New data reveals percentage of top grades at Hertfordshire schools

Last week's results day brought joy for pupils across the county, with many securing places at prestigious Russell Group universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

Governing body Ofqual has now revealed the percentage of grades in each borough to have been at the highest grades of A* and A.

Pupils at St Clement Danes School (Image: St Clement Danes School)

Hertsmere was Hertfordshire's best performing borough and had the fifth best results nationally, with 46.2 per of grades being at least an A.

Watford had the county's fourth best results, with 33.8 per cent of entries resulting in top grades.

Three Rivers comes in second with 39.6 per cent, while Dacorum's 28.6 per cent places it sixth in the county.

The lowest percentage of top grades was in Broxbourne, where the figure stands at just 18.6 per cent.

The full breakdown for Hertfordshire is as follows:

1. Hertsmere - 46.2%
2. Three Rivers - 39.6%
3. St Albans - 37.0%
4. Watford - 33.8%
5. East Hertfordshire - 30.7%
6. Dacorum - 28.6%
7. North Hertfordshire - 26.2%
8. Welwyn Hatfield - 23.1%
9. Stevenage - 22.2%
10. Broxbourne - 18.6%

Nationally, Guildford in Surrey topped the list with exactly half of grades being awarded at an A or A*.

Rickmansworth school pupils Grace Heathcote-Wells (A*A*A, Applied and Contemporary Theatre at The University of Surrey), Erin Turpin (A*A*A*A*, Natural Sciences at The University of Cambridge), Ruby Harper (A*A*A*, Biochemistry at Imperial College London) (Image: Rickmansworth School)

At the other end of the spectrum, Harlow in Essex is the nation's worst performing borough with just seven per cent of upper echelon grades.

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Only one of the top 10 areas is outside southern England - Trafford in Greater Manchester, which is joint seventh on the list with 45.1 per cent.

The number of top grades across the board rose nationally for a third straight year.

Head of Ofqual Sir Ian Buckingham said the rise in top grades is “largely driven” by the “growing popularity of maths and the high achievements that we’re seeing in maths”.

Overall, boys outperformed girls in terms of top grades again, after doing so for the first time in seven years last year.

Ofqual figures show that 28.9 per cent of boys' A-level entries scored an A or A* this summer, compared to 28 per cent of their female counterparts.

UCAS said that a record number of school leavers have been accepted onto university courses. The admissions service said 262,820 18-year-olds had secured places at universities and colleges, marking a three per cent increase from last year.