Adcote School for Girls, at Little Ness, Shropshire, has been shortlisted for a national award for academic excellence and innovation.

The school was chosen as a finalist in the Independent Schools Association annual awards in recognition of its introduction of a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) qualification to its Sixth Form curriculum.

The CMI Institute Level 3 award in First Line Management is an industry-leading qualification, often offered by universities to their students to increase their employability.

Adcote is the first school in Shropshire to offer the course to its Sixth Form students and the only all-girls school in the UK to be working with the CMI in this way.

Headmistress Diane Browne said the CMI course was introduced to the curriculum for all Year 12 students to help prepare them for higher education and the workplace.

“The course enables our students to develop their leadership and communication skills and get a practical insight into the world of employment,” she said.

“We are absolutely thrilled, and very excited, to be shortlisted for this prestigious national award.

“Whatever the final outcome, I am hugely proud of the members of my team who brought us to this nomination. We are blessed with an impressively talented and dedicated body of staff here at Adcote and I am delighted that this has been recognised in this manner."

The winners of all categories in the annual ISA Awards will be announced at an awards ceremony on November 8.

This new academic year has also seen Adcote strengthen its commitment to business related learning by becoming a CLEAR learning school.

The CLEAR learning programme has been introduced across the school and builds into the curriculum and extra-curricular activities core values that will help students thrive in the 21st century. CLEAR stands for confidence, leadership, engagement, achievement and resilience.

The aim is to help students develop their critical thinking, problem-solving skills, initiative, creative thinking, communication skills, teamwork, independence, self-awareness and effective organisation.

“Everything we do in our curriculum will be engineered and delivered in such a way as to secure these attributes in our students,” added Mrs Browne.