Westwood has a long-standing reputation for producing successful students who achieve well and this year sees one of the best set of results our students have ever produced.

Against a background of more demanding specifications in all subjects, the pass rate for students achieving grade 4 or above in both English and Maths was 74%, an improvement of over 10% on last year, and 46% achieved grade 5 and above.

Performance by students studying the new Level 2 Vocational courses has been outstanding with over 91% achieving Level 2 passes and nearly 62% at either Merit or Distinction. This level of performance has significantly improved the options our students have for life post-16.

From this year onwards schools will be compared using a different range of measures to those used previously and the English Baccalaureate has become more significant when discussing school performance. This is a measure of the proportion of students who successfully achieve GCSE grade 4 or above in English, Maths, Science, a foreign language and either History or Geography. This year 41% of Westwood students achieved this particular combination of qualifications compared to a national figure last year lower than 30%.

A number of individual performances have been truly outstanding with over 35 students achieving at least 5 grade 7s or their equivalent. Students who can be particularly proud of their achievements are; William Brentnall, Beck Bromley, Becky Brooks, Joe Clark, Alex Cooper, Harriet Docksey, Maggie Gayes, Henry Goodhead, Nila Gunabalasinham, Rowan Hargreaves, Zoe Jones, Emily Kirk, Alisha Machin, Jack Machin, Alia Mustafa, Aeryn Pickford, Freya Rowbotham, Tilly Thorley, Charlotte Tideswell, Jasmine White, Tom Whitehurst and Ben Wood.

Students, families and staff can all take pride in these results. These achievements are the results of high quality teaching and learning, the high expectations we have of young people and the tremendous support of their parents. The majority of students will now go on to further success in the Westwood Sixth Form. To everyone concerned – our most sincere congratulations. Against a background of concerns nationally about increased thresholds for GCSE achievement and the introduction of new more demanding specifications in every subject, our students have produced some outstanding performances.