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It is my great pleasure
to welcome you to this
year’s edition of the
Westwoodians’ Associ-
ation Newsletter. I would
like to extend my thanks
to all those who have
contributed to it and
especially to the Asso-
ciation’s Secretary and
Editor, Mrs Ivana Zizza. I
would also like to extend
my thanks to members of the Westwoodians’
Association Committee for their hard work and
dedication during the last 12 months, especially
Margaret Hope and Julia Lamb for their
dedication as Chairman and Vice-Chairman
respectively. I am delighted that Mrs Victoria Axe
was duly elected as our new Chairman at the
recent Annual General Meeting of the Association
and that Margaret has agreed to continue to serve
as Vice-Chairman. I wish them both well as they
lead the Association to even greater success in
the future.
While I was sadly unwell on the day of the
Reunion I know it was as successful as ever with
over 100 guests again joining staff and pupils for
afternoon tea in our Refectory Gallery – take a
look at the photos on pages 14 to 19. We look
forward to seeing as many of you as possible at
next year’s event on the slightly later date of
Saturday 2nd July 2016!
Throughout the year our boys and girls have
worked hard and again enjoyed a wide range of
exciting opportunities both within and outside of
the classroom. For our eldest Prep pupils and
those sitting GCSE and A Level examinations
the Summer is to some extent dominated by
the examinations and tests, and in October we
enjoyed celebrating their many successes during
our annual prize giving, once again held within the
walls of our wonderful Cathedral, with the Vice
Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University, Professor
Michael Thorne, as our guest of honour.
At A Level the School achieved a 100% pass rate,
which has now been achieved for seven of the
last eight years. The number of top grades rose
by 5% from last year and the A*-C percentage
rose by 10% to 83%. Students’ results were
also enhanced by exceptional Extended Project
Qualification (EPQ) results, half of which were at
A or A*. All students who applied to University
were successfully placed on results day and
pleasingly all those who applied for medicine were
successful in gaining their places.
The School’s first co-educational cohort performed
very well at GCSE with 100% of the students
gaining the benchmark figure of at least five
passes at A* to C. Almost a third of the students
(31%) gained at least eight A or A* grades. There
were notable individual performances but all
students acquitted themselves well and should be
congratulated.
Well done to our Prep pupils also who performed
very well at both Key Stage 1 and 2 with results
well in excess of local and national averages
with two thirds of Year 6 pupils attaining the
higher Levels 5 or 6 in English, Reading and
Maths and three-quarters of pupils attained
Level 5 or 6 in Spelling, Punctuation & Grammar.
Reception Foundation Stage Profile Scores were
simply exceptional too. It is so pleasing to know
that the basics are so well established within our
Reception Classes and the Nursery, which
continues to go from strength to strength.
Of course academic excellence is very important
but so too is the development of other attributes,
such as creativity, the ability to work in a team,
leadership skills, nurturing a passion for learning,
instilling spiritual and moral values and developing
that all important confidence.
This has again been a terrific year for the Sports
Department, now very much used to the
opportunities that the new Sports Facility has
provided. Our sports men and women have
again achieved success in a wide range of
Adrian Meadows
