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WESTONBIRT SCHOOL FEATURES IN TATLER'S SCHOOLS GUIDE 2012

Westonbirt School has once again been selected in Tatler's 'pick of the finest private schools in the country'. Hailed as a 'shining example of the benefits of single sex education', Westonbirt School's confident pupils, excellent academic results and impressive surroundings are all given the thumbs up.

"With its impressive great hall, gorgeous library lined with original fabric wallpaper, sweeping driveway and newly replanted Italian gardens, Westonbirt certainly has style – but not at the expense of substance.  Head Mary Henderson is refreshingly direct and describes herself as a ‘real doer’.  She tells us that Westonbirt is a country school and is proud of its small classes and family atmosphere.  For a so called ‘mixed-ability’ school, academic results are more than respectable; music is particularly strong (all of last year’s GCSE set were awarded A*-A), and a fundraising drive is under way for a new music technology centre with recording studio, ensemble practice rooms and dedicated workstations.  A recent production of Joseph involved more than half the school and was a storming success; as we write, 11 girls are setting off for Peru on a world challenge expedition.  What else? Dance lessons in the evenings, the ever popular Leiths Certificate in Food and Wine and a pony possé that hops across to the Beaufort Polo Club at weekends.  Westonbirt is a shining example of the benefits of single-sex education; if girls aren’t brimming with confidence when they arrive, they will be by the time they leave (one girl who moved here from a co-ed school said: ‘It’s such a relief not having to spend 20 minutes a day putting on make-up’)."