Newbridge Preparatory School

Alastair McCall, editor of Parent Power, The Sunday Times Schools Guide, said: "Newbridge is an educational gem, a precious find for the 160 children lucky enough to go there. "It manages to pull off the notable feat of achieving outstanding academic results (bettered by just four schools in England across the state and independent sectors) alongside developing the wider interests of its pupils - or allowing the children to have time for a childhood, to use the words of its excellent head teacher Sarah Fisher. "The school may have non-selective entry but by the time the girls leave at 11 they are much in demand across the best state and independent schools in the West Midlands. If ever the quality of education on offer here was a "best kept secret", this award should ensure that is not the case for very much longer.