A St Albans secondary school is officially world class – one of only eight in the country to have been awarded a prestigious quality mark.

Sandringham School – already ranked outstanding by Ofsted - joins an elite group of UK state schools that passed the rigorous World Class Schools Quality Mark (WCSQM) accreditation over the summer.

Headteacher Alan Gray said: “There are occasions in life when something comes along that matches perfectly with your current thinking. The World Class Schools Quality Mark is a great example of this. We were already defining our next steps beyond ‘outstanding’, and ‘World Class’ was the obvious choice.

“Being one of the first schools to be recognised with this prestigious award is a real privilege for us and one that we will embrace fully as an early ambassador for the programme.”

Miranda Perry, co-director of WCSQM, said Sandringham has consistently helped develop world class students able to compete and thrive anywhere.