Change produces right results

Just under a decade ago, Stephen Andrews was appointed to amalgamate two struggling schools that had less than 50 first-choice applicants between them.

Just 16 per cent of pupils were getting five good grades at GCSE, and fewer than a dozen were staying on into the sixth form. At A-level, the average point score per pupil was just seven, the equivalent of less than two D grades each. In 1997, the percentage obtaining five top GCSE grades is up to 60 per cent. At A-level the average point score is 19, the equivalent of almost two As per pupil, and 80 per cent stay on into a 250-strong sixth form. The school is very oversubscribed. Last year there were 225 applicants for 150 places. At the request of the local authority, beset by appeals from disappointed parents, the school has admitted 175.

The ability of pupils entering at 11, measured by tests, is much the same as it always was: it is the exam results that have improved.

The secrets of the school's success are two contrasting ingredients: an unflagging, wide-ranging vision combined with a minute attention to detail. Mr Andrews is as insistent on the importance of picking up litter as he is on his belief that students' achievement in education must come first. His first decisions included carpeting the building throughout, a reception area that would not disgrace a hotel and landscaping the grounds. Bells between lessons were abandoned, the uniform was changed, pupils were called students, buildings and grounds called "the campus" and everyone was trusted to move freely about.

But these were just the visible signs of a change of atmosphere and culture. Three changes, according to Mr Andrews, hold the key to the school's transformation. The first is an emphasis on the curriculum including the expressive arts: music, drama and art. They allow a wide variety of people to experience success and that provides a solid base for learning in general. The second is the establishment of constructive relationships between staff and students. An active student council even advises on teacher appointments. You only learn, he says, from people you like. The third factor is excellent teaching and learning beyond as well as within the classroom. Every year, the curriculum is suspended for a week while staff and pupils engage in activities ranging from mountaineering to learning Frenchn

Judith Judd