Milton Keynes sixth formers got A level results on 13 August. Three schools have published 2026 figures, and the priority remark deadline is 20 August.

Sixth formers across Milton Keynes collected their A level results on Thursday 13 August, and anyone unhappy with a grade has until Thursday 20 August to get a priority review of marking requested. That is the single date worth writing down this week, because it is the only remark route fast enough to matter for a university place, and it closes the same morning that GCSE results come out.

Two days on, three Milton Keynes schools have published something about their 2026 results on their own websites. Several others have not, and a few results pages still carry last year’s figures, which is normal at this point in August and is not a judgement on how anyone did.

What Milton Keynes schools have published

Oakgrove School, in a statement dated 13 August, reported “an increase of 5% in grades A* to B” and said students had secured places at first-choice universities alongside apprenticeships, employment and specialist training. Headteacher Nicola Irwin-Morris said the day was “an opportunity to recognise not only academic achievement, but also the character, commitment and perseverance our students have shown”.

E-ACT Ousedale School, which runs campuses at The Grove in Newport Pagnell and Aspreys in Olney, posted its statement at 10.17am on results day. It listed five students by first name with their grades and destinations, including two who took four A grades and are heading to Cambridge and Edinburgh, and a third with three A grades and an A going on to study medicine at Sheffield. Headteacher Paul McFadden said the results “reflect a great deal of hard work and commitment from our students”. The school also named four students who exceeded their expected grades by an average of two grades each.

Walton High published a press release for its Brooklands campus headed “A-Level Results 2026”. It singled out four A level students, two of whom are going to Cambridge, and picked out strong outcomes in sociology, accounting and law. The release also covers vocational results, with distinction star grades in sport studies, business, health and social care, digital film and video production and IT, and two students moving into apprenticeships at professional services firms. Year 12 students who sat papers early took an A in Persian A level and two A grades in the Extended Project Qualification.

Three other sixth forms had not published 2026 figures as of 15 August. The Hazeley Academy results page is still headed “A-Level Results 2025”. Shenley Brook End School carries a Post 16 results page with no year on it; its text is unchanged from the version archived on 7 June 2026, so it describes the 2025 cohort. St Paul’s Catholic School publishes results booklets and its most recent is Summer 2025. Denbigh School has no 2026 results post; its most recent A level piece is dated August 2024.

The national picture, and why school percentages will not match it

Ofqual published the official summer 2026 statistics at 9.30am on results day. Across England, 835,950 A level results went to 320,505 students at 2,835 schools and colleges. 28.3% were at grade A or above, a whisker up on 28.2% last year, and 78.1% were at grade C or above, up from 77.7%.

Milton Keynes sits in the South East for Ofqual’s regional table, and the South East is the strongest region in England bar London: 31.5% at A and above this year against 31.2% in 2025, and 79.5% at C and above, unchanged. London was 32.7%. The weakest were the North East and East Midlands, both on 23.1%.

A level results at grade A and above, 2026 By region. Milton Keynes is in the South East. London 32.7% South East 31.5% East of England 27.9% South West 27.1% North West 26.5% Yorks and Humber 25.7% West Midlands 24.2% North East 23.1% East Midlands 23.1% England 28.3% Source: Ofqual, Qualification results in England summer 2026, table 8. All subjects combined. Graphic by MK Daily.
How the South East compares with the rest of England on top A level grades. Graphic by MK Daily.

Here is the part results-day coverage usually skips. A school’s headline percentage almost never lines up with Ofqual’s. Ofqual reports A levels only, at two thresholds: A and above, and C and above. Schools report whatever flatters the year, commonly A-B, A-C or A*-E, and often “including equivalents”, meaning BTEC and other vocational grades are folded in.

So Oakgrove’s rise in A-B has no national counterpart at all, because Ofqual publishes no A-B figure by region. It can only be read against Oakgrove’s own previous years, which is exactly how the school framed it. A school quoting A-C is roughly comparable with the 79.5% South East figure. A school quoting A-E is not comparable with anything Ofqual publishes.

Centre type matters as much as place. In 2026, grammar schools averaged 43.4% at A and above and independent schools 48.6%, against 23.5% for academies and 23.0% for local authority maintained comprehensives. Milton Keynes has no grammar schools, so the comprehensive and academy rows, not the England average, are the fair yardstick for most of the city’s sixth forms.

Ofqual also publishes results by local authority district on an interactive map, and it is worth knowing what that map actually measures before anyone quotes a Milton Keynes ranking from it. Grades are assigned to an area by the postcode of the exam centre, not by where the student lives. A district with a large selective or independent school ranks high on other people’s children. Milton Keynes has neither, so its position on that map says something different from what a league-table reading suggests.

What it means for you

If a grade looks wrong, the clock is already running. The Joint Council for Qualifications sets the summer 2026 deadlines:

  • Priority review of marking: 20 August 2026. A level, T Level and Level 3 vocational qualifications only, turned round in 15 calendar days. This is the one that exists for students whose university place depends on the outcome.
  • Review of marking (standard): 24 September 2026, covering AS and A level, GCSE, T Levels and Level 1, 2 and 3 vocational qualifications, turned round in 20 calendar days.
  • Clerical re-check: 24 September 2026, turned round in 10 calendar days. This just checks the marks were added up and transferred correctly, and it is much cheaper than a full review.

Two things families get wrong every year. The request goes through the school or college’s exams officer, not direct from the student to the exam board, and the centre must hold written consent from the student before submitting it. And there is no grade protection: a review can lower a grade as well as raise it, so ask the exams officer for a realistic read on the mark before committing.

Dates that still matter Summer 2026 results and post-results services Thu 13 Aug A level results day (done) Thu 20 Aug Priority review deadline A level, T Level, L3 VTQ Also GCSE results day Thu 24 Sep Standard review and clerical re-check deadline Requests go through the centre's exams officer, with the student's written consent. Grades can go down. Source: JCQ post-results services, summer 2026. Graphic by MK Daily.
The three dates worth keeping. Graphic by MK Daily.

GCSE results day is Thursday 20 August. St Paul’s Catholic School has published its timings in unusual detail: results from 9am, Year 12 BTEC Level 3 and GCSE resit results from 9.30am, Level 2 bridging students from 10am, and sixth form course change meetings by appointment from noon to 5pm that day, continuing on Friday 21 and Monday 24 August. Other schools set their own times, so check with yours rather than assuming.

Ofqual’s own release will not carry GCSE figures until 20 August. Until then the published statistics cover Level 3 results only.

Elsewhere on MK Daily

If you are moving into or around Milton Keynes for sixth form or college in September, our Milton Keynes house prices page tracks the market by outcode, and train times to London covers the commute from MK Central. For getting around the city this month, see roadworks and travel.