Westbourne in Penarth, has once again topped UK-wide league tables.
The Daily Telegraph confirmed Westbourne’s 1st place ranking on Saturday. It is the fourth year in a row that Westbourne has topped UK league tables for smaller schools.
The ranking firmly establishes Westbourne as one of the most successful and academically excellent schools in the UK.
Also released last Thursday were their GCSE results where Westbourne achieved 56% grades 9-7 (previously A*-A). This included fully 1-in-5 of all grades, the new, harder, grade 9 and a further 1-in-5 grade 8s. This is 2.5 to 5 times the UK average.
| Grade | UK average | Westbourne |
| 9 | 4% | 20% |
| 8 | 9% | 20% |
| 9-7 | 21% | 56% |
The school’s 1st-place ranking and GCSE results follow hotly on the heels of their inspection in spring where Welsh schools’ inspectorate, Estyn, rated Westbourne as ‘Excellent’ – the highest possible grade – in all five inspection categories.
Westbourne is an ‘all-through’ school for children from 2 to 18 years old. It has a long tradition of academic excellence and frequently achieves the best results in the Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, far exceeding UK, Welsh and local averages, and with 90% of graduates gaining places at the prestigious Russell Group universities.
Notwithstanding such excellent results, Westbourne remains non-selective. They achieve these results through small classes of a maximum of 20 students per class in the secondary school and 16 in the prep school, unparalleled one-to-one academic support from their highly qualified and committed teachers, and outstanding pastoral care.
Principal, Dr Gerard Griffiths said: “We are delighted to once again be ranked 1st in the UK. It is a testament to the focus and diligence of our students and the untiring hard work of our teachers and the entire Westbourne team. To have our position at the top of the league tables confirmed for the fourth year in a row and so soon after our ‘Excellent’-across-the-board inspection rating is great praise indeed. Everyone at Westbourne looks forward to building further on this success and continuing to go from strength to strength.
“On a separate note, we are now taking pupils from two years old so that they can begin their educational careers at Westbourne even earlier.
“We would like to thank the entire Penarth, Vale and Cardiff community for their support throughout such a fantastic year and we look forward to, together, sharing ever-greater success.”