Welcome to Winchcombe School

Outstandingly successful in an outstanding environment

Winchcombe School is a school that is genuinely unique. We are located in the most beautiful and peaceful of rural surroundings, yet are close to Winchcombe itself, with easy transport links to Cheltenham and other local towns and villages. We are a small, friendly, family school, but are rightly proud of our reputation for academic excellence. All schools are not the same, and Winchcombe School can provide the care, support and expertise that each child needs to excel.

In 2009 our Year 11 pupils are celebrating record GCSE results:

• 79% of students gained five or more GCSEs at A*-C
• 72% of students gained five or more GCSEs at A*-C including English and Mathematics
• 30% of passes were at A* or A grade

Many pupils achieved 8, 9, 10 or even 11 passes at A* and A grade.

We have also joined an elite club of schools, with English, Mathematics and Science results which match those of the very best schools in England:

• English 83% A*-C
• Mathematics 82% A*-C
• Science 92% A*-C

We are a Science College, offering matchless preparation for A-level and degree courses, or for a career in any scientific discipline. Our Science Department has consistently been rated as the best in Gloucestershire and more than half of our students are currently studying for single Science GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

Winchcombe School was awarded High Performing Specialist School status in 2007. This status is designed to reward England’s strongest schools. Winchcombe is already an outstandingly successful Science Specialist College. HPSS status has allowed the school to take on a second specialism in leadership to develop both pupils and staff alike.

Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools included Winchcombe School in his 2007 Report to Parliament. Every year a report is published to celebrate the achievement of England’s best schools, and Winchcombe School was praised for the exceptional quality of its educational provision. The school was inspected by Ofsted in November 2009.  It was judged to be ‘outstanding’ in 16 areas – for further details see below.

But the best advertisement for the school is its pupils. Ofsted commented that ‘behaviour is excellent … Students show commitment to their work in lessons and have excellent attitudes to learning. Students of all abilities and from all backgrounds are very appreciative of the excellent relationships between students and adults in lessons and around the school. Their excellent attendance demonstrates their confidence in the quality of the education that they receive …The students respond very well to the many opportunities for them to contribute to the smooth running of the school, making a superb contribution through the school parliament, acting as student mentors and taking an increasing role in the school’s evaluation systems.’

Winchcombe School welcomes pupils from a very wide area - from Tewkesbury in the west, from the villages of Alderton and Dumbleton and beyond, from Winchcombe itself, from Gotherington, Woodmancote and Cleeve, to Prestbury and well into north Cheltenham.

Please contact us if you have any queries about the application process.

Lindsey Cooke

Headteacher

Everyone connected with Winchcombe School is absolutely delighted by the outcome of our recent Ofsted Inspection.  We were very happy to be amongst the first schools in Gloucestershire judged against the new, more rigorous Ofsted framework, introduced in September.  This has raised the bar for every school.

Our own self-assessment had indicated that we are, according to the new tougher criteria, a ‘good’ school with many ‘outstanding’ features.  We were particularly delighted to be judged ‘Outstanding’ in a total of 16 key areas, including pupil outcomes, pupil safety, pupil behaviour and leadership and management.

The Report is a tribute to a hard working and united school community consisting of our outstanding students, their highly supportive parents, and hard working staff and governors.

The Report praises the ‘outstanding care, guidance and support’ offered by the school, which ensures that ‘students feel safe and secure and enjoy their education’.  It also comments on the high esteem in which parents hold the school.  Another encouraging statistic was that over 85% of lessons observed were judged to be either good or outstanding – a tribute to the expertise and industry of every teacher at the school.

However, it is the pupils of Winchcombe School who should feel particularly proud.  Ofsted described their behaviour as ‘excellent’.  In particular, students were praised for their ‘excellent attitudes to learning’, and the inspection team also commented on the ‘excellent relationships between adults and students around the school’.

This crowns a fantastic year when Winchcombe School celebrated its best GCSE results ever – with over 72% of pupils achieving five or more GCSE grades at A*-C, including English and Mathematics, and over 30% of all GCSEs being awarded at A or A*.

We sent a copy of the report to every parent as soon as it became available – please contact the school if yours failed to arrive home, or if you require a further copy.  The report, and details of the revised Ofsted framework, are available at www.ofsted.gov.uk.

Ofsted Inspection November 2009