Dartford Grammar School has been named The Sunday Times International Baccalaureate School of the Decade by the authoritative survey Parent Power, published in The Sunday Times Schools Guide, available in The Sunday Times and online this Sunday, November 29.
This survey of the country’s best schools is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative, and ranks 2000 high-achieving UK schools by their published examination results.
Normally this is a yearly survey, (the School has topped that annual survey twice in the last 3 years) but this year’s 28th edition looks at academic performance across a whole decade 2009-19: the rankings have been determined by academic achievement in the IB Diploma examination over the full ten years, together with the progression of those results, and scrutiny of outreach activities.
Alastair McCall, editor of Parent Power, said: “This is our only award to straddle both the state and independent sectors. That the winner of the award is a state school speaks volumes for the achievement of Dartford Grammar School. Its pupils ace the tough International Baccalaureate examinations year after year, achieving staggering success without their parents having to wear the cost of school fees.
“John Oakes has provided inspirational leadership throughout the past decade, while pupils have steadily upped their performance in the IB. Twice our IB School of the Year in the past five years, the school provides a broad and excellent education for its children, who are drawn from a notably diverse range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.”
The Headmaster of Dartford Grammar School, John Oakes, comments: “We are delighted to be recognised once again by the authoritative Parent Power survey, but to top this year’s survey of the last decade is truly special. It is testimony to the consistent hard work of our students and staff that we have achieved this accolade, which recognises not only our academic results but the outward-facing international ethos that we strongly foster”.
A fully searchable national database by school name, local authority, town and postcode, together with regional rankings are available to Times and Sunday Times subscribers this weekend 29th November at: thesundaytimes.co.uk/parentpower
As well as assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, Parent Power enables parents to compare the performance of a given school with other schools in the same town, local authority or nationally. There are also live links to school websites and schools’ most recent inspection reports.