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Teachers and students are celebrating after their school came among the top few in the country for educational progression.
The Weald of Kent Grammar School in Tonbridge was named as being in the top 6% nationally this year in the government measure designed to assess children’s educational progress over their secondary school career up to GCSE.
The Progress Eight measure, first introduced in 2016, compares the students’ attainments with that of their peers who left primary school at similar starting points.
The Weald of Kent’s exceptional result follows on from an Ofsted report last October that saw the school rated “good” in all areas.
Headmaster Richard Booth said: “We are immensely proud of our students and staff for achieving these incredible results.
“Academic success is vital, but we like to feel that we balance this with fostering leadership skills, creativity, and resilience.
“At Weald of Kent, we believe in nurturing the whole child, and this is reflected in initiatives like our recent English, media, and drama week, which saw record participation from Key Stage 3 students in workshops and author talks, allowing students to combine literacy, creativity and fun.”
The school’s Progress Eight score was 0.89. The national average was -0.03. The negative score means that most students across the country actually advanced less than they had been expected to.