Top ranking for Shropshire college
A Shropshire college has been ranked the best co-educational independent school in the West Midlands and 17th overall in the UK.
The principal of Concord College, Neil Hawkins, said today it was ‘excellent’ to see the success of students and the skilled educators who supported them, reflected in the Sunday Times new rankings.
The top school rankings come in the 2021 edition of The Sunday Times Parent Power schools guide.
The guide contains new rankings for England’s fully searchable database of Britain’s leading schools, allowing readers to quickly search and compare the leading 2,000 state and independent schools in England.
The rankings were from the 2019 examination results.
The 2020 examination outcomes were not used due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
But with examination results and rankings going back to 2010 in many cases, the edition says this was the most comprehensive resource covering elite school performance in the UK.
The rankings, based on the 2019 results, combine performances in both A levels (A*/B) and GCSEs (graded 7 or above) and at 17 placed Acton Burnell-based Concord as one of the top 20 independent schools overall.
Concord assistant principal (exams and enrichment) Dr Phil Outram, who analysed the data, said: “I would favour combining the A*/A rate with GCSEs at grade 7 or above as a better discriminator.
“If we repeated the above analysis using A*/A rather than A*/B it would move Concord up to 14th ranked independent school overall.”
Mr Hawkins said: “To feature so highly is a testament to the dedication and commitment of all concerned.
"It is also gratifying that the school’s growth in stature over the last decade is evident.”