s figures combine A level with level 3 vocational results, so the top band counts A and A alongside Distinction and Distinction. (Cheam High School)

Greenshaw High School, Sutton. The school reports that the average grade across all its students was a B, and that over one in four of all grades was passed at A or A. Six students are going on to train as doctors, one achieved straight A grades and a place at Cambridge to read Economics, and a group has taken degree apprenticeships in civil engineering and financial services with employers including Bloomberg and Visa. (Greenshaw High School)

Overton Grange School, Sutton. A record number of Year 13 students progressed to their chosen destinations, and over 20% of those heading to university secured Russell Group places, according to the council’s release.

Sutton High School, Sutton. The independent girls’ school on Cheam Road reports a 100% pass rate, 93% of pupils attaining A to C grades, over one in six grades at A, and 90% of pupils gaining a place at their first choice university. (Sutton High School)

Wilson’s School, Wallington had not published 2026 figures at the time of writing. Its exam results page still records last summer’s: 174 students in the Upper Sixth, 43.2% of grades at A, 80.8% at A to A, 95.4% at A* to B and 33 Oxbridge places. (Wilson’s School)

Why the borough number runs high

Ofqual’s table 9 breaks results down by the type of centre where students sat their exams, and it explains most of the gap between Sutton and England. Grammar schools recorded 43.4% of results at A and above and 88.4% at C and above. Independent schools recorded 48.6% and 89.4%. Local authority maintained comprehensives recorded 23.0% and 76.3%, academies 23.5% and 75.8%, sixth form colleges 25.6% and 78.1%, and further education establishments 12.8% and 63.8%.

Sutton’s sixth forms sit at both ends of that list. Wilson’s describes itself as a selective state school for boys; Greenshaw calls itself a comprehensive; Sutton High charges fees. A borough average pooled across that mix says more about which schools happen to be inside the boundary than about how well any individual student was taught.

There is a second reason to treat any area figure carefully. Ofqual notes in the same tables that awarding organisations record where a student sat the exam, using the centre identifier from the National Centre Number register. Grades are attached to the exam centre’s location, not to where the student lives. Sutton’s selective schools admit from well beyond the borough, so a share of the results counted here belongs to families in Croydon, Merton, Kingston and Surrey.

The numbers that do not compare

Almost every school publishes A to B. Ofqual publishes A and above, and C and above. There is no national A to B figure at all, which means a school’s A* to B rate can only be measured against its own previous years, never against England.

A* to C is the one that lines up, roughly, with Ofqual’s C and above. That is why the council’s 89% is worth quoting next to England’s 78.1%, and why Sutton High’s release comparing its 93% with “a national figure of 78%” is a fair comparison to make.

Results-day figures are also provisional and they move. Nonsuch’s own results-day item last August reported 26% at A and 64% at A to A; the school’s published results table now records that year as 28.0% and 65.2%. Its table also shows 89.5% at A* to B for 2024-25, above the 81% published this week, so the school’s own history is the right yardstick once the final figures land. (Nonsuch A level results table)

What it means for you

If you think a grade is wrong, the request goes through your school or college’s exams officer, not to the exam board directly, and it needs your written consent. The priority review of marking deadline is 20 August 2026 and it covers A level, T Level and level 3 vocational results only, where a university place depends on the outcome; those are completed within 15 calendar days. A standard review of marking and a clerical re-check both close on 24 September 2026. There is no grade protection: a review can lower a grade as well as raise it. (JCQ post-results services)

If you did not get the grades you needed, Sutton’s post-16 schools and colleges are taking enquiries directly, and the council’s advice is that students can approach any of them for guidance on their options.

GCSE results follow on Thursday 20 August, and most Sutton sixth forms begin enrolling their new Year 12 the same week.

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