When parents gathered at the Cathedral School, Llandaff on results day this summer to celebrate the strongest performance since the Cardiff-based school established its sixth form in 2013, one came up to the head teacher, Clare Sherwood, and said: “I was really cross with you, but I’m not any more.”
The reason? Sherwood had made this year’s A-level cohort sit proper GCSEs — in the exam hall, under exam conditions — in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Being a teenager is tough enough, but Covid made those years even harder. It was important children owned those grades,” says Sherwood, who is thrilled about taking the title of Welsh Independent School of the Year 2024.
“It meant that the kids have never had a year when they didn’t understand the need for hard work. We’re not an exam factory, but we set high expectations.”
It worked. The Cathedral School, Llandaff’s results were up on all A-level measures and A* grades were up by 16.9 per cent, bucking the overall national trend, and the school rose 38 places to 77 and breaking into the top ten independent schools in Wales.
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During the pandemic, “fantastic and committed” staff were dedicated to normalising teaching as much as possible and insisted on a “cameras on” approach.
Once back in school, the mood was about looking forward through embedded careers advice and help for any students making mistakes or struggling to find their own niche, as well as an atmosphere that celebrated individual achievements, from performances on the hockey pitch to roles in the school play.
“It was about the small things and a sense of being valued that all helped give back some of the confidence the pandemic stripped away,” Sherwood says. That and “sitting in the cathedral [which dates back to the 13th century], even for 20 minutes a week”.
Taking time to reflect on Cardiff Sixth Form College’s successive No 1 spots in the Parent Power tables for academic performance in Wales — 99.5 per cent A*-B grades — Tom Arrand, the college’s principal, acknowledges that the school is “pinpoint-focused” on exam excellence and is among the world’s top-performing institutions. That commitment has yielded impressive results. The school ranks 13th overall (up three places on last year) and takes the title of Welsh Independent School of the Year for Academic Performance 2024.
“Our focus is sharp: recruiting and supporting expert teachers who are committed to their own professional learning, selecting intellectually driven students and an infrastructure of clubs and a busy programme of extracurricular activities,” Arrand says. “On a Tuesday night you’ll find ten societies meeting, debating issues such as medical ethics.”
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However, Arrand adds that “it is easy to assume that pastoral issues are bypassed, but quite the contrary. Outstanding learning is predicated on wellbeing.”
New initiatives include the in-house Create pastoral programme, which takes a holistic approach to personal growth, and outreach that includes ten fully funded scholarships.
In the state sector, Olchfa School in Swansea was the highest riser, moving up three places to rank 181st, but it is Cowbridge Comprehensive School, in the Vale of Glamorgan, whose motto is “Education, inspiration and opportunities for life”, that is named Welsh Secondary School of the Year 2024. The 1,500-strong school (300 of whom are in the sixth form) slipped one spot in the national rankings year-on-year to 131. Its consistent performance, though, is a solid foundation for the planned expansion of the school to take in primary-age pupils.
Best state secondary schools in Wales
Regional rank / school / national rank
1. Cowbridge Comprehensive School (131)
2. Olchfa School, Swansea (181=)
3. Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bro Myrddin, nr Carmarthen (198)
4. Ysgol Eirias, Colwyn Bay (278)
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Best private schools in Wales
1. Cardiff Sixth Form College (13)
2. St Michael’s School, Llanelli (27)
3. St John’s College, Cardiff (50)
4. The Cathedral School, Llandaff (77)
5. Howell’s School, Llandaff GDST (91)
If a school does not appear in the Parent Power league table it is most likely because it did not respond to our requests for its A-level and GCSE results and the results could not be found in the public domain
School league tables 2024
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