A PENARTH school has once again topped the UK-wide league tables with a first place ranking.

The Daily Telegraph confirmed Westbourne’s 1st place ranking on Saturday. It is the fourth year in a row that Westbourne has topped UK league tables for smaller schools.

Alongside the ranking, on Thursday Westbourne achieved 56 per cent of GCSE grades 9-7 (previously A*-A). This included fully 1-in-5 of all grades, the new, harder, grade 9 and a further 1-in-5 grade 8s. This is 2.5 to 5 times the UK average.

The school, on Hickman Road, Penarth, is an independent, co-educational school for children aged two to 18. It has small classes of 20 students per class in the secondary school and 16 in the prep school, one-to-one academic support from teachers, and pastoral care.

Principal, Dr Gerard Griffiths said: “We are delighted to once again be ranked 1st in the UK. It is a testament to the focus and diligence of our students and the untiring hard work of our teachers and the entire Westbourne team.

“To have our position at the top of the league tables confirmed for the fourth year in a row and so soon after our ‘Excellent’-across-the-board inspection rating is great praise indeed.

“Everyone at Westbourne looks forward to building further on this success and continuing to go from strength to strength.

“On a separate note, we are now taking pupils from two-years-old so that they can begin their educational careers at Westbourne even earlier.”

Dr Griffiths added: “We would like to thank the entire Penarth, Vale and Cardiff community for their support throughout such a fantastic year and we look forward to, together, sharing ever-greater success.”

To contact the school, call on 02920 705 705 or send an email to enquiries@westbourneschool.com