Great Marlow School says 44% of A level grades were A* to B and 73% A* to C, both records; Wycombe High reports every Oxbridge offer met. Remark deadlines here.

Great Marlow School has recorded its best A level results in the school’s history. Of the 108 students entered for Level 3 qualifications this summer, 44% of A level grades were at A* to B and 73% at A* to C, and headteacher Guy Pendlebury said the share of grades at A* and A was also “the best the school has ever achieved”. (Great Marlow School, 13 August 2026)

Across the district, results day on Thursday 13 August produced fewer published numbers than usual. Of the sixth forms serving High Wycombe, Marlow and Princes Risborough whose websites we checked, only Great Marlow School put percentages out on the day. Wycombe High School and Buckinghamshire College Group published statements without grade breakdowns, and the Royal Grammar School, Sir William Borlase’s and Pipers Corner were still showing their 2025 results pages on Saturday.

What each school and college said

Great Marlow School, Bobmore Lane, Marlow. Owen Hollyman, head of sixth form, said “the vast majority” of Year 13 had accepted first-choice university places, apprenticeships or jobs, naming Leeds, Southampton, Bristol and Loughborough among the destinations. Mr Pendlebury said the A* to B (44%) and A* to C (73%) figures were “the highest the school has ever achieved”. (Great Marlow School)

Wycombe High School, Marlow Road. The grammar school did not publish grade percentages, but said every student holding an Oxbridge offer achieved the grades to take it up, and more than 80% of those holding offers for medicine, dentistry and veterinary science secured their places. Headteacher Nicola Renyard said the results “represent two years of dedication, perseverance and growth”. (Wycombe High School, 13 August 2026)

Buckinghamshire College Group, whose Wycombe campus is at Spring Lane, Flackwell Heath, reported that 98% of its students who accepted a university offer got their first choice. It said electrical installation students passed at a rate 20 percentage points above the national average, art and design recorded a 99% pass rate, and counselling, Access to Higher Education and the Health T Level all recorded 100% pass rates. The college did not publish A level grade percentages. (Buckinghamshire College Group, 13 August 2026)

Buckinghamshire Council issued a county-wide statement congratulating students, without figures. Carl Jackson, the cabinet member for education, said that “some young people will not have achieved the results they wanted” and pointed them to the council’s Family Information Service. (Buckinghamshire Council, 13 August 2026)

How Great Marlow’s figures compare

A school’s own percentages and Ofqual’s national tables are not counted the same way. Ofqual reports the share of A level results at A and above and at C and above; it does not publish an A* to B figure at all, so Great Marlow’s 44% can only be set against the school’s own previous years, which is how the school itself used it. Its 73% at A* to C is broadly comparable with Ofqual’s “C and above”.

On that measure, the regulator’s tables for summer 2026 give:

Benchmark, A levels only, 2026 A and above C and above
South East region 31.5% 79.5%
All state-funded centres, England 25.4% 76.8%
Academies 23.5% 75.8%
Secondary modern schools 22.4% 73.6%
Grammar schools 43.4% 88.4%
Independent schools 48.6% 89.4%
England, all centres 28.3% 78.1%

Source: Ofqual, Qualification results in England: summer 2026, tables on results by region and by centre type.

Great Marlow’s 73% sits below the South East’s 79.5% and the academy average of 75.8%, but it is a non-selective school in a county where the grammar schools take the highest attainers at 11. The fairer national comparison is Ofqual’s line for secondary modern schools, the non-selective schools in selective areas, at 73.6%; grammar school centres nationally recorded 88.4%. That is the context in which a best-ever year at a non-selective Marlow school should be read. Wycombe High, as a grammar school, would be judged against the 43.4% and 88.4% row, but it has published no percentages to compare.

Bar chart of the share of A level grades at C or above in 2026: grammar schools nationally 88.4 per cent, South East region 79.5 per cent, England all centres 78.1 per cent, state-funded centres 76.8 per cent, academies 75.8 per cent, secondary modern schools 73.6 per cent, Great Marlow School 73 per cent.
Great Marlow School's figure is as the school published it; the benchmarks are Ofqual's for A levels only. Graphic by Wycombe Today.

Nationally, 835,950 A levels were awarded to 320,505 students at 2,835 schools and colleges, up 2.7% on 2025. The share at A or A* edged up from 28.2% to 28.3%, a rise Ofqual attributes largely to maths, and the regions with the highest share of top grades were London and the South East. (Ofqual blog, 13 August 2026)

One caution on any district ranking you may see elsewhere: Ofqual’s local-area map assigns grades to the postcode of the exam centre, not the student’s home. High Wycombe, with its grammar schools and independent schools, will always rank high on that map partly on the results of pupils who travel in from Marlow, Beaconsfield and across the county line.

What it means for you

If a grade is lower than expected, the first deadline is Thursday 20 August. That is the cut-off for a priority review of marking, which is turned round within 15 calendar days and exists for students whose university place depends on the outcome. The standard review of marking and the clerical re-check both close on 24 September 2026, with results within 20 and 10 calendar days respectively. Two things families get wrong: the request has to go through the school’s exams officer, because awarding bodies do not accept reviews direct from students, and there is no grade protection, so a mark can go down as well as up. (JCQ post-results services)

Clearing runs until 19 October 2026 through UCAS for anyone without a place, or who has declined a firm place after doing better than expected. (UCAS)

GCSE results follow on Thursday 20 August. For anyone still weighing options after either results day, the National Careers Service exam results helpline is on 0800 100 900, open 8am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays and bank holidays; Princes Risborough School’s results-day letter points its students to the same line. (Princes Risborough School)

Students starting courses in London this autumn can find season ticket prices and journey times on High Wycombe train times to London.

Sources

School figures were taken from each school’s own website on 15 August 2026. Schools that publish figures later will be added.