FEWER than one in five A-Level entries in Basingstoke and Deane were awarded an A or A* this year, according to new figures.
While Basingstoke students had plenty to celebrate on A-Level results day, new national data shows the borough is slipping behind many parts of the country when it comes to the very highest A-level grades.
Fresh figures from exams regulator Ofqual reveal that fewer than one in five entries in Basingstoke & Deane were awarded an A or A* this year, while nearby Test Valley – including Andover – has the second-lowest share of top grades in England.
Basingstoke and Deane has seen a fall in the proportion of A-level entries awarded the highest grades this year, while nearby Test Valley and Andover rank among the worst-performing areas in England.
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According to data published by exams regulator Ofqual, just 18.5 per cent of A-level entries from Basingstoke & Deane this year were awarded an A or A*, down from 21.8 per cent in 2025.
This means fewer than one in five entries across the borough achieved the top grades, and marks a drop in performance compared with last year, even as individual colleges report strong overall pass rates.
Despite this, Basingstoke's Queen Mary’s College (QMC) recorded a 99.1 per cent overall pass rate and said just over 71 per cent of its students achieved A* to C - but those figures cover a wider band of grades and are not directly comparable to Ofqual’s A/A* measure.
The figures are even more stark for nearby Test Valley, which includes Andover. Only 9.9 per cent of A-level entries there received an A or A*, down from 14.6 per cent last year.
That puts Test Valley second from bottom in the entire country for the proportion of top grades, ahead of only Harlow in Essex, where just 7.0 per cent of entries achieved A or A*.
Guildford in Surrey tops the national table, with 50.0 per cent of entries awarded A or A*, up from 48.8 per cent in 2025. Richmond upon Thames (48.7 per cent) and Cheltenham (47.7 per cent) follow, with nine of the top 10 areas for A/A* grades located in southern England and only Trafford in Greater Manchester breaking into the group.
By contrast, the lowest-ranked areas – Harlow, Test Valley and Hartlepool – all recorded A/A* rates in single digits or the low teens, highlighting large regional differences in outcomes.
Another notable local change is in neighbouring Hart. There, the proportion of entries awarded A or A* fell from 32.7 per cent last year to 22.3 per cent in 2026 – one of the steepest year-on-year drops recorded anywhere in England.
That still leaves Hart ahead of Basingstoke & Deane’s 18.5 per cent, but marks a significant decline from what was previously one of the stronger-performing areas.
Taken together, the data suggests that while some individual schools and colleges in north Hampshire have reason to celebrate, the overall share of top grades across Basingstoke & Deane and its neighbouring districts has slipped compared with many parts of the country.
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