Wolverhampton school proud to be a place for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to shine
The principal of a Wolverhampton school which has been recognised nationally as a high achiever has spoken with pride about the work being done to help pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to be ambitious and successful.
Av Gill said he was incredibly proud of Thomas Telford University Technical College being recognised as the second-highest performing secondary school in England among those with a high proportion of disadvantaged students and, notably, the only school outside London to feature in the top rankings.
The school, which is based in the former Springfield Brewery in Wolverhampton, has achieved exceptional exam results over the last few years, including a pass rate in 2025 of 90 per cent, while an impressive 83 per cent of students achieved a grade 4 or above in both English and maths, with 61 per cent securing 5+ and one in five reaching grade 7 or higher in both subjects.
Set between two of the most deprived areas of Wolverhampton in Heath Town and Park Village, the school is one which Mr Gill said achieved great results and was proud of how it helped to develop students from deprived and disadvantaged areas.
He said: "I think it's a measure of a school and what you do for your most vulnerable and disadvantaged students and I know that for the last three years, we've had the best results in the city, but when you look at the fact that we've got a massive number of disadvantaged kids here, about 58 per cent, then to know we got the results for those kids too means a lot.
"There's been some big headlines this summer about white, British, working-class students, saying they are underachieving in lots of areas of England and are one of the lowest performing groups in the country, so I did some analysis on this group, and they did incredibly well here, way above national averages.
"When you drill in and look at those particular groups, then look at the negative headlines around white, British, working-class kids not doing particularly well in school, then for us, those are standout performers."
Mr Gill said the majority of the pupils come from the local area, particularly within the WV10 postcode area, and said there would be thousands of applications for 150 Year 7 places.
He said the school had proved to be popular for applications because of how staff worked to help them as people, not just as students.
