On A level results’ day, Wellington School students were congratulated by Headmaster Martin Reader after gaining “outstanding grades”. For the second year in a row, 19% of grades were awarded A*s. Nearly a third of students gained A grades in 3, 4 or 5 subjects and 41% of grades were awarded A*-A grade enabling students to meet challenging offers set by universities.
Milverton’s Owen Mears did particularly well, scoring 3 A*s – 100% in 6 out of the 8 modules he sat this summer – to secure his place to read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford.
Headmaster, Martin Reader commented: “We are very proud indeed of the success of the entire year group with 75% gaining A*-B and 91% of the leavers gaining C or above, equalling previous records. They and their teachers worked incredibly hard. “The story in the national media is that students are taking ‘tougher’ subjects such as Maths and Physics. This is certainly true at Wellington with over half of the cohort taking Maths and over a third Physics. 36% of grades were awarded an A* in Maths and 30% an A* in Physics. However, I am particularly pleased with success in a range of subjects. Art, Business Studies, Classical Civilization, Latin and French gained between 20% and 60% A*.
“Since 2000, we have seen a number of students take a fourth A level in a contrasting discipline to complement their other subjects. It was a joy to see both Owen Mears and Edwin Chan, who lives in Wellington, who were studying predominantly science subjects, gain 400/400 in Art this year. “I am really delighted with the performance of this year group: they continually exceeded the expectations of their academic profile. They were particularly committed both to their activities and to each other and set a wonderful tone for the younger pupils who really looked up to them.”
Richard Huish College is celebrating another successful year of A Level results with 32 students gaining two or more A* grades.
College Principal, John Abbott commented: “This is the sixth consecutive year that we have achieved 55% A*-B grades and 80% A*-C grades and 99% pass rate overall. This consistent high performance reinforces our position as one of the country’s highest performing sixth form colleges. These achievements begin with the efforts of our partner schools and are consolidated by work and expertise of students and College staff.
“Fourteen students with offers from Oxford or Cambridge gained the grades they needed and the vast majority of our students will progress to their chosen courses. A further six students who sat three A levels gained three A* grades. In total, 40 students achieved at least one A* grade alongside A grades.”
Results for local students compare favourably with national trends that indicate a slight decrease in the percentage of top grades achieved. According to Universities Minister David Willetts, “this was possibly due to students choosing more difficult subjects”. The overall pass rate has increased, however. Nationally, 7.6% of students gained A* grades; the overall pass rate was 98.1%.