Key Points
- Excellence in London: London has managed to establish itself as the best performing region in the whole nation by scoring high marks on GCSE tests, making London more distinguished than all other English regions.
- Best Boroughs: There are four London boroughs that include Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, Kingston upon Thames, and Barnet. These boroughs made it into the top 10 local authorities in England based on their achievement of top grades.
- Richmond Tops: Richmond upon Thames got 43.4% of its entries to be graded 7 or above, improving its mark of last year which was 43.2%. This makes it the second-best performing local authority in the whole of the UK.
- Regional Disparity: An impressive 11.2 percentage point difference is visible between London with its score of 30.2% at grade 7+ and the North East with its score of 19.0%.
- National Consistency: At the national level, things look quite steady, with 22.0% of the GCSE results being grade 7 or above against 21.9% of 2025.
- VTQ Results Tables: The Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) is publishing its first Level 1 and Level 2 VTQ results tables that include more than 445,000 results.
London (Extra London News) August 20, 2026 – London’s secondary school students have once again demonstrated academic excellence, cementing the capital’s status as the top-performing region in England for GCSE results. New data published by Ofqual reveals that London has not only maintained its lead but has also widened the performance gap between its students and those in other regions, with four specific boroughs securing spots among the top 10 local areas nationwide for the highest proportion of top grades.
Which London boroughs performed the best in 2026?
According to the report by the Evening Standard, Richmond upon Thames has emerged as a beacon of academic success. As detailed by the Evening Standard, 43.4% of all GCSE exam entries within the borough were awarded a grade 7 or above—an improvement on the 43.2% recorded in 2025. This performance secured Richmond upon Thames the title of the second-best performing local authority in the entire country.
The capital’s dominance continued with Sutton and Kingston upon Thames, which followed closely in third and fourth place nationally, with 43.0% and 42.5% of entries achieving the highest grades, respectively. Barnet also successfully placed in the national top 10, with 37.4% of its entries hitting the grade 7 or above threshold.
Conversely, the data highlights lower attainment levels in other parts of the capital. Within London, the lowest-ranked boroughs for top grades were Barking & Dagenham at 20.4% and Havering at 19.0%.
How does the regional gap in GCSE attainment look across England?
The 2026 results have brought the issue of regional inequality in education to the forefront. As reported by ETIH EdTech News, London’s 30.2% rate for top grades (grade 7 or above) stands in stark contrast to the 19.0% recorded in the North East, creating a significant 11.2 percentage-point divide.
This disparity is further underscored by the performance of other regions. Following London, the South East recorded 25.8% of entries at grade 7 or above, while Yorkshire and the Humber sat at 20.6%, the North West at 20.1%, and the West Midlands at 19.7%.
Experts note that this regional split extends beyond final grades into the curriculum itself. According to ETIH EdTech News, Ofqual’s subject uptake data indicates that students in the South East are more likely to take separate sciences like Biology (19.1%) compared to their peers in the North East (12.3%).
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What do national GCSE figures reveal about student performance?
While regional differences are substantial, the national headline figures remain remarkably stable. According to the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) dataset, 22.0% of GCSE results across the UK were awarded a grade 7/A or above, representing a marginal increase from 21.9% last year.
At the grade 4/C pass level, the national figure saw a slight dip from 67.4% in 2025 to 67.3% in 2026. WhichSchoolAdvisor.com notes that while pass rates have seen minor fluctuations, the broader picture remains one of stability.
The data also reveals performance variations based on school type. ETIH EdTech News reports that grammar schools saw 63.2% of results at grade 7 or above, significantly higher than the 47.1% reported by independent schools, and the 20.1% reported by local authority-maintained secondary comprehensive schools.
How have vocational qualifications (VTQs) changed the landscape?
This year marks a milestone in how results are reported. As stated by WhichSchoolAdvisor.com, the JCQ has, for the first time, released dedicated tables for Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs), providing a more comprehensive view of student achievement beyond traditional GCSEs.
In 2026, a total of 445,349 VTQ results were awarded. These include Technical Awards, which are typically taken alongside GCSEs, and Technical Certificates. The Leisure, Travel and Tourism sector was the largest subject area for these qualifications, followed by Health, Public Services and Care.
Are there notable individual success stories?
Amidst the statistics, individual achievements continue to reflect the effort of students across the capital. As reported by Gianni Cirillo for the East London Advertiser, Kingsley Godfrey, a 15-year-old student from Haggerston School in Tower Hamlets, achieved a near-perfect score in his GCSE maths exam, scoring 237 out of 240.
Speaking to the East London Advertiser, Godfrey shared that he took the exam a year early and relied largely on his pre-existing knowledge and practice with his grandfather, who was a maths teacher, rather than intensive revision. Headteacher Saad Anjum told the East London Advertiser:
“These results demonstrate their extraordinary commitment to their studies and the tireless support of our school community”.
Haggerston School reported a notable increase in its English and maths GCSE pass rate, rising from 46% last year to 60% this year, illustrating a positive trend for the school’s results among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
