The
definitive guide to Britain's top 2,000 state and independent schools
The annual Schools of the Year awards embody the educational values of Parent
Power. The awards were instituted in 1999 for the best state and independent
secondary schools. They have been steadily expanded since to now encompass
seven different awards.
State
Secondary School of the Year
Independent
Secondary School of the Year
State
Primary School of the Year
Independent
Preparatory School of the Year
Scottish
State Secondary School of the Year
Scottish
Independent Secondary School of the Year
Northern
Ireland Secondary School of the Year
But what makes a School of the Year?
Examination success only tells part of the story. After all, you do not want
to simply send your son or daughter to an examination factory.
Many factors help determine the winners:
Dynamic leadership
The head teacher sets the tone in a school. The “nearest thing to a magic
wand”, according to Chris Woodhead, former chief inspector of schools. They
need to motivate teachers and inspire children.
High-quality teaching
Inspection reports (to which there are links from most of the 2,000 Parent
Power schools) run the rule over what is happening in the classroom. We can
all remember the teachers who grabbed our attention, stimulated our interest
in a subject, distracted us from thoughts of after-school assignations.
Good facilities
Whiteboards can’t buy academic success but consistent investment in the fabric
of a school to create outstanding classroom and extra-curricular facilities
can help create an atmosphere conducive to learning.
Strong community links
A school that is used by and grounded in the community in which it stands is
more likely to have the strength of links with parents that can reinforce
what takes place between 9 and 4, and make the school a focal point of
family life and not just a place in which to learn.
And, of course, sustained examination success. Not one-off triumphs from a
particularly gifted year group, but consistently good academic results that
demonstrate high-quality teaching across a breadth of subjects.
Every one of this year’s seven winning schools can lay claim to possessing all
of the above – and more.
Sevenoaks School, Independent Secondary School of the Year, has risen
from 25th to seventh in this year’s league table, one of the sharpest single
year rises at the top of a table in the past 17 years of Parent Power. The
decision made by head teacher Katy Ricks to switch from A-levels to offering
exclusively the International Baccalaureate to sixth-formers proved a
runaway success; the school can claim 10% of the highest-achieving IB
students worldwide. The day and boarding school offers outstanding
facilities to its 1,000 pupils.
Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, State Secondary School of the Year,
is proof that you don’t have to pay £20,000 a year in school fees to secure
outstanding academic results. Under the leadership of Dr John Marincowitz
for the past decade, the selective grammar school this summer delivered more
A grades at A-level than any other state school. Just 14 independent schools
could manage more than the 79.2% proportion of A grades won here. Rarely
outside of the top five state schools in the country, this year Queen
Elizabeth’s ranks second.
North Cheshire Jewish Primary School, Cheadle, State Primary School of the
Year, is just the latest faith school to win one of our awards. The
extra stability and dimension provided in faith schools help secure good
results. Thirteen of the top 20 primaries this year are faith schools. For
the past three years, all children here have achieved level 4 in their key
stage 2 Sats. This year’s Ofsted inspection helped secure our award. “By the
end of year 6, standards in English and maths are some of the highest
nationally with science not far behind,” noted the inspectors, whose report
commended the school as “outstanding”, the highest category of praise.
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle, Independent Preparatory School of the Year,
has been on an upward trajectory for some years, breaking into the top 10 in
2007 off the back of some outstanding Sat results. As with so many of the
winning schools, head teacher of the junior school, Roly Craig, has been in
post a long time (since 1999), long enough to stamp his vision on the
school. With more than 460 years of history behind it, RGS could be excused
for being resistant to change. Far from it. Girls were admitted to the
junior school for the first time last year and they will no doubt drive
academic attainment even higher.
Gryffe High School, Houston, Scottish State Secondary School of the Year,
is another school on a consistent upward path, making gains in our league
table for the past four years. It now sits seventh in the Scottish table of
state secondary schools. While rising steadily in our table, the school has
moved out and then back into its premises in Houston, which have seen a
major refurbishment. The school has an excellent sporting and musical
tradition in addition to fine academic results.
St Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh, Scottish Independent Secondary School of
the Year, conforms to the adage of being small and perfectly formed.
With barely 70 pupils, all of them gifted musicians, St Mary’s offers
something different in an educational world where it is often hard to
distinguish schools one from another. Joint top of the league table of
Scottish independent schools, which follow the Scottish examination system,
its students are no academic slouches. The head teacher for the past 10
years, Jennifer Rimer, says: “What really impresses me is that the children
are mutually supportive. They do not compete with each other. I think it is
a very happy school and I think that happiness comes from the very
old-fashioned concept of discipline.”
Antrim Grammar School, Northern Ireland Secondary School of the Year,
is the youngest grammar school in Northern Ireland. Founded in 1974, it is
now headed by a former pupil, Stephen Black. The 60% proportion of A and B
grades at A-level earned this summer help 98% of pupils progress to higher
education. Five gained places at Oxbridge. The award acknowledges the
efforts made by staff over a number of years to improve standards. Black
perhaps summarises best what our awards seek to acknowledge. "Our aim
is to educate for life," says Black. "That is what we try to do.
We try to develop people both in terms of their academic ability but we
equally want to value them as individuals and develop them as whole people
and develop in them a sense of community."
