St Helen and St Katharine has been ranked top school in Abingdon in The Times Parent Power 2026 schools’ guide for the fifth year running.
We have also secured a place among the top five girls’ schools in the Southeast for the fifth consecutive year and rank 54th among independent schools across the UK.
This national recognition follows another major accolade for the School: in October we were named Independent Girls’ School of the Year at the national Independent Schools of the Year Awards 2025.
Single-sex girls’ schools continue to dominate the highest tiers of the Parent Power league table, with half of the top ten schools in the combined rankings being all-girls’ schools. Head Sarah Rollings said: “This is a fitting way to mark the end of a brilliant term. It is the result of the care, ambition and commitment shown by every member of our community and we congratulate all for the role they play in making St Helen and St Katharine such a remarkable school.”
The Parent Power rankings assess schools nationwide based on academic performance and draw on schools’ results at GCSE and A level in summer 2025. At St Helen and St Katharine, 92.1% of GCSE grades were 9–7 and 87.5% of A level grades were A*–B.
In addition to consistently excellent academic outcomes, SHSK offers outstanding pastoral care and exceptional co-curricular and academic enrichment programmes. Our expertise in the education of girls allows us to shape everything around what girls need to thrive in and out of the classroom and achieve success on their own terms.
The School’s wider strengths were also recognised this year. We were ranked top 4 girls’ school for sport in the UK and top school overall for sport in Oxfordshire by School Sport Magazine 2024, and in March, ISI inspectors identified our co-curricular provision as a ‘Significant Strength’ of the School.
St Helen and St Katharine draws students from across six counties including Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Berkshire – facilitated by our extensive school bus network – and offers means-tested bursaries from 20–100% of fees from Year 7.
The full Parent Power 2026 is available on The Times’ website.
