This year’s results have been achieved in a year which has also seen the boys achieve outstanding success in sport, music, drama, service, societies and leadership – all vital and inter-connected parts of the KES experience.
Headline results for 2026 are:
- 9s: 52% (up by 10% on 2025)
- 9/8s: 77% (up by 10% on 2025) – a KES record
- 9-7s: 90%.
Of the cohort of 123 pupils, nine boys achieved straight 9s, 28% all 8/9s and 57% all 9-7s.
At least 10 GCSEs were taken by 95% of pupils. Eight pupils achieved 11 straight grade 9s and one pupil 10 straight grade 9s.
There was a strong showing across all the Sciences: Biology 86% grades 9/8 and 94% grades 9-7; Physics 85% 9/8 and 94% 9-7, and Chemistry 83% 9/8 and 92% 9-7. In Design & Technology, 76% of pupils achieved a grade 9 and 100% grades 9/8. In Maths, 88% of grades were 9/8s and 94% 9-7s, while in Further Maths, an optional subject taken by more than half the cohort, 88% of grades were 9/8s and 100% 9-7s. There were outstanding achievements in the Humanities (Geography 90% grades 9-7 and History 89% grades 9-7), while in Latin, 81% of pupils secured a grade 9 and 94% grades 9-7.
KES continues to earn recognition for both academic achievement and the breadth of opportunities available beyond the classroom. It is consistently The Sunday Times’s top-performing day school for boys in the West Midlands, has been named in the country’s top 40 schools for sport, and is in The Cricketer’s top 100 senior schools for cricket. Meanwhile, the school’s most recent inspection report highlighted pupils’ sense of belonging as a “significant strength” – a sense that is largely generated by committed participation in the school’s hallmark co-curricular programme.
The school’s Edgbaston campus, shared with King Edward VI High School for Girls (KEHS), shines as the outstanding centre of excellence in the West Midlands in providing unrivalled educational opportunity. Committed to accessibility for bright pupils regardless of socioeconomic background, the schools provide double the national average of bursary places.
Mrs Kirsty von Malaisé, Chief Master & Principal of King Edward’s School (KES) and King Edward VI High School for Girls (KEHS), said: “Our Fifth Formers and their parents should be rightly proud of the exceptional set of GCSE results they are receiving today. These record-breaking achievements reflect the intellectual boldness with which our pupils set about their studies, and the outstanding expertise of our staff. There could be no more fitting way to mark the beginning of our celebrations of 475 years of exceptional education for boys at King Edward’s School.”
Last month, the departing cohort of KES Sixth Formers celebrated outstanding success when they received their IB Diploma results.
