The GCSE is no longer considered tough enough by leading independent schools, which release their results today.

Nine of the top ten in The Times independent schools league table offer the International GCSE (IGCSE), which is considered more rigorous, partly because it does not include coursework. Many other independent schools use the IGCSE in at least one subject. The qualification is not recognised by the Government, so such schools fare badly in official statistics, arguably making them less accurate than those in The Times.

One in five independent schools offers some subjects in IGCSE. They include Wycombe Abbey, a girls’ school in Buckinghamshire, which came top with more than 98 per cent of examinations marked at A* to B grades. It uses the IGCSE for science and mathematics.

Cynthia Hall, the headmistress, said: “There was a feeling that, with GCSE maths, the coursework was really quite a waste of time. A lot of the material was not very stimulating – it was really rather dull for bright girls.”

Mrs Hall said that the IGCSE in science was factually more rigorous but needed to be balanced with the larger amount of laboratory work offered in the GCSE. Andrew Halls, Head Master of King’s College School in Wimbledon, southwest London, said that GCSEs were “no longer good enough” as they offered boring syllabuses and mindless coursework. He said: “We are increasingly moving away from standard GCSEs, with a sense of sadness. Frankly, they are no longer good enough. There are so many top grades that they’re not proving fit for purpose.”

The school for boys uses the IGCSE in maths and the three sciences and is likely to introduce it for more subjects.

Guildford High School introduced the IGCSE this year for maths. Fiona Bolton, headmistress of the girls’ school in Surrey, said: “It’s the first year we’ve done the IGCSE and we chose it because it is significantly more challenging than GCSE.

“It’s a better preparation for A level. The girls weren’t being challenged enough by the normal GCSE.”

Girls dominated the league table of this year’s independent school GCSE results, making up three quarters of the top 20. More boys’ schools would have come higher were it not for a boycott of tables by 56 head teachers, who refused to release results. They included Eton, Radley and Winchester colleges and St Paul’s School, southwest London.

St Paul’s published some GCSE results on its website, saying that this year’s pupils had broken all records. It used IGCSEs in four subjects and achieved 100 per cent A*s in chemistry and Italian and 98 per cent A*s in maths, but did not provide results for any other subjects.

Boys at Manchester Grammar School, which also declined to publish its results, attained 85 per cent A* and A grades at GCSE, according to the school’s website. At Eastbourne College, which takes girls and boys, 64 per cent of exams were marked A* or A. Results from 552 schools were released through the Independent Schools Council.

They showed that 28.5 per cent of GCSE entries were marked A*, nearly two percentage points higher than last year and the fourth consecutive annual rise. Almost three fifths of independent schools’ GCSE papers were graded A or A*, compared with one fifth of pupils nationally.

Dame Judith Mayhew Jonas, the chairwoman of the council, said: “These results show that ISC schools continue to deliver high quality teaching and learning. This is a time to focus on celebrating the success of all the individuals concerned.”

Candidates took an average 9.6 subjects each. More than 95 per cent achieved grades A* to C, compared with two thirds of pupils nationally.

This year almost half the 585 independent schools had at least one entrant for an IGCSE, compared with a third last year. Three schools offered it exclusively.

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