LUDLOW School is expecting to get its best results ever this year after changing the way in which students revise.

The school achieved its best GCSE results in the summer of 2013 and head teacher Phil Poulton is confident that it will be even better this time.

A key element in the strategy for great results is a change in the way that the students prepare for their exams that will be taking place in the coming weeks.

At the core of the change is a move that means that the young people will be spending on average an extra four weeks in school learning and doing revision.

There has been a drive to introduce additional classes outside of the normal school day and also during holidays.

Mr Poulton said that the move had received a ‘great’ response both from students and parents.

All at home study leave has been cancelled allowing young people to focus their learning in a school environment.

“This year there is no study leave as such,” said Mr Poulton.

“No one leaves school until all the exams have been taken and this means that the students will be in school for four weeks longer.”

He said that there has been some rescheduling of the timetable to enable young people who have to travel into the school from outlying areas on the bus to do their work in blocks.

There are also late afternoon and early evening sessions that mean that students and teachers are often to be found working as late as 5pm.

“I have never seen so many children attending these sessions and they are very committed,” added Mr Poulton.

He said that the extra teaching was being welcomed because students recognised that it increased their chances of doing well.

There were also additional classes over the Easter holiday period and this will also be the case during the Whitsun break.

The head added that one of the benefits of the changes has been an improvement in attendance.

“All of this has been great and really beneficial,” Mr Poulton said.

“We had our best results ever last year and we cannot see any reason why we will not top that this year.”

The school, that has 734 pupils, has been designated a specialist technology and sports college and had its best ever exam results in 2013 when it was the most improved school in Shropshire in terms of the category of five passes at grade A* to C including mathematics and English.

Most improved school is an accolade that has gone to Ludlow School four times in the past seven years.

Exams finish in the middle of June and the students will get their results during August.

This means that those going on to sixth form education will still get a break of about 10 weeks.