AN INDEPENDENT all-girls school near Oswestry has been named 'Senior School of the Year 2020' in prestigious national awards after undergoing a 'remarkable journey of transformation.

Senior School of the Year is one of the top accolades handed out at the Independent Schools Association (ISA) annual awards.

It is also the 'icing on the cake' for the Adcote all-girls' school, at Little Ness, which has won or been shortlisted for a clutch of national awards in recent years.

Last year its prep school won the ISA award for academic excellence and innovation.

Adcote, which caters for day and boarding students, has undergone a radical re-organisation over the past four years under the stewardship of headmistress Diane Browne who joined the school in September 2016.

"At Adcote we have completed a remarkable journey of self-improvement and this national award is the icing on the cake," said Mrs Browne.

"We are beyond ecstatic that our determined march to exemplary standards has been endorsed in this way. Everyone in education knows what it is to be named as Senior School of the Year.

"We could not be more proud."

New systems to improve both academic performance and the personal development of students have been put in place.

These include new methods for tracking, assessing and measuring individual student progress and greater personalised learning.

Since then the school, which welcomes students of all abilities between the ages of 7 and 18, has seen exam results soar.

Among the changes have been a new tutoring system in the senior school.

The old form tutor role has been disbanded and, instead, students are assigned a personal tutor to nurture their individual progress.

Last year more than 70 per cent of the school's A-Level results were A*/A grades with 86 per cent of all grades being A* to B. A total of 41% of A-Level students achieved straight A*/A grades.

All A-level students accessed their university choices.

In GCSEs more than 50 per cent of the grades were at the highest levels of 7, 8 and 9 (A/A*).

Published performance tables measuring the academic progress of individual students between GCSEs and A-Level, put Adcote at the top of schools in Shropshire and in the top 50 independent schools in England.