Schools ranked by Oxbridge offers 2026: the full list

Oxford and Cambridge together make a few thousand undergraduate offers each year, and a disproportionate share of those offers go to students from a relatively small group of schools. This post is a companion to two other guides we've published: The top 100 secondary schools in the UK and The top 100 universities in the UK. Where those posts rank schools and universities by exam results and reputation, this one uses a different, more specific measure: how many Oxbridge offers a school's students actually received in the most recent published UCAS cycle.

For each school on the list, we've also shown its type, whether independent, grammar, sixth-form college or another state school, along with how many students applied, so you can see how Oxbridge success is spread across the different routes. If you're weighing up secondary schools, our guides to the best grammar schools and top private schools in the UK are a good next step.

This blog will cover:

• The full list of 80 schools, ranked by Oxbridge offers, with each school's type and application numbers alongside it
• How this ranking works, and where the figures come from
• Why several state sixth-form colleges outperform many private and grammar schools here
• How school choice fits into the bigger picture of getting into Oxbridge
• Five ways to help your child build toward a strong academic secondary school

How does this ranking work?

This data is released directly by Oxford and Cambridge. The data covers the 2025 UCAS admissions cycle, for students starting university in 2026. Oxford and Cambridge's figures record, centre by centre, how many students applied and how many received an offer.

Schools are ranked first by total number of offers received. Where two schools received the same number of offers, the tiebreaker is offer-to-application ratio - so a school that made fewer applications but converted more of them into offers ranks slightly above one that applied more widely for the same number of offers.

Of the 80 schools on this list, 33 are independent (private) schools, 21 are grammar schools or partially selective schools, and the remaining 26 are sixth-form colleges, academies or comprehensives.

The full list: schools ranked by Oxbridge offers, 2026

Here's the full list of 80 schools, ranked by total Oxbridge offers received.

Why do sixth-form colleges do so well on this list?

One of the more striking things about this list is how many state sixth-form colleges sit near the top of it, ahead of well-known private and grammar schools. Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge is second overall, with 73 offers from 287 applicants. Peter Symonds College in Winchester is fifth, with 53 offers. Brampton Manor Academy in East Ham - a non-selective sixth form - is joint 11th with 48 offers from 292 applicants, one of the highest application counts on the whole list.

It's a reminder that strong routes to Oxford and Cambridge exist outside the private and grammar school system too.

How does school choice fit into getting into Oxbridge?

An Oxbridge offer is built on A-level (or equivalent) grades, personal statements, admissions tests and interviews - the school someone attends at 16 to 18 doesn't decide any of that on its own. What a strong secondary school tends to offer is the environment around those things: experienced teachers who know the admissions process, established links with Oxford and Cambridge colleges, and other students aiming for the same kind of place.

Getting into a school like that is itself usually a choice point years earlier at 11+ for a grammar school, or via entrance exams, scholarships or bursaries for many independent schools. That's where secure GCSE and pre-GCSE foundations start to matter well before anyone is thinking about universities: a child who arrives at Year 7 with strong, confident subject knowledge is better placed to make the most of a demanding secondary school, wherever they end up.

5 ways to help your child build toward a strong academic secondary school

1. Start building core subject knowledge early. The maths, English and reasoning skills tested at 11+ and in many independent school entrance exams are built up over several years, not crammed in the months before.
2. Practise little and often. Regular, low-pressure practice most weeks tends to serve children better than occasional long revision sessions, both for results and for confidence.
3. Understand what each exam actually tests. Grammar school 11+ papers, independent school entrance exams and the ISEB Common Pre-Tests (a standardised online entrance exam used by many independent schools) all test slightly different things - knowing the format in advance helps a child walk in prepared rather than surprised.
4. Track progress by topic, not just by test score. Knowing which specific areas need more work makes it much easier to close gaps than a single overall score does.
5. Keep the bigger picture in view. Getting into a particular school is one milestone on a much longer path - what matters more in the long run is the habits and confidence a child builds along the way.

Wherever your child is aiming - a grammar school place, an independent school offer, or simply a strong start to secondary education - the groundwork for it starts years earlier. Atom Learning's 11+ courses are built to support exactly that groundwork, with adaptive practice, mock exams and instant feedback that help identify and close gaps well ahead of exam day.