Academics Westbourne is interested in and
focused on developing each individual's potential. We are not
concerned with league tables. We do not massage our GCSE
results because we enter all our students into all their GCSEs
regardless of ability. Most of our students will pass all 10
GCSEs, many will get grade As, the more able will achieve A* in
some subjects and the vast majority of our pupils on learning
support will exceed expectations.
Over the last few years most of our pupils have gone onto
further education, either to pursue the conventional route and
study 'A' levels or to take National Diplomas (worth 3 'A'
levels) at local colleges. Students are given career advice
and make informed decisions on further education choices as we
invite guest speakers in from local sixth forms and colleges.
A number of Old Westbournians who were our first students to stay
on into our Senior School have now graduated from university and we
are beginning to hear of many success stories as these ex-students
look back on their formative education at Westbourne.
For me the most exciting developments we have made are due to
the purchase of Ashdell Grove. This has allowed us to expand
into three teaching groups in Senior School. It has seen the
birth of our 'more able pupil' groups and this structure will be
continued for the foreseeable future. This is an accelerated
stream that is motoring ahead and has raised the bar on academic
standards. The present S11 'more able pupils' began
their GCSE Science a year early and are pursuing
Astronomy as an extra GCSE in their final year. The other
groups in S11 have also benefited by even smaller class sizes than
the usual 14; all in all the new structure and greater
opportunities that we provide to pupils at Westbourne will ensure
healthy academic achievement.
John Hicks
2012 - This year we have seen a 100% pass rate
in our scholarship form, 93 per cent of passes were at grades A* to
B and 66 per cent were at A* or A.
Congratulations to Lucy Chan who is celebrating after gaining 12
GCSEs at A and A* grade.
The 16-year-old, who lives in Grenoside, joined fellow pupils in
marking another year of exam success.
We are the city's only academically
non-selective co-educational independent school. 83 per
cent of students gained five or more A* to C grades, with 73 per
cent of those passes including English and Maths. As an
academically non-selective school we are delighted with these
results and rejoice in the individual success of our pupils.
"Lucy's is a remarkable achievement, the result of extremely
hard work and dedication," said John Hicks.
"But we are equally pleased with all our GCSE students and a set
of results that demonstrate Westbourne's increasing levels of
academic achievement and the individual personal progress made by
all our pupils."
2011 - Our Year 11s have managed to achieve a
very creditable pass rate of 86% (minimum of five A* - C
grades). If you include Maths and English within the five,
the figure is 69% which is well above the national
average.
The total number of A/A* for Year 11 was 96 as compared to last
years 91 and our top set out performed all previous results with an
amazing 98% of all exams taken being A* - B grades (last years was
88%). Some of the results in our lower sets were excellent
and showed a 20% increase in value over our earlier predictions in
February.
Special mentions should go to Tom O'Connor and James
Brotherston who each achieved 12 A* and A grades.
Also to Kathryn Grayson who
joined us from Brantwood School part way through her GCSE
year. Despite being faced with the extra challenge of a
change in examining bodies at very short notice in many of her
subjects, her commitment and dedication paid off and saw her
achieve 9 A* and A grades.
All our pupils have gone onto the schools/colleges of their
choice and we wish them all the best in their future studies.
2010 saw a 100 per cent pass rate with
five grade A* to Cs.
A cohort of 30 pupils gained over 90 grade A* and As, 63%
passed all their exams, 67% got at least 8 passes and 84 % of the
grades obtained in the faster moving set were A* - B.
We have continued to improve year on
year and this year we are delighted and justifiably proud that more
pupils are reaching 5 or more A* to C grades than ever before.
Given that we have a non-selective, mixed ability intake, we
are especially proud of their achievements.