Grove Life – All-round Academic Excellence

Woodhouse Grove is regarded as a first choice for parents seeking an “all-round” education for their children – with emphasis on co-curricular activities and opportunities beyond the classroom.

Does this mean that we are not “academic”?  Does our diversity and outward thinking beyond the classroom necessarily mean that we are not a serious contender within the classroom walls? As Deputy Head (Academic), I can assure you that this is not the case.

First things first – for parents of children considering entry into the school in Year 7, it may come as a surprise that our entrance examinations in maths and English do not have a pass mark. The fact that we are non-academically selective at this stage is a decision we made after careful consideration and is a key element of our ethos as a school.

Our aim at Woodhouse Grove is to add value. We strongly believe that the outcome of our offering – our teaching, our staff expertise and the myriad of opportunities available to our students – is that every single child that joins us in Year 7 should, by the time they leave in Year 13, have achieved better results, in every aspect of their school life – be it academic, sport, performing arts or those all-important soft, social skills – than if they had gone to school elsewhere.

Our Year 7 Admissions Process – which takes exam results, a report from the current primary school and performance at interview into equal consideration – is designed to pinpoint those individuals who will make the most of all the opportunities available to them at our school, those who will contribute to the vibrant community we have here and embrace all that Woodhouse Grove offers – to truly become the best version of themselves that they can be.

Of course, we acknowledge that exam results are important and can open doors. Our results speak for themselves:

At GCSE level, 35% of all pupils achieved at least 6 top grades (7 and above).

Of our A level university applicants, over 90% got into their chosen establishment.

Whilst these results certainly open doors, once that door is open, it is – to quote our Headmaster, “not what you know that is important but what you can do with what you know.”

Our best results are our young people themselves. Woodhouse Grove leavers are well-rounded, go-getting and entrepreneurial. They are empathetic and personable with those all-important social skills that are key in the modern world. They are not hot-housed clones and have not been pigeon-holed or railroaded into routes best for the school. Instead, they have been encouraged to grow as individuals and offered the best pathways to succeed on their own terms – whether this is Oxbridge, apprenticeships or straight into the workplace. Grovians can be found excelling across a huge variety of fields – from the City to the West End – and the school’s alumni form a close, altruistic network across the world.

So, how does a school that, particularly in the local independent sector, has an exceptionally broad entry – both into Year 7 as well as into the 6th Form – also achieve such high-end results? At Woodhouse Grove, the answer lies in personalisation. Class sizes are small – in the Sixth Form, often as small as just 8 students. The school keeps it this way to allow the timetable to be built around student choices; Grove pupils are never shoehorned into limited subject combinations. The school prides itself on its flexibility and an educational offering that is constantly changing depending on student needs and aptitudes. This personalisation filters through to curriculum planning lower down the school and enables Grove students to take GCSEs and A levels early, or study additional courses.

Key to our academic success is the fact that we are not a “them and us” school. We see learning and academic success as a collaborative effort between the teacher and student. Our teaching is person driven – not data driven. Instead, we aim to be data conscious in a student-focused way; utilising the baseline data available to us when pupils arrive in Year 7 to further tailor their learning experience, whether this means additional stretch and challenge or more in depth focus on specific skills. The open-all-hours nature of a boarding school (The Grove welcomes both boarding and day pupils) means that the environment in which this is done feels very much a home from home for all pupils, with a flexibility that maximises the opportunity to learn and thrive.

From the minute they arrive in Year 7, entering their form of just 20 peers, until the day they leave, having completed their own personal Pathway in the school’s unique Sixth Form, students benefit from the confidence and growth that comes from being known as an individual. Every member of staff works incredibly hard to understand each student’s drives and motivations, how they learn and what they want to achieve – whether this is in a science lab or out on the rugby field.

An “Excellent” education provides a student with optimum opportunities, both academic and co-curricular, to develop the skills and traits – and gain the qualifications – which will enable them, as an individual, to thrive in the real world.

An “Excellent” school provides that student with a tailored environment in which they feel known, safe and supported and so encouraged to make the most of these opportunities – and to, quite literally, excel.

Woodhouse Grove is such a school, proving once and for all that an “all-round” education and academic excellence can both exist under one school roof.

Ed Wright, Deputy Head (Academic)