Research edition, 12 November 2026

What should a family make of the A* gap?

1 study · 2 schools · prepared 12 November 2026 · Open research sample

This free example shows how we read historical A-level results. It is part of our published research rather than a review commissioned for a family. The findings concern exam entries; they cannot rank the schools as a whole, assess admission prospects or predict a pupil’s grades.

Your saved briefing was prepared on 12 November 2026 from the research edition of 12 November 2026. It keeps that edition of the research. Later corrections and new results will not appear in this file. It stays readable without research access.

Your chosen studies have been brought together automatically. No analyst has reviewed this particular selection or made a personal recommendation for you.

The open research sample is free to read. If you use it, keep the dates, definitions, qualifications and sources with it.

Evidence version: 15e7e2e5e6e94ce6d07d3cbdfef862ad997d59895bff654d38cf8592a07ca995. Comparable-figures version: 1a818f90047ffacc170bd7a9c53ce5423c93b7199b4e262d35f361aba5dfb334.

Current subject offers, permitted combinations, entry conditions, day or boarding, and published fees and costs are not established by this historical study. Confirm practical requirements from dated school publications and directly with each school. The school-information collection accompanying this example is version 8f672ea343bd4c1f98b28362125c27cc7188ef181a43ca6d04f13b2b739e8b4e.

The published record, with its existing source checks, and a dated review of St Paul’s 2025 A-level results page. A recorded check is not the same as checking every original source again.

Figures are shown to at most two decimal places. The edition keeps the exact values, and a figure known only as a range stays a range. To explore the sources, use Appendix A for specific checks, Appendix B for background and archived material, and Appendix C for the full record index.

Edition reference tsr-research-edition-2026-11-12

Look at the education behind the result

St Paul’s reports a higher A* share in each of the seven years compared here. The gap is 0.9 percentage points in 2017 and 12.8 percentage points in 2016. Across those seven years, the middle yearly gap (the median) is 5.4 percentage points. The direction is consistent across those years; the size of the gap varies.

The next step is to picture the course the pupil would actually take. KCS Wimbledon publishes A-level and IB Diploma routes; St Paul’s describes an A-level programme with separate project work. A family considering the IB needs to look at its subject breadth, Higher and Standard Levels, and compulsory wider work. These A-level results cannot answer that enquiry.

Once the route is clear, picture the pupil studying those subjects through an ordinary week. What work will they do on their own? Who helps when it gets difficult, and what must they achieve to continue? The schools’ published arrangements help you begin that conversation. To judge the teaching and whether your child would feel at home, you will need to learn more about daily life.

KCS Wimbledon’s curriculum guide · St Paul’s account of sixth-form life · St Paul’s Engineering qualification. We checked these programme descriptions on 30 September 2026. The curriculum and daily-life pages have no date, so families should confirm the subjects and timetable for their own year of entry.

At a glance

F1 How do KCS Wimbledon and St Paul’s compare on A-level grades at A*? 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025
St Paul’s reports a higher A* share in each of the seven years compared here.

Reading the findings together

Your 1 study cover 2 schools. Read each answer alongside the question it addresses, the years covered and the group counted. Taken together, they can help you ask better questions; they do not produce an overall school score.

Take the questions that matter to your family to the schools. Ask how the present programme works, what joining it requires and what a pupil’s ordinary week would involve. Historical results can inform that conversation; they cannot establish personal fit or the effect of attending a school.

F1 · A-level grades at A* · 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025

How do KCS Wimbledon and St Paul’s compare on A-level grades at A*?

St Paul’s reports a higher A* share in each of the seven years compared here.

What it measures: Share of published A-level entries awarded A* in the named examination year.

Read this with the answer

Only the years both schools can be compared on are used: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024 and 2025. A missing or excluded year is not a zero result.
The period check compares all shared years, the latest three, the latest five and each year left out in turn, not every possible period. The same school is ahead in every one of these choices of years.
Historical results: the latest shared year is 2025. They can’t show 2026 results.
These figures cover A levels alone. IB, Pre-U and combined-qualification results are kept separately. Teacher-assessed results from 2020–21 are left out unless you choose to include them. Where publications disagree and the difference remains unresolved, both figures stay in the source record and neither enters this comparison.
Published results describe different groups of pupils, chosen in different ways. They can’t show the effect of attending a school, or what one pupil would achieve.
These figures carry the record’s existing source checks, which are kept apart from background links. This edition didn’t reopen every original publication.

A dated source review affects this finding: St Paul’s 2025 A-level results.

A-level grades at A*, 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025
Year	KCS Wimbledon (%)	St Paul’s (%)	KCS Wimbledon minus St Paul’s (points)
2016	32.3	45.1	−12.8
2017	46	46.9	−0.9
2018	45.6	51	−5.4
2019	46.5	50.4	−3.9
2022	68.1	70.9	−2.8
2024	50.7	60.2	−9.5
2025	50.75	59.3^a	−8.55^a

aSt Paul’s 2025: a dated review on 28 September 2026 found the printed 59.3% A* and 92.5% A*–A headlines on the school’s results page, but the subject table on the same page adds up to 701 of 759 grades at A*–A, which is 92.36%. What explains the difference, a different group of entries or another version of the page, is unresolved. The 759 is only the sum of the table’s rows: the school doesn’t give it as the base of its 92.5% headline, and we don’t treat it as one. See the dated source review.

Does changing the years change the answer?

Across all shared years the typical gap (the median of the annual differences) is −5.4 points (KCS Wimbledon minus St Paul’s). The earliest 3 shared years (2016, 2017, 2018) give −5.4; the latest 3 (2022, 2024, 2025) give −8.55, so the gap keeps its direction. The middle year sits out of this even split. This shows how the choice of period affects the comparison. It cannot tell us whether education improved or declined, or what effect attending either school had.

Questions for the schools

In 2025, which sixth-form pupils and subjects took A levels rather than another qualification at KCS Wimbledon and St Paul’s?
How might entry selection, the subjects taken or changes in the year group help explain the results? What separate evidence would help us understand the teaching?
For the missing years (2020, 2021, 2023), can the school point us to a dated publication using the same definition?

Evidence. 8 of the 14 recorded figures behind this comparison have an exact source check for that field and year; 6 are recorded or calculated figures with their support set out in Record details. This is not a fresh check of every source. Sources: S1 KCS Wimbledon · % A* 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025; S2 St Paul’s · % A* 2022, 2024, 2025. Records: R1–R14 (Appendix C).

Dated source reviews

Dated source review: St Paul’s 2025 A-level results

The school’s published headline has been checked. We have not yet reconciled it with the supporting table.

On 28 September 2026, the school’s page printed 59.3% A* and 92.5% A*–A. This review records what the page said on that date; it leaves the edition’s figures unchanged.

The 22 displayed subject rows sum to 759 entries, with 701 at A*–A. 701 ÷ 759 × 100 = 92.36%, or 92.4% to one decimal. The printed headline and the displayed table arithmetic do not agree at one decimal under the table-sum assumption. This does not establish which publication is wrong or that the two populations are identical.

759 is reconstructed from the displayed subject rows, not an independently printed or confirmed denominator of the 92.5% headline. We have not replaced 92.5% with 92.4%. Neither figure establishes the effect of teaching or predicts a pupil’s result. Any precise comparison using the headline needs to acknowledge this unresolved difference.

Affects F1 (St Paul’s 2025 figure). Source inspected: A Level Results — St Paul’s School.

Headline checks: 59.3% A* (2025), Opening results paragraph immediately above A Level Results 2025 table: Verifies the printed claim, not all its underlying entry arithmetic. 92.5% A*–A (2025), Same opening results paragraph: Exact headline text observed; unresolved discrepancy with sum of the displayed subject rows prevents marking the headline reconciled.

Possible explanations still to check: Different publication or revision versions; Different included entry population; A missing or misprinted table cell; A headline transcription or arithmetic issue.

A Level Summary: last five years, 2025 row: A* 59%, A*–A 93%, A*–B 98%. Whole-number summary values are additional published statements. Do not use their coarser precision to reconcile the decimal headline automatically.

Historical 2025 evidence; not the latest 2026 result.

The displayed subject table and review reference

A Level Results 2025, as displayed on A Level Results — St Paul’s School
Subject	A*	A	B	C	D	E	U
Ancient History	1	2	3
Art	6	5
Biology	17	14	1		1
Chemistry	52	20	1	1
Computing	5	13	3	1
Economics	43	33	2
English	9	4	5
French	9	1	1
Geography	7	3	1
German	3	1
Greek		4
History	27	20	1
Italian	6
Latin	3	9		1
Mathematics	113	50	8	2	1	1
Mathematics (Further)	54	31	8
Physics	73	11	3		1
Politics	15	9	1
Religious Studies		1	1
Spanish	1	2	1
Theatre Studies	3	3	1
Philosophy	3	15	4	3	1
Total	450	251	45	8	4	1	0

Review st-pauls-2025-a-level-source-review-2026-09-28 · primary HTML SHA256 d9d004245d40848f48cd6e42af69e45e2666b4900cf4069ad28a9e01c3e1eae7 · HTTP status 200 · Inspection: Web reader rendered HTML; Independent direct-HTTP HTML table parser; Manual transcription and arithmetic compared with parser result · Publication date: Not displayed for this retained 2025 results page · Blank cells: null preserves an empty displayed grade cell; arithmetic treats blank grade cells as zero only for summing the displayed table.

Appendix A. Sources by publication

Each publication appears once, with the figures and years checked against it and the findings that use them. Each check applies to the particular figure, year and source inspection recorded here. Checking one qualification’s contribution to a combined figure does not verify the other contributions or the combined figure as a whole.

S1 School publication

Supports KCS Wimbledon · % A*: 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025 (F1).

9 further checks on the same records cover fields or years not shown in the findings (Entries, A* count, A count, B count, C count, D count, E count, U count, Candidates).

16 recorded checks

School: KCS Wimbledon · Result: verified · Accessed: 2026-09-06

Record	Year	Field	Value	Where in the source	Note	Used in
R1	2016	% A*	32.3	p1 2016 cumulative % row		F1
R3	2017	% A*	46.0	p1 2017 cumulative % row		F1
R5	2018	% A*	45.6	p1 2018 cumulative % row		F1
R7	2019	% A*	46.5	p1 2019 cumulative % row		F1
R9	2022	% A*	68.1	p1 2022 cumulative % row		F1
R11	2024	% A*	50.70	p1 2024 cumulative % row		F1
R13	2025	% A*	50.75	p1 2025 cumulative % row		F1
	2025	Entries	666	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	A* count	338	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	A count	235	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	B count	62	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	C count	20	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	D count	9	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	E count	2	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	U count	0	p1 Totals row		Not shown here
	2025	Candidates	183	p1 Number of candidates: 182 + 1 IB	183 is the exact sum of printed182+1, not a separately printed single total.	Not shown here

S2 St Paul’s School, A Level Results and “A Level Summary: last five years”

Supports St Paul’s · % A*: 2022, 2024, 2025 (F1).

4 further checks on the same records cover fields or years not shown in the findings (% A*–A, % A*–B).

Also inspected in the dated source review of St Paul’s 2025 A-level results.

7 recorded checks

School: St Paul’s

Record	Year	Field	Value	Result	Where in the source	Accessed	Note	Used in
R10	2022	% A*–A	96	source conflict	A Level Summary: last five years, 2022 row	2026-09-23	The school’s current five-year summary prints 96%; the held 95.1% is 95% at that precision. Both stay visible and the year stays out of comparisons for this band until the difference is explained; the held figure is unchanged.	Not shown here
	2022	% A*–B	99	consistent rounded value	A Level Summary: last five years, 2022 row	2026-09-23	The school’s current five-year summary prints 99% at whole-percent precision; the held 98.8% rounds to it.	Not shown here
	2022	% A*	70	conflicting publication	A Level Summary: last five years, 2022 row	2026-09-06	Source value shown separately; frozen row is never overwritten.	F1
R12	2024	% A*–A	90	consistent rounded value	A Level Summary: last five years, 2024 row	2026-09-23	The school’s current five-year summary prints 90% at whole-percent precision; the held 89.5% rounds to it.	Not shown here
	2024	% A*–B	98	consistent rounded value	A Level Summary: last five years, 2024 row	2026-09-23	The school’s current five-year summary prints 98% at whole-percent precision; the held 97.9% rounds to it.	Not shown here
	2024	% A*	61	conflicting publication	A Level Summary: last five years, 2024 row	2026-09-06	Source value shown separately; frozen row is never overwritten.	F1
R14	2025	% A*	59.3	verified	2025 opening statement	2026-09-06	Source value shown separately; frozen row is never overwritten.	F1

Appendix B. Background and archived sources

These links provide background; no check of an exact figure is recorded against them. Each item is listed once beside the records it accompanies. A source may name the relevant year in its title; without a recorded check of the figure, it remains background material here.

Attached to KCS Wimbledon 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025

Records R1, R3, R5, R7, R9, R11, R13

B1 Old King's Club Newsletter 78 · Summer 1990 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: A-level candidates and entry-grade counts; GCSE candidates split between Upper and Lower Fifth and entry-grade counts.
B2 Old King's Club Newsletter 80 · Summer 1991 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: A-level candidates and printed grade counts/percentages; GCSE candidates split between Upper and Lower Fifth with A–C counts only.
B3 Old King's Club Newsletter 87 · Summer 1995 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: exact A-level candidates/entries and exact GCSE A* count/share; GCSE total denominator not printed.
B4 Old King's Club Newsletter 89 · Summer 1996 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: exact A-level candidates/entries and exact GCSE entry total.
B5 Old King's Club Newsletter 91 · Summer 1997 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: exact A-level and GCSE candidate and subject-entry totals.
B6 Old King's Club Newsletter 103 · Summer 2003 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: A-level, IB, combined Upper Sixth and GCSE candidate counts plus A-level/GCSE subject-exam totals.
B7 Old King's Club Newsletter 105 · Summer 2004 examination results — primary contemporary KCS report: A-level, IB, combined Upper Sixth and GCSE candidate counts plus A-level/GCSE subject-exam totals.
B8 Our research file (not public)
A compilation we made of the schools’ and universities’ full tables, for our own research.
B9 KCS Wimbledon · A-level and IB results · 2017–2025 chronological pack — controlling school-result tables for modern A-level pathway counts, actual A-level takers, A-level entries, IB candidates, IB Higher-Level entries and the unique combined cohort.
Our research file (not public). King’s College School’s own A-level and IB results tables for 2017–2025, gathered in date order for our research.
B10 Financial Times · Top 1,000 Schools · 8 March 2008 (no public link) — secondary league table for 2007 results: 44 A-level-only pupils, 111 IB candidates and 155 combined candidates.
Financial Times, “Top 1,000 Schools” league tables, 8 March 2008. A printed newspaper table. We haven’t found a public copy online; libraries that keep the Financial Times’s back issues, such as the British Library, can help trace it.

Attached to St Paul’s 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025

Records R2, R4, R6, R8, R10, R12, R14

B11 St Paul’s School · 2002 examination results · Common Crawl recovery — first-party page recovered at ARC offset 69,280,402; supplies 92.5% GCSE A*/A and 92.5% A-level A/B school headlines.
B12 St Paul’s School · A-level summary 2005–09 · Wayback — direct school five-year final grid; pre-A* A, A–B and A–C grade-entry shares.

Attached to KCS Wimbledon 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025; St Paul’s 2016–2019, 2022, 2024, 2025

Records R1–R14

B13 Our research file (not public)
A companion file we made for seven schools, with our list of archived copies of their web pages.

Source roles as recorded

B8: controlling full-table base · B13: latest seven-school companion and Wayback/destination lock

Appendix C. Record index

Every record used in this briefing, once, with its evidence page. For each record, read what was checked, the year it applies to and the result. Inclusion in this index does not mean every detail has been verified.

Reference links are background unless a row-specific check is shown. (every record)

14 records

Basis: A-level-only grade percentages, actual takers and subject entries; pathway pupils are separate where an IB crossover pupil also sat an A level

Dataset note: Pre-2010 rows remain on the A–E ruler. The 1991 entry total is explicitly marked derived from the printed contemporary table.

Every record here: Primary · used in F1.

Record	Evidence page	School and year	Title	Recorded figures and details
R1	fig:kcs_alevel_only:9	KCS Wimbledon 2016	A-level results · 2016	a_star: 32.3; a_star_a: 72.9; a_star_b: 94.5
R3	fig:kcs_alevel_only:10	KCS Wimbledon 2017	A-level results · 2017	a_star: 46; a_star_a: 85.81; a_star_b: 97.2
R5	fig:kcs_alevel_only:11	KCS Wimbledon 2018	A-level results · 2018	a_star: 45.6; a_star_a: 78.6; a_star_b: 95; entries: 379
R7	fig:kcs_alevel_only:12	KCS Wimbledon 2019	A-level results · 2019	a_star: 46.5; a_star_a: 79.9; a_star_b: 94.9; entries: 447
R9	fig:kcs_alevel_only:13	KCS Wimbledon 2022	A-level results · 2022	a_star: 68.1; a_star_a: 94.2; a_star_b: 99.2; entries: 496
R11	fig:kcs_alevel_only:15	KCS Wimbledon 2024	A-level results · 2024	a_star: 50.7; a_star_a: 86.6; a_star_b: 96.9; entries: 590
R13	fig:kcs_alevel_only:16	KCS Wimbledon 2025	A-level results · 2025	a_star: 50.75; a_star_a: 86.04; a_star_b: 95.3; entries: 666

Basis: annual grade-entry rows and separately typed historic points/ranks; before 2010 the displayed ladder is A, A–B and A–C because A* did not exist; 2020–21 blank by design

Dataset note: Historic point systems are not treated as a continuous trend and do not populate the grade-share chart.

Every record here: Primary / Secondary · used in F1.

Record	Evidence page	School and year	Title	Recorded figures and details
R2	fig:st_pauls_alevel:22	St Paul’s 2016	A-level results · 2016	a_star: 45.1; a_star_a: 84.9; a_star_b: 98
R4	fig:st_pauls_alevel:23	St Paul’s 2017	A-level results · 2017	a_star: 46.9; a_star_a: 85.1; a_star_b: 97.1
R6	fig:st_pauls_alevel:24	St Paul’s 2018	A-level results · 2018	a_star: 51; a_star_a: 82.4; a_star_b: 95.1
R8	fig:st_pauls_alevel:25	St Paul’s 2019	A-level results · 2019	a_star: 50.4; a_star_a: 80; a_star_b: 92.4
R10	fig:st_pauls_alevel:26	St Paul’s 2022	A-level results · 2022	a_star: 70.9; a_star_a: 95.1; a_star_b: 98.8
R12	fig:st_pauls_alevel:28	St Paul’s 2024	A-level results · 2024	a_star: 60.2; a_star_a: 89.5; a_star_b: 97.9
R14	fig:st_pauls_alevel:29	St Paul’s 2025	A-level results · 2025	a_star: 59.3; a_star_a: 92.5; a_star_b: 98.3