Top GCSE grades earned by pupils' extra year in class

By the time they come to sit their GCSE exams, pupils at Thomas Telford school have already spent the equivalent of an extra academic year in the classroom.

Such a work ethic is one reason why the comprehensive in Telford, Shropshire, has achieved the extraordinary and unprecedented feat of beating Eton and every other school in England with its GCSE results.

The translation of the traditional three R's into an ethos of results, results, results has seen pupils notch up a record 91-point score per head in their exams – the equivalent of 11 A* grades each. Some sit the equivalent of up to 16 GCSEs.

To make up that extra year's work, Thomas Telford, which is one of the new City Technology Colleges, pioneers a new school day, which means its pupils have up to 35 hours of taught lessons per week, compared with an average of about 25 in the rest of the country. They start at 8.30am and sessions for GCSE pupils can continue until 5.40pm twice a week. Most lessons last three hours.

A typical day could start with three hours of maths, including a 20-minute breakfast break, followed by three hours and 40 minutes in the afternoon with 40 minutes for lunch. By the time pupils have started work on their GCSEs, there are also evening sessions which cover technology twice a week, They last an hour and 40 minutes.

Far from being daunted by the hours, the pupils appear to enjoy it. Most of their learning is done online and, from year nine (13 and 14-year-olds), they are encouraged to learn at their own pace via computer with teachers on call to help.

As 17-year-old Bethan Shaffery put it: "It's a lot of hard work." However, she dismissed suggestions that three hours was too long to concentrate on one subject, saying: "We do have a break and we don't waste so much time going from lesson to lesson and walking along corridors like pupils at other schools."

They still have time for extra-curricular activities. Anna Perks, another 16-year-old, fits in playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers FC girls' team alongside her school work.

The teachers, who are on individual contracts, also work longer hours. They are expected to be in school from 8.15am until 5.15pm. However, they are guaranteed that one fifth of that time will be spent outside the classroom

It can be used for marking and preparation so that once a teacher has "clocked off" in the evening there is little work to be done at home.

Sir Kevin Satchwell, the school's headmaster, offers no apologies for his regime. "The pupils are only doing the kind of hours one would expect them to do when they go into employment," he said. "It is good preparation."

He tells parents he expects to be able to get every child five top-grade GCSE passes, the sort of guarantee even a selective grammar school would baulk at giving.

"We tell parents it doesn't matter what abilities children come in with – we expect to get their youngsters five GCSEs at grades A* to C," he said.

"Why? Because we did it this year, last year and the year before that. If we don't do it, we'd have to answer to those parents and that child."

Unsurprisingly, the school has more than 1,000 applications for 168 places next year. Sir Kevin says that pupils of all abilities are taken and that the school admits an equal number from each of six ability bands from families living in Telford or Wolverhampton.

Once there, every pupil must study at least one vocational qualification. They are offered information technology, leisure and tourism, or hospitality and catering.

On top of that, each pupil also has to take a GCSE from each of a range of subject areas in the curriculum – maths, English, information technology, a science subject, a modern foreign language, a humanities subject, and either PE or dance or music.

"We want all the children to have that broad educational experience," he said. The school offers the ideal curriculum to pave the way for a baccalaureate-style exam in the sixth-form – set to be introduced in the UK over the next decade.

When ministers unveil their plans for shaking-up the curriculum for key stage four (14 to 16-year-olds) next month, much of it could be the curriculum according to Thomas Telford.

Share of success

Thomas Telford is making a profit of more than £2m a year by selling its teaching materials to other state schools.

The school markets four online teaching programmes ­ in maths, A-level information and communications technology and two separate teaching programmes covering vocational qualifications in ICT.

The profits are being ploughed into setting up two of the Government's new inner-city Academies ­ one in Walsall and the other in Sandwell. The school is also sponsoring 35 specialist secondary schools in the Black Country, and providing internet learning materials for primary schools.