Both Tiffin schools have retained their top 20 places in national school league tables published by the Sunday Times.

Tiffin Girls' retained seventh place in the list of top 500 state secondary schools, and was ranked fourth best in England and Wales for GCSE results.

More than a third of A-level students achieved the new A* grade.

The boys' school was also celebrating this week after climbing seven places to 12th in the list, published last Sunday, November 16.

Three other state schools in the borough, Holy Cross, Tolworth Girls' and Coombe Girls', appeared in the top 500, ranked 423rd, 464nd and 484th respectively.

Kingston Grammar School rose to 60th place in the list of independent secondary schools, helped by being ranked 55th for BCSE performance.

Headteacher Sarah Fletcher said: “Independence of approach and freedom of spirit characterised the work of the GCSE students, and is reflected in their outstanding results.

“It all shows the ethos of liberating learning and a healthy balance of excellence and participation in sport, music, crama and a whole host of other co-curricular pursuits enhance rather than detract from academic performance.”

However, Surbiton High School fell 39 places to 116th, while its junior school for girls fell 23 places to 51st, and its boys' preparatory school fell 27 places to 101st place.

Kathleen Hayes, head teacher of Holy Cross Prep School, said its listing as 13th best preparatory school was “a testament to the hard work and dedication of our pupils, staff and parents”.