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The Latymer School, London

By Judith O'Reilly

Nearly 400 years ago Edward Latymer, a wealthy merchant, set up a bequest to provide "eight poore boies" from Edmonton in north London with a doublet, pair of breeches, shirt, pair of woolen stockings and shoes. In return for being clothed and educated up to the age of 13, the boys had to wear the red Latymer cross on their sleeves. Nowadays, a Latymer boy or girl is more easily identifiable by the long list of excellent grades on his or her university application form.

Latymer's results are excellent. At GCSE, 91.9% of all examinations sat achieved A and A* in 2009 while at A-level 76.4% of entries gained A-grades - more than any other state school - while 93 % obtained A and B grades. Out of 230 pupils at A-level, virtually all will attend university, the vast majority winning places on highly competitive courses at Russell Group universities, while 40 will go on to study medicine, and between 30 and 40 every year go to Oxbridge.

Earlier this year, Mark Garbett, Latymer's head teacher, told former "super-head" and educational consultant Trevor Averre-Beeson in an interview that he himself went into teaching because he felt he "had something to offer".

"In truth, it was also part of my conversion to Christianity while at university," he says. "I wanted to serve people and not just become an accountant. I believe in the direct calling of Proverbs 4-13, 'Lay hold of instruction do not let go, she is your life'. So after leaving Cambridge in the late 1970s, I went into teaching." Judging by the results, he made the right decision.

He attributes the school's success to three factors, the highly selective admissions process, high-calibre teachers and very supportive parents - "in that order".

Garbett says: "It is extremely selective. There's a huge number of young people who want to study here. Rather than parents choosing the school, the school are choosing the children."

With virtually 10 applications for every place at 11, if the children selected for entry to Latymer cannot succeed, who can? This year, 1,740 applied for 180 places at 11 - despite a postcode restriction based around the idea that no child should be travelling more than an hour on public transport between home and school.

The school takes another 50 children for A-level entry based on tests and securing at least six grade As at GCSE, which boosts numbers from 180 to 230. For A-level entry, competition is less intense - just eight applicants for every place.

The school's Latin motto is Qui Patitur Vincit or Who Endures Wins. Endure - better yet - succeed in the application process, and you win the educational lottery - a place at Latymer. Top grades, top-quality teaching and absolutely free.

The selection process is predictably rigorous and since 2008 there has been no advantage in having a sibling at the school. Applicants are almost all from state primary school and Garbett suspects the majority are tutored. Edmonton is one of the most deprived districts in the country and Garbett admits: "There is a link between deprivation and attainment. Children do get here from the local primary schools, but not in large numbers."

All 1,740 candidates sit a nonverbal reasoning test of an hour and half with 80 questions designed to assess potential. The results are standardised for age and the top 500 names are creamed off. These 500 girls and boys return to sit English comprehension and maths tests, and the top 180 in rank order are offered a place. The only exceptions are the 20 places awarded to exceptional musicians who may have to audition but must have grade 5 distinction or better in their chosen instrument.

Once their child obtains a place, parents are asked to keep a check on what they are doing at school, reading and signing the planners which detail the work the child has done, as well as talking to them about their school work. Parents more than fulfil their side of the bargain - attendance at parents' evenings is 98%, while a key stage 4 event on helping them understand the ways their children learn and how they can help them at home was attended by more than 300 out of a potential pool of 360.

Garbett is keen that parents understand the space in which their children should be working. "It is not helpful having the iPod on, and the mobile phone in one hand, the mouse on a computer game in the other when they are supposed to be revising for a history test," he says.

Parents are also told that younger children need a fixed time for homework. Increasingly, they are requested to limit the amount of time their children spend on such work so that they are fresh for school the next day.

"We want children to be learning when they are in school and not overdoing research on the internet or in their writing. We are advising that more and more. Our children are very motivated and competitive and we are conscious of their mental health and we don't want to press them. Occasionally I would say parents might be tempted to do that - they have their career mapped out for them from the age of 11."

Parents are certainly enthusiastic about the education on offer at Latymer. One told inspectors during the recent Ofsted inspection: "This school is what education is all about." Another said: "My children are lucky to be receiving such an education - their results are good too!"

As part of the school's liberal approach to education, children tend to keep to three A2s and four AS-levels, and have been restricted to nine GCSEs. From year 10 upwards, they are left with three hours every week within school time for individual study, during which they can practice an instrument, borrow a laptop from the library or do homework. It also means they can do the violin or football on a Saturday morning or volunteer at a local primary school. In the same spirit, staff do not push pupils to try for Oxbridge. Nonetheless there are 100 applications every year, 30 or 40 of which are successful.

Teaching is first-class, and many of the teachers work as examiners, giving them an extra insight into the syllabus. A recent Ofsted inspection described the teachers as "well-qualified in their subjects and in the skills of imparting knowledge and developing a thirst for learning in their students". One pupil told inspectors that teachers were "willing to give up as much time as they can spare to give you help".

Ofsted inspectors judged Latymer to be "outstanding" and unsurprisingly teachers are keen to teach there with large numbers of high-quality applicants applying for every job. For a recent vacancy in maths - a post many schools struggle to fill with a specialist - Latymer received 20 applications and were able to shortlist six.

The school has specialist status for art, media and drama, and innovative confidence-building, arts-inspired teaching techniques pervade the curriculum such as role play involving more than one pupil, videos made by the students themselves, and "the hot seat" when one pupil has to assume a role (such as Anne Boleyn) and answer their classmates' questions.

The school's A-level results are particularly impressive, bearing in mind 60 of the pupils sitting the exams originally came from schools other than Latymer.

Garbett says: "There is a fair amount of catching up to do, particularly in science if they haven't been taught terribly well at the school they've been to before. I think the A-level teaching is even more effective than at GCSE because they are coping with these incomers, some of whom don't have the same experience and knowledge even though they have six As at GCSE."

School societies range from Amnesty International, which runs a "cage week", where staff are locked in a small cage to highlight the case for human rights and to raise money, as well as interests including psychology, animal rights, cryptography and film criticism.

Music is a particular strength - boosted by the 20 musicians recruited every year. Latymer operates a house system, and every other year each of the six houses fields a 60-strong orchestra and a choir, rehearsed and conducted by sixth-formers, which compete against each other. There's also a chamber orchestra, a symphony orchestra, brass band, barbershop and senior and junior choirs.

Ofsted inspectors described Latymer's students as developing into "mature, confident and likeable young adults". Its school mission is "to provide a first-class, liberal education where pupils achieve their full potential and show consideration for others".

Garbett is convinced they are succeeding. He says: "The students are considerate to each other. We like that word. They are just nice people and I love working with them."