GCSE English Tutor Islington: 2026 Grades, School by School

Leading Tuition's GCSE English tutors in Islington are expert one-to-one online teachers who start from each pupil's own school and from the weaker of the two English GCSEs, because DfE's provisional summer 2026 counts put grade 4 or above at 43.4% of English Language entries at Beacon High and 97.8% at North Bridge House Senior Canonbury School.

Islington means the London borough, DfE's local authority 206. DfE lists 12 Islington schools with GCSE (9-1) full-course English entries; 11 of them have 30 or more entries and a published grade breakdown, and they are read below. English Language and English Literature are two separate GCSEs, so each has its own table.

How did Islington's schools do in GCSE English Language in summer 2026?

The table gives DfE's counts of GCSE (9-1) English Language entries at each grade, with the school's total entries and its cohort, which DfE defines as pupils at the end of Key Stage 4. Grade 4 or above is the sum of the grade 4 to grade 9 columns, and its share is taken over all of the school's entries, including those graded U or X. A blank grade in DfE's file is a zero here: for every school, grades 1 to 9, U and X add up exactly to the total.

Beacon High entered 76 pupils from a cohort of 76, and 33 of the entries (43.4%) reached grade 4 or above. North Bridge House Senior Canonbury School entered 45 from a cohort of 45, and 44 (97.8%) reached it. Those are the two ends of the Language column; the nine schools between them sit at 55.2% to 91.2%.

At Arts and Media School Islington, 79 of 143 Language entries (55.2%) reached grade 4 or above, 61 (42.7%) grade 5 or above and 21 (14.7%) grade 7 or above, from a cohort of 144. DfE records 4 grade 9 entries there and 4 grade U.

City of London Academy Highbury Grove made 162 Language entries from a cohort of 162: 108 (66.7%) reached grade 4 or above and 71 (43.8%) grade 5 or above, and the school has 9 grade 9 entries. At City of London Academy, Highgate Hill, 88 of 134 entries (65.7%) reached grade 4 or above and 64 (47.8%) grade 5 or above, from a cohort of 133.

City of London Academy Islington has 148 Language entries from a cohort of 149. Of those, 111 (75.0%) reached grade 4 or above, 89 (60.1%) grade 5 or above and 37 (25.0%) grade 7 or above.

St Aloysius' College entered 57 pupils from a cohort of 57. The school has 39 entries (68.4%) at grade 4 or above, 29 (50.9%) at grade 5 or above and 5 at grade 9.

Central Foundation Boys' School made 167 Language entries from a cohort of 167, so entries equal the cohort. 134 entries (80.2%) reached grade 4 or above, 109 (65.3%) grade 5 or above and 44 (26.3%) grade 7 or above; DfE records 12 at grade 9.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School made 174 Language entries from a cohort of 174. Its 142 entries at grade 4 or above (81.6%) include 118 at grade 5 or above (67.8%) and 52 at grade 7 or above (29.9%).

St Mary Magdalene Academy has the largest cohort in the table, 191 pupils, and 191 Language entries. 157 of them (82.2%) reached grade 4 or above, 134 (70.2%) grade 5 or above and 72 (37.7%) grade 7 or above, with 11 at grade 9.

Highbury Fields School entered 137 pupils from a cohort of 138. 125 entries (91.2%) reached grade 4 or above, 106 (77.4%) grade 5 or above and 37 (27.0%) grade 7 or above.

And how did they do in GCSE English Literature?

English Literature is a separate qualification with its own entries, so the schools' counts differ from the Language table above even where the cohort is the same. The columns and the reading of grade 4 or above are the same as in the Language table.

In Literature the lowest grade 4 or above share belongs to Arts and Media School Islington, 82 of 142 entries (57.7%) from a cohort of 144, and the highest to North Bridge House Senior Canonbury School, 44 of 45 (97.8%) from a cohort of 45. Beacon High is next from the bottom at 47 of 76 (61.8%).

At Arts and Media School Islington 71 Literature entries (50.0%) reached grade 5 or above and 21 (14.8%) grade 7 or above. DfE records 6 grade U and 10 grade X there, against a cohort of 144.

Beacon High made 76 Literature entries. 30 (39.5%) reached grade 5 or above and 4 (5.3%) grade 7 or above, and 7 were graded U.

City of London Academy Highbury Grove entered 160 pupils from a cohort of 162, and 114 (71.2%) reached grade 4 or above. City of London Academy, Highgate Hill entered 132 from a cohort of 133, and 94 (71.2%) reached it; both shares round to 71.2%, from different entry counts.

City of London Academy Islington made 147 Literature entries from a cohort of 149. 122 (83.0%) reached grade 4 or above, 108 (73.5%) grade 5 or above and 48 (32.7%) grade 7 or above.

St Aloysius' College has 57 Literature entries from a cohort of 57. 44 (77.2%) reached grade 4 or above, 35 (61.4%) grade 5 or above and 18 (31.6%) grade 7 or above.

Central Foundation Boys' School made 167 Literature entries from a cohort of 167. 138 entries (82.6%) reached grade 4 or above, 122 (73.1%) grade 5 or above and 55 (32.9%) grade 7 or above.

St Mary Magdalene Academy made 187 Literature entries from a cohort of 191. 160 (85.6%) reached grade 4 or above, 137 (73.3%) grade 5 or above and 76 (40.6%) grade 7 or above.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School made 167 Literature entries from a cohort of 174, with 154 (92.2%) at grade 4 or above, 128 (76.6%) at grade 5 or above and 65 (38.9%) at grade 7 or above.

Highbury Fields School has 133 Literature entries from a cohort of 138. 128 (96.2%) reached grade 4 or above, 110 (82.7%) grade 5 or above and 49 (36.8%) grade 7 or above.

Which of the two English GCSEs is lower inside each Islington school?

Each school's Language and Literature figures can be set side by side without being merged. The table repeats each school's grade 4 or above count and share for the two GCSEs, then gives the difference in percentage points, Literature minus Language.

The Literature share is higher than the Language share at ten schools and equal at North Bridge House Senior Canonbury School, where 44 of 45 entries reached grade 4 or above in each. The largest difference is at Beacon High: 33 of 76 Language entries (43.4%) against 47 of 76 Literature entries (61.8%), +18.4 points. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School follows at +10.6 points, 142 of 174 Language entries (81.6%) against 154 of 167 Literature entries (92.2%).

St Aloysius' College is at +8.8 points and City of London Academy Islington at +8.0. Six schools are between 2.4 and 5.5 points: Central Foundation Boys' School (+2.4), Arts and Media School Islington (+2.5), St Mary Magdalene Academy (+3.4), City of London Academy Highbury Grove (+4.6) and Highbury Fields School (+5.0), with City of London Academy, Highgate Hill at +5.5.

The two GCSEs are taught and examined differently, which is why the difference is worth reading before a term of lessons is planned. A tutor sets the school's two figures beside the pupil's own mock marks and starts with whichever of the two GCSEs those marks show is the weaker. The table says where a school's cohort divided in summer 2026; it says nothing about where one pupil will.

Which Islington rows need context before schools are compared?

Some rows in the tables come with facts from the Department for Education's own register, Get Information About Schools (GIAS), or from DfE's footnotes, and they change how a figure is read.

GIAS records Beacon High (URN 100453) as closed on 31 December 2025, reason Academy Converter, in the bulk file dated 31 October 2026. The 76 Language and 76 Literature entries above are DfE's summer 2026 counts for its cohort of 76, as published by DfE.

North Bridge House Senior Canonbury School (URN 141250) is listed by GIAS as an other independent school for ages 11 to 18. DfE counts 45 Language entries and 45 Literature entries from a cohort of 45, and 44 entries in each subject reached grade 4 or above. With an entry of that size, one entry moves the share by about 2.2 percentage points, so the 97.8% in each table is 44 entries out of 45 and no more.

St Mary Magdalene Academy is an all-through school in GIAS, taking ages 4 to 19, so its Key Stage 4 cohort of 191 is one year group of a larger school. Central Foundation Boys' School, Highbury Fields School and Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School are listed by GIAS as a boys' school (ages 11 to 18), a girls' school (11 to 18) and a girls' school (11 to 16) respectively, and their cohorts are 167, 138 and 174.

The Bridge Keystone (URN 143702), a free special school in GIAS, has 4 entries in English Language and 4 in English Literature against a cohort of 12, and DfE suppresses grade breakdowns where a school has 5 or fewer entries, so The Bridge Keystone has no row in either table.

Entries are not pupils. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School has a cohort of 174 and 167 Literature entries, Highbury Fields School a cohort of 138 and 133, and Arts and Media School Islington a cohort of 144 and 142. DfE counts the cohort as pupils at the end of Key Stage 4 and counts entries per qualification, so the difference between the two numbers is a difference in what is counted, not a statement about any school.

How do Islington's schools compare with England?

DfE's national entry data for summer 2026 counts 639,055 GCSE (9-1) English Language entries in England, of which 452,720 reached grade 4 or above (70.8%), and 615,150 English Literature entries, of which 449,386 reached it (73.1%). The 11 Islington schools together made 1,434 Language entries, 1,060 at grade 4 or above (73.9%), and 1,413 Literature entries, 1,127 at grade 4 or above (79.8%).

Taken together, the 11 schools' Language share is 3.1 percentage points above England's and their Literature share 6.7 points above. School by school, 6 of the 11 are above England's Language share and 7 of the 11 above its Literature share. The England figures come from DfE's national entry data and the school figures from DfE's school-level file; both are provisional summer 2026 counts, and combining the 11 schools describes those 11 schools and not the borough.

Across the 11 schools, 374 Language entries and 286 Literature entries did not reach grade 4: they were graded 1 to 3, U or X.

How do AQA's two English papers split the marks?

These are AQA's specifications, GCSE English Language (8700) and GCSE English Literature (8702); other exam boards publish their own, and a tutor confirms a pupil's board from the school before the first session. AQA's pages are the English Language specification at a glance and the English Literature specification at a glance.

English Language 8700 has two written papers, each 1 hour 45 minutes, 80 marks and 50% of the GCSE. Paper 1, Explorations in Creative Reading and Writing, carries a 20-mark extended reading question, and Paper 2, Writers' Viewpoints and Perspectives, a 16-mark one. On each paper reading is worth 40 marks and writing 40, and the writing question has 24 marks for content and 16 for technical accuracy. Across the two papers, 32 of the 160 marks are for technical accuracy. Spoken Language is a separate endorsement with 0% weighting in the GCSE grade.

English Literature 8702 has Paper 1, Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel, at 1 hour 45 minutes, 64 marks and 40% of the GCSE, and Paper 2, modern texts and poetry including unseen poetry, at 2 hours 15 minutes, 96 marks and 60%. Paper 2 therefore carries more of the grade than Paper 1, and 96 of the 160 marks.

For the sessions, this means English Language tutoring spends its time on the extended reading answers and on writing that earns both content and technical-accuracy marks, while English Literature tutoring spends it on essays across five text types, including a poem the pupil has not seen before. A tutor decides the split from the pupil's marked paper and the board's mark scheme, and the school figures above are the starting context.

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How do Leading Tuition's tutors work with Islington's GCSE English pupils?

Every programme is one-to-one and online. A tutor starts with a diagnostic on a past paper from the pupil's own exam board, marked against that board's mark scheme, so the starting grade comes from the pupil's own work and not from a school figure. The school's counts in this page are context for the family; they are not a condition of tuition, and tutors teach pupils at any Islington school, including the ones that have no row in DfE's tables.

For English Language the diagnostic separates reading marks from writing marks, because each paper gives 40 marks to each. For English Literature it separates the Paper 1 texts, Shakespeare and the 19th-century novel, from the Paper 2 modern text and poetry, because the two papers carry 40% and 60% of the grade. Sessions then follow whichever result the diagnostic shows is the weaker of the two GCSEs, which is the same question the difference column above asks of a whole school.

Our GCSE English Language tuition page and GCSE English Literature tuition page describe each subject, and the Islington tuition hub lists the other subjects we teach in the borough, including GCSE maths tutors in Islington. 91% of Leading Tuition students achieve their desired grades.

What can these figures not tell an Islington family?

DfE labels the release provisional: its Key Stage 4 performance page says the data in this release is provisional, and the school-level data set used here is version 2.0, published on 15 October 2026 and retrieved on 31 October 2026.

No Progress 8 exists for these pupils: DfE will not publish progress measures for 2024/25 or 2025/26 because the pupils had no Key Stage 2 assessments. Nothing here measures how much a school added to a pupil's grade.

Grade U means DfE's ungraded or unclassified results and grade X means pupils who were absent or whose results are pending. Both are kept in their own columns so that each row adds up to the school's total entries. The tables are for English Language and English Literature GCSE (9-1) full courses only, so they say nothing about any other qualification a pupil sat.

What does grade 4 in English mean after Year 11?

GOV.UK's guidance on the 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding says it ensures that 16- to 19-year-olds on study programmes without GCSE maths and English grade 4 or above get support to improve their English and maths skills and make progress towards level 2. Grade 4 is therefore the line the tables above use, and it is the line that guidance names; the GOV.UK guidance sets out the rule in full.

In summer 2026 the 374 Language entries and 286 Literature entries below grade 4 across the 11 schools are counted below that line. A pupil in that position at 16 can prepare for a further sitting with a tutor who has the previous paper and its mark scheme in front of them, taking the Language and Literature papers in the order the pupil's own marks suggest. Our guide to what happens after a failed GCSE English covers the routes.

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