Smiles all round as students celebrate their A Level success

UCAS, the university admissions service has said that 409,000 students have been accepted to UK universities following the release of their results this morning - an increase of three per cent since last year.

Brentwood School

Brentwood School students are celebrating another year of highly impressive A Level results.

Academic Deputy Head, Jeremy Quartermain, said: “We are delighted with the excellent results achieved by this year’s students, which is indicative of the high standards of teaching and learning which the School provides.

"We are particularly pleased that no fewer than 24 students achieved all A* or A grades, which is a remarkable achievement, given that, nationally, early indications suggest that the proportion of A*and A grades has decreased.”

Overall the percentage of the top A*-B Grades were up on last year to over three quarters of all students.

High achievers include Harry Beadle achieved A*s in Maths, Further Maths, Latin and Physics and this adds to his already formidable tally of 11 A*s at GCSE. He is going on to study Maths at Warwick.

Harry said he was ‘pretty happy’ with his results and thanked  his teachers for their encouragement and support.

He said: "They give you the resources to do the best you can and make sure they push you in class to make you do better.” 

A very nervous Claudia Marks, who had been awake since 4am counting down the hours, was extremely happy with her two A*s in Geography and Psychology and A in Spanish.

Claudia, who will now study Psychology in Nottingham, said: “I was not expecting to do this well. The teachers are amazing.

"I have been given so much support by both the teachers and my parents.” 

Ben Thomas who was enrolled upon the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme achieved an outstanding 43 points, (with an equivalence in excess of 4 A*s at A Level) securing his place to study Modern Languages and Cultures at Durham.

Many students achieved A*s in Maths including George Dinning, Harry Brady and Christopher Kakoullis, who all added an additional A* and two As for their other three subjects which included Economics, Physics and Computing.

Harry Brady who achieved two A*s and two As, was ‘a little bit disappointed’ with his results!

Harry, who gained A*s in Economics and Mathematics, and As in Further Mathematics and Physics, is preparing to study Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College London.

Iretunde Soleye, who achieved an A* in Maths and two As in Further Mathematics and Economics to secure his place at LSE to read Mathematics and Economics was still shaking after opening his envelope. 

Four students have gained places at Oxford and Cambridge: heading to Oxford to study History are IB Students Conor Magee and Nicole McKechnie, whilst Isobel Fewster will study Anthropology & Archaeology having spent a gap year volunteering at an archaeological project in Peru.

Cambridge-bound is highly talented musician Christopher Moore, who takes up a Choral Scholarship at Trinity College.

Over the past three years 24 students have secured places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities – an average of eight per year.

The School has an enviable track record of successfully preparing students for courses such as Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine.

This year, a record number of students achieved offers for these highly competitive courses.

Among the successful MDV students were five from the current Upper Sixth and another two Old Brentwoods who left last summer and re-applied for the coveted places.

Studying Medicine are Charlotte Caddies at Newcastle, Rohan Laav at UCL, Nawani Wickramaratne at Liverpool, Naznin Ferdhusi at Kings College London, and Ka Wing Wong, who was really pleased with his A* in Biology and As in Chemistry and Latin which were enough to see him off to the University of Central Lancashire and set him off on his dream of becoming a doctor.

Ben Murray is off to Edinburgh to read Veterinary Medicine and Tanvi Bagtharia will study Dentistry at Plymouth.

Headmaster Ian Davies, who was at School early to congratulate students, said he was extremely proud of the achievement and commitment of all the students and their teachers.

He said: “Our continuing success shows that we are committed more than ever to educational excellence and the thought of sending another 150 students to top universities around the country, and indeed the world, makes me feel very proud.

"Our philosophy believes in nurturing well-rounded and intellectually creative individuals and I have no doubt that this year’s cohort will go on to achieve great things.

"I hope they keep in touch with the School as many Old Brentwoods continue to do.

"They are always welcome back.”

Brentwood County High School

Stephen Drew, Headteacher at Brentwood County High School said: "The hard work and dedication of our students, teachers and parents has been rewarded once again this year in a strong set of results for A-Level and BTECs at Brentwood County High School.

"Results Day is something that looms large in all our lives each summer, and it is important to remember that whilst we go through it every year as teachers, for young people and parents each year is a new experience which is one of the most high stakes and pressurised events of their lives.

"Our young people have worked incredibly hard during their Year 12 and Year 13 at BCHS and we are immeasurably proud of what they have achieved once again.

"For Year 13 it is a bumper year building on their resounding success in Year 12.

"A-Level entries achieving the two highest grades of A* and A increased to 16% from last year’s 10%, a remarkable rise in just one year.

"The proportion of results where individual students achieved their challenging personal targets has increased again to 70%, up from 50% in 2013 and 60% in 2014.

"This reflects success for our students of all ability levels in our comprehensive sixth form, setting students up for their university or employment choices once they have truly left us."

Some high achievers are Lewis Chambers, who achieved four A*s in Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Physics and Jordan Eaton, who achieved Triple Distinction Star in BTEC Sport.

Matt Gillings who achieved A*, two As and a B in Maths, Further Maths, Computing and Physics, Beth Adams, who achieved A* and two As in Psychology, Biology and Maths, Adam Gooderson who gained  an A* and two As in History, English and Politics,  Nicole D’Mello who gained an A*, an A  and a B in Biology, Psychology and Chemistry and Oli Castell who achieved four As in Biology, History, PE and Psychology.

Emily Kneller achieved three As in Chemistry, Maths and Spanish, Annabel Lloyd, achieved A*, an Aand a B in History, English and Politics, Eleanor Bale achieved two As and a B in Maths, Food, History, Adam Wakeling achieved two As and a B in Economics, Maths and History, Kieran Wallbanks achieved two As and a B in Computing, Maths and Further Maths and Ruchini Jayatilaka achieved two As and a C in Maths, Sociology and Chemistry. 

Double Distinction Stars were achieved in BTEC Business and IT by Reagan Harding, Stuart Scott, Denzil Buck, Ben Sparrow, Jack Wood and Phoebe Hardcastle.

Results in the key STEM subjects of Maths, Computing and Physics were all improved on 2014, with progress in each subject significantly above national standards for students of all abilities.

As can be seen from the examples of our key performing students we have great success at the highest grades in these subjects, in addition to achieving success across the grade and ability range.

We are immensely proud of our students’ success in the Level 3 BTEC courses of Business and ICT where the highest grade of Distinction Star was achieved by 90% of students who took BTEC ICT and 70% of students who took BTEC Business.

We look forward to another year of success in 2016 building on our ever growing and improving sixth form.