A YORK school has been named among the top ten best state secondaries in the north.

Fulford School is ranked at number four on The Sunday Times Schools Guide 2022 list which is headed up by Ripon Grammar School this year.

The rankings in the secondary school league tables are determined by the average percentage of examination entries in the three years, 2017-19, gaining A* to B grades at A-level - which is given a double weighting- and the average percentage of pupils getting 9-7 or A* and A grades at GCSE.

At Fulford 72.9 per cent got A*-B at A-level with 36.1 per cent of pupils getting top grades at GCSE.

Last year the school, whose head teacher is Steve Lewis, was awarded The Sunday Times Comprehensive School of the Decade accolade in the same awards.

This year meanwhile, four local schools made it in to the top ten independent secondary schools in the north - with Queen Ethelburga’s College topping the list where 95.2 per cent of A-level students got the top grades and 77.3 per cent at GCSE.

Second on the same list was St Peter’s in York where those totals were 81.4 per cent and 70 per cent respectively and Queen Margaret’s School at Escrick with 73.3 per cent and 58.6 per cent and Ampleforth College with 68.7 and 58 per cent came in at 8 and 9 on the list.

Parent Power is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative survey of the country’s best schools.

Alastair McCall, editor of Parent Power, said: “The need for clarity about school examination performance has never been greater after two years of centre- and 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.”

The Sunday Times Schools Guide, is published in The Sunday Times and online this Sunday, December 5.

As well as 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. There are also live links to school websites and schools’ most recent inspection reports.

The only North Yorkshire school in the top 10 primary schools in the north is St Peter’s RC Scarborough at number six.

Primary school rankings are based on the average outcomes achieved by schools in Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) in the three years, 2017-19.