Parents are often looking for information on the best place to live in order to be able to ensure that their children can have the best education possible. Now, those living in the Guildford area will be pleased to discover that one of the schools close by has been given the title of the Best in the South East by the Sunday Times.
It is a prestigious honour that is sure to cause an uptick in applications for students to study there, such is the esteem in which the Sunday Times’ report is held. The Sunday Times Parent Power Guide is designed to offer advice to parents wondering which school to send their charges to.
About the Sunday Times Parent Power Guide
Given the fact that the Sunday Times is considered to be one of the newspapers of record in the United Kingdom, it is perhaps not all that surprising that anything associated with the paper is thought of in high regard. The list breaks schools down into both state and private, as well as being able to provide a combined list for those that would like to know where their school of choice appears in general. The Guide is searchable, meaning that parents and guardians can look to find the school that they’re interested in in order to discover whether or not it is highly thought of.
You can search by the name of the school, if you know it, or you can look according to your postcode or the Local Education Authority in which you’re based. For most people, however, the desire will be to see whether the school that they’re either interested in or that they already send their children to has made it onto the list at all. The reason that Guildford High School has been flagged up is that it was named the independent secondary school of the year in the whole of the South East, but parents will also be interested to know that it also made the top ten of all schools.
Guildford High School
Guildford High School was founded in 1888 and acts as a private day school specifically for girls. It was founded by the Church Schools Company, being a progressive school from the start. The entire idea was for the school to offer a feminist counterpoint to the reformed public schools that were aimed solely at teaching boys. This meant that it was different from the early girls’ only schools that were structured around enhancing the skills and knowledge of those looking to become governesses. The site that the school still uses today was completed in 1893.
It was during the years that followed the conclusion of the Second World War that the school underwent a rapid expansion, meaning that by the 1980s there were more than 600 students in attendance. The modern version of the school has nearly 1,000 pupils studying there, still being a part of the Church Schools Company, which is now known as the United Church Schools Trust. As well as the main campus, there is also a sports centre that features the likes of a sports hall, social area and fitness suite. Notable former pupils include Celia Imrie, Ella Hickson and Clemmie Moodie.
This Year’s Report
In the combined list of all schools in the United Kingdom for 2025, Guildford High School comes in at fifth, which is also the position that it occupies if you only look at private schools. The position is down to the exam results that have been achieved by the students there, with the girls’ school also named the Independent School of the Year back in 2023. In 2025, the results in A-Level exams showed that 43% of pupils had scored an A*. As you might imagine, there is a drive for girls across Surrey to attend the school, but it wasn’t the only one in the country to make the list.
Both the Royal Grammar School, also in Guildford, and Reigate Grammar School, in Reigate, were also featured. The former school has recently confirmed plans to welcome girls to the school for the first time. It means that Surrey as a county has more appearances than any other county in the top ten, whilst Guildford as a town was the best represented. If you are more interested in comprehensive schools, Surrey did just as well on that front thanks to the presence of St Andrew’s Roman Catholic School in second place for comprehensive schools and Chertsey’s Salesian School in eighth.