Ellesmere Retains World Class School Status With HPL Reaccreditation

Published by Ellesmere College on Friday 29th of September 2023

Ellesmere College is named one of the best in the world for learning once again!

 Ellesmere College has been reaccredited as a High Performance Learning (HPL) World Class School and will hold the status for another three years.

 The international accreditation aims to deliver educational change, working with schools and teachers to provide a flexible learning framework, building cognitive competences and designed to achieve academic and lifetime success.

 Ellesmere was first accredited by the specialist teaching organisation in 2020 and school leaders are delighted they have retained the prestigious title.

 Headmaster Brendan Wignall said: "We are delighted to have secured High Performance Learning World Class School Accreditation again and are in elite company with only 38 other schools holding this status globally. The HPL World Class School Award Scheme delivers a flexible teaching and learning framework that systematically builds cognitive competencies leading to academic and lifetime success. It is a programme we have fully embraced, has been hugely successful and something visitors to the College are asking more about because they have seen that we use it and are keen to learn more."

Ellesmere College employs the HPL approach through the whole school system - from Lower School to Sixth Form.

Professor Deborah Eyre, Founder and Chair at High Performance Learning, said both staff and students at Ellesmere were 'delightfully committed and enthusiastic'.

 She was particularly impressed with the development of the College's collegiate professional community that is wholly focused on making high performance learning a key feature of the College's ethos and vision.

 Deborah said the reaccreditation was a 'considerable milestone in the school's quest for continuous improvement'.

The HPL reaccreditation report said: "An incredibly positive feature of the school is the warmth and collegiality that pervades all aspects of the College's work. The success of students and their increasing levels of self-confidence and motivation is palpable. The College recognises that schooling is not just about academic outcomes, important as they are, but the development of young people who can face an increasingly diverse and challenging world. Ellesmere College has made inspirational progress adapting its ways of working to include articulating how teachers teach and why they do the things they do. The outcomes for students, especially those with learning difficulties, are exceptional. One is left in no doubt that the Life Ready mantra is translated into a reality for those students privileged to have the opportunity to be schooled at Ellesmere College."

 HPL has proved to be a successful programme which dovetails with any subject or curriculum - helping to achieve academic excellence alongside a broader set of values and attitudes while supporting pupil wellbeing.

 Ellesmere College will be officially handed the award at the HPL Annual Conference in March (2024) at the University of Warwick.