Westbourne House awarded High Performance Learning (HPL) World Class Status

Westbourne House School in Chichester is the first school in Sussex to have been awarded the prestigious High Performance Learning (HPL) World Class School Award, which recognises the very best schools across the globe.

Over 370 pupils aged two-and-a-half to 13 from across West Sussex attend Westbourne House School – they come from Midhurst to West Wittering and Petworth to Bognor Regis.

Westbourne House School Deputy Head - Academic, Barbara Langford, said: "We are delighted to be recognised as a school at the forefront of educational thinking that has met the demanding standards of the HPL Award and fully embraced the HPL philosophy.

"It is huge testament to all our pupils and staff that we have achieved this status in spite of so little physical time in the classroom this year.

"We are all incredibly proud of this achievement and it is a fantastic way to end the school year."

At its most basic level HPL is about teaching pupils how to learn; more broadly, it is a whole school belief that every child can succeed if given the right opportunities, encouragement, self-motivation and practice.

Perseverance is one of our eight HPL attributes highlighted at Westbourne House.

One Y8 pupil said: "The emphasis on perseverance has encouraged me to work a lot better than I did last year."

Mrs Langford continued: "The HPL philosophy has not changed what we teach or our holistic approach to education, but it has changed how we teach; by systematically and consistently showing pupils how to become good learners though everything they do at school from academic lessons to pastoral and co-curriculum initiatives.

"We teach students the cognitive skills and the values, attitudes and attributes needed to become good learners and this powerful combination of emotional and cerebral characteristics helps draw the best from every pupil.

Westbourne House School Headmaster, Martin Barker, said: "HPL has given our pupils more autonomy for their learning, enabling them to take intellectual risks confidently, talk about and question their learning, be more creative in their thinking.

"Pupils now realise that hard work not only involves deliberate practice but also perseverance and resilience, all while working with empathy to help others and develop a concern for society and the part they play in it.

"These skills are not only good for passing today’s exams but also for succeeding in the future, whatever that holds.

"We look forward to continuing to develop these skills to empower our children’s learning further."

Simon O’Grady, CEO, High Performance Learning, said: "Westbourne House School’s culture is one of open to change and committed to continuous improvement.

"Open and robust collaboration between teachers is widespread and clearly leads to excellent student outcomes."