As a result of this UK-best performance, Epsom has been awarded the accolade of Southeast Independent School of the Year (highly commended).
“One of the most eye-catching performances is that of Epsom College, which has seen the biggest rise in the tables in the last year, soaring 116 places,” says The Sunday Times.
The College is placed 61st nationally, and judged the 19th “best private schools in the southeast.”
The region continues to dominate the UK’s educational landscape – 75 of the UK’s top 100 schools are from the southeast. “The sheer number of top schools in this part of the country makes Epsom’s performance even more pleasing,” says Sir Anthony Seldon, Head of Epsom College.
This is the first time that performance in A-levels and GCSEs has returned to pre-pandemic grade boundaries, and The Sunday Times says that “many of the schools that triumphed this year were also those that managed to keep high-quality teaching going online during the pandemic.”
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Sir Anthony paid tribute to the work of his predecessors, saying they had laid the foundations for the school’s success. He also placed much of the credit for the College’s huge success on the strength of the wider community of pupils, parents and staff.
“If trauma hits a community that is already strong, it stands the best chance. [The College’s success] was about being relentlessly positive and thinking ahead and having a focus on each individual child. It is very much a family school, the new staff who have joined have been saying what an incredibly supportive and friendly community it is. That is one thing, second is a really strong sense of purpose and mission so everyone worked together, the pastoral and the academic support side, and the school was grounded in a culture of high expectations and optimism.”
