GREAT SCHOOLS: Cockburn College of Arts

I have been thinking about some of the great schools in Leeds...

Cockburn College of Arts is one of our real success stories with the best contextual value added in the city, the region and possibly the country.

The results have gone from 9% achieving 5A*-C grades at GCSE to an sastonishing 70%. It is a fantastic example of what is possible with the right leadership, teaching and learning team and an unshakeable belief in what our young people can achieve.
The new building is amazing and stands there as a statement about the importance of learning and success in South Leeds. Cockburn College of Arts is a school that captures so well the Education Leeds story and where over the last ten years I have learnt so much and shared so many moments of real magic. Last term, it was a real honour to be invited by Dave Gurney, the headteacher, and Dave Westwell, the Chir of Governors, to officially open the school after all the remodelling work on the school site had been completed.

Our Building Schools for the Future programme has been an amazing success and this is a fantastic transformation which alongside the school's brilliant results and their simply outstanding contextual value added indicators means that this has to be one of the best secondary schools in the city.

This is a school very clearly on a flight path to brilliant where everyone is determined to give all the young people the passport to the next stage of learning. The school is oversubscribed, results have been improving year on year and the school's contextual value-added from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 is simply brilliant.
This makes you realise what we can achieve and what is possible with persistence, determination, sheer hard work and a brilliant team! If you want to find out more about Cockburn College of Arts you can visit their website at www.cockburn.leeds.sch.uk/.
Chris