Top 10 for Sacred Heart

SACRED HEART SCHOOL RANKED TENTH BEST IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY

Sacred Heart Catholic secondary school in Camberwell is celebrating an extraordinary trio of achievements after the nationwide results of Progress 8, the government’s leading statistical measure of GCSE success, were released.

With an astonishing provisional Progress 8 measure of 1.28, Sacred Heart is once again top of the educational league table for the borough of Southwark.

However, even more impressively, the school ranks tenth in the entire country - an achievement that is put into remarkable context by the fact that there are 3,569 schools in total that have been evaluated via Progress 8, which measures the progress pupils make from joining a secondary school in Year 7 until completing their GCSEs in Year 11.

By a further measure, which compares the Progress 8 scores of schools with more than 40% of pupils who receive Pupil Premium funding (sometimes referred to as the percentage of ‘disadvantaged’ pupils within a school), Sacred Heart ranked second in the country.

“Much as we are proud of this year’s results, it is worth pointing out that they are the culmination of three years’ work since the beginning of the pandemic,” said the school’s outgoing headteacher Serge Cefai. “Throughout this challenging period, we were determined as a school community not to hide behind any possible excuses for failure or under-achievement, and it is this ethos that has enabled us to get these magnificent results.

“It is further evidence that at Sacred Heart, working together as a team is paramount. This team consists of our dedicated staff, motivated pupils and supportive parents. This dynamic has long held us in good stead and shows what can be achieved with a positive attitude, even when faced by severe challenges. I would like to congratulate our tireless staff and our pupils who bought into our school vision of seeking to achieve more than they ever thought would be possible.

“We are also particularly proud of how well our pupil premium students have done, which is reflected in coming second in the whole country in terms of schools with above 40% of pupil premium students. This proves that we equip all Sacred Heart students, regardless of their social background, with the tools they need to achieve and excel in their studies.”