Kenilworth School headteacher pays tribute to pupils after league table success

Kenilworth School's headmaster Hayden Abbott (centre) with Sixth Form students Lucy Taylor and James Wilding, who achieved three '9' grades in their GCSEs last year

The tables showing how much progress pupils have made at secondary schools across the country were published on Thursday January 25.

For the first time, schools are now being judged by a ‘Progress 8’ score, which measures how much progress pupils have made at school compared to pupils at other schools who achieved similar Key Stage 2 results.

Any score above 0 indicates the school is performing better than average.

Kenilworth School’s Progress 8 score of 0.54 ranked it joint highest among state comprehensive schools in Warwickshire along with Campion School in Leamington.

Headteacher Hayden Abbott said: “It’s really good as far as I’m concerned. The result is a tribute to the hard work of the students, supported by the staff and their parents.

“It’s a reflection of every student achieving the best they could for themselves.

“Hopefully Kenilworth will be proud as well of what they’ve achieved.”

Mr Abbott was also especially happy since last year’s pupils had to cope with new GCSE grades, which was a real challenge for them and their teachers.

He added: “Last year’s students worked incredibly hard. We had a high number getting ‘9’ grades, and some got three ‘9s’ in English Language, English Literature, and Maths.”