Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire is proud to announce that 59 of its pupils from Year 2 to Year 6 undertook this year’s English Speaking Board (ESB) examinations. Despite the examinations being held online due to COVID-19 restrictions, all pupils achieved either merit+ or distinctions.
Each year children from Year 2 upwards are entered for the prestigious ESB competitions. Pupils recite a poem from memory, read a passage from a favourite book, and prepare a talk on a topic of personal interest. Additionally, all children must demonstrate their ability to listen to each other’s presentation and ask sensible and pertinent questions at the end.
Given the exams and talks were to be performed remotely this year, pupils adopted some unorthodox, but nonetheless effective, preparation techniques. Some practiced their talks in front of a cardboard box to get used to presenting to a camera instead of a room of people. Others used laptops to record themselves speaking so they could see what the examiner would see.
Children isolating at home also joined in and took their exam from home with the rest of the class watching so they could ask questions.
The results
59 pupils took part in this year’s ESB examinations. The results were as follows:
Ungraded – the number of pupils that achieved this grade = 0
Pass – the number of pupils that achieved this grade = 0
Good Pass – the number of pupils that achieved this grade = 0
Merit – the number of pupils that achieved this grade = 0
Merit+ – the number of pupils that achieved this grade = 8
Distinction – the number of pupils that achieved this grade = 51
Mrs Amanda Douglas, BA(Hons) QTS, Headteacher, commented, “In any year, these grades would be simply outstanding. However, in a year unlike any other, they are a fitting end to a year which also included Windrush Valley Private School Oxfordshire being ranked, for the fourth year running, in the top 100 schools in England by The Sunday Times. The rankings have resulted in the school being classified as the best private school Oxfordshire.
I’m immensely proud of what’s been achieved this year. The children’s resilience and unwavering determination not to let the pandemic get in the way of their academic progress has been truly inspiring. Thank you to all pupils and staff”.