SHS is a selective school, and then if you further select for the top set then that group are all going to be bright girls by definition. As such the mixture in the class is never going to be “so varied”. To my knowledge the top sets are fairly small, but considering the school is a relatively small one anyway (Year 7 intake about 70 ish) the class sizes are never going to be huge anyway.
If you are after a after a super academic school then SHS may not be the one for you, you may be better off looking at Wimbledon High, or LEH, or Nonsuch, but plenty of girls at SHS achieve very well indeed there. Considering 66% of GCSEs sat last year were returned at A* or A, this would suggest that (considering it won’t be a completely even spread) the “top set” girls achieve more than 66% of their GCSEs at A* or A. In fact a statement on the school website regarding the GCSE results in 2017 says:
Quote:
Almost 40% of students gained straight A*s and As in at least nine GCSEs.
and
Quote:
“The results saw Sutton High School once again highlight its strength in STEM, with 93% of grades in Biology at A*–A and over three quarters of grades in Mathematics at A*–A.
There were also particularly good results for Religious Studies, Latin, Music and History, where the percentages of A*–A grades were 87%, 83%, 83% and 80% respectively.”
To me this suggests that the “top set” girls will achieve very high exam results, and this can probably only happen if they continue to be motivated and challenged.