Editor's investigation · February 2026
£0 vs £53,000 — the school comparison nobody publishes
A top British state grammar and a top British independent, side-by-side, using only numbers the Department for Education publishes itself. No marketing, no cherry-picking, no small print. The DfE's GCSE 2024/25 dataset tells a story most parents never see printed anywhere.
On the numbers · DfE 2024/2025
What the official data actually says
DfE Attainment 8
87.3
Average grade across 8 GCSEs (nat'l ≈ 46).
DfE Attainment 8
—
Reflects only the school's standard-GCSE cohort — see note below.
EBacc average score
8.65
Avg grade across English, Maths, Sciences, Language, Humanity.
EBacc average score
—
Partial cohort — many pupils take IGCSEs or Pre-U.
WTS rank
#48
Ranked among the world's 300 best.
WTS rank
#1
Ranked among the world's 300 best.
Boarders
Day
Day intake, small boarding house.
Boarders
Boarding
Full boarding, seven days a week.
Verify for yourself — official DfE data
DfE-verified statistics
Official GCSE data · 2024/2025
Progress 8
—
Value-added score. State-schools only; 0 = expected progress, +1 = one grade above.
Attainment 8
87.3
Average grade across 8 GCSEs (score out of 90). National ≈ 46.
EBacc average score
8.65
Avg grade across the 5 EBacc pillars (English, Maths, Sciences, Language, Humanity).
EBacc slots filled
3
How many of the 5 EBacc pillars pupils typically enter (max 5).
Cohort · Pupils on roll
520
Free school meals
3.7%
English as additional language
43.8%
A-Level attainment
Cohort · 2023/24
Avg A-Level grade
A+
APS per entry: 51.67
Best 3 grade
A+
Best-3 APS: 53.46
≥ AAB + 2 fac.
88.5%
Russell-Group predictor.
Progress (value-added)
-0.05
Average
URN 138051Verified · DfE 2024/2025
Reading the numbers honestly
Eton's DfE Attainment 8 of isn't a quality signal — it's a curriculum-choice artefact. Independent schools have quietly pivoted to International GCSEs (IGCSEs) and Pre-U, which the DfE league-table framework doesn't count. The two or three boys per year who still sit standard GCSEs pull the average down. It's not that they're doing badly. It's that they're not in the DfE game any more.
The Henrietta Barnett School's Attainment 8 of 87.3, meanwhile, is measured against the same metric the DfE uses to rank every state school in England. It's directly comparable, cross-checkable, and it puts The Henrietta Barnett School at the sharp end of a national league table that includes 3,200-odd schools.
Neither number tells you which school is right for your child — fit, boarding, ethos, values, siblings, geography all matter more. But if you're being told that a £53,000 price tag is buying you a demonstrably better academic education than a free state grammar, ask to see the working. That's what this comparison is for.
Methodology
Data sourced live from the DfE Explore Education Statistics API (KS4 Performance, 2024/25 cycle). Fees taken from each school's published tuition schedule for the 2026/27 academic year. Ranks are computed live from our 6-category model (academic outcomes, university placement, prestige, alumni network, facilities, transparency). We publish everything we know; we suppress nothing we don't. Read our full methodology .
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