Weatherhead is World Class

 Weatherhead is World Class – prestigious award for Weatherhead students is the perfect Christmas gift!

The World Class Schools Quality Mark (WCSQM) has named Weatherhead High School as one of the latest schools to have successfully completed the accreditation process and been awarded the status of World Class. Weatherhead High School received their award at the WCSQM Awards Ceremony, held at the Governors’ Hall, St Thomas’ Hospital, on 6th December 2018.

Now in its fifth year of accreditation, WCSQM has awarded the mark to a further 16 non-selective state secondary schools from around the country and for the first time 7 primary schools have received accreditation. All of the new schools have demonstrated that their students are truly World Class and Weatherhead High School is the first school to achieve this accreditation in the Wirral and across the whole of Merseyside.

WCSQM assessment requires schools to demonstrate that their students are capable of compiling comprehensive evidence in support of their application. All applicant schools must exceed a challenging threshold in their Key Stage 2 or 4 performance data before being invited to apply. Their students must then develop a compelling case for accreditation through detailed auditing of their schools capabilities, video submissions in support of their application, and participating in an assessment centre event, at which their performances are measured against a challenging framework.

This year, the final stage of the accreditation process, the assessment centre event, took place at the Riverbank Academy in Coventry – a World Class accrediting special school. As part of the assessment, the 72 potential World Class students were required to work in teams to develop the Riverbank Academy grounds to promote accessibility and a love of learning for their students.

“It was tremendous to see how positively students from Year 5 right through to Year 13 worked together to achieve their goal. We were incredibly impressed with the high standard of work produced by the students on the day- you can absolutely see why they were nominated by their school as being World Class.” Miranda Perry, Director of WCSQM.

The award’s uniqueness lies in the fact that the students are assessed with regard to whether they themselves are World Class, rather than the school itself. WCSQM believes that if a school is truly World Class, then the students should be able to demonstrate this in whatever context they find themselves. The award is supported by a range of prestigious businesses, further and higher education providers and parent organisations that are interested in which schools nationally are the best at developing young people to succeed in a rapidly evolving world.

The Weatherhead Student Ambassadors: Head Girl- Katy Barham; Deputy Head Girl- Tamzida Begum; School Councillors – Molly and Millie (Year 11); Holly and Polly (Year 10) coordinated and led themselves through the rigorous assessment process on behalf of all the students at Weatherhead High School.

The students shone throughout the whole process with unwavering dedication, impressive team work and excellent communication skills; they really demonstrated the outstanding calibre of Weatherhead students.

The assessors said that the quality of the schools applying this year has been staggering and that Weatherhead students are genuinely some of the very best in the country.

“To achieve this recognition beyond our Ofsted ‘outstanding’ status is a real credit to our extremely talented students. It is evidence of the hard work, commitment and dedication of all the staff who create an aspirational culture, where our students really believe in themselves and strive to achieve their best at all times, as well as the tremendous support from our parents, carers and Governors. It is an absolute honour to be awarded the status of World Class and to be one of only 83 schools in England to be accredited the World Class Quality Mark. I could not be prouder of the school and our wonderful students.” Miss Whelan, Headteacher.

Being a World Class School will provide many opportunities for the promotion, development and enrichment of the school and students. Weatherhead will undoubtedly benefit from being part of the World Class Schools’ network, sharing outstanding practice and having access to resources and recommended suppliers.

In the press

On Sunday 13th January 2019, we featured in the Liverpool Echo’s Your Echo (page 25) with a great article on our World Class School status. Read it here…