Record GCSEs follow record A-levels….

Clyst Vale’s Year 11 “Class of 2014” has done us proud. In a year when many schools have struggled with the national changes to GCSE, our students have posted the best-ever results in the College’s history.

Nine students achieved straight A* and A grades: Erin Santillo, Ellie Self, Lucy Bourne, Abi Bunkum, Ferne Kelly, Max Branson, James Royle, Rory Davis, and Shannon Reiness. We regularly have straight A students, but never nine at once ! Erin, Lucy and Ellie each achieved a remarkable 8.5 A*, and Abi 7.5 A*.

Eleven further students achieved six or more A* or A grades among their results: Katherine Stagg, Robin Hannaford, Alice Purdy, Fergus Scott-Godley, Toby Goodwin, Hannah Tierney, Luke Harris, Izzy Farnsworth, Charles Vicente, Amalia Gimbuta, Bayley Smeath, and Etienne Sharkey.

On exam days, we rightly celebrate our highly successful academic students. However, there are many others who have done fantastically well and exceeded their expectations without getting A and B grades. There are others who have overcome huge difficulties to achieve as well as they have. This year, students have faced bereavement, mental health issues, caring for relatives, chronic pain and fatigue, family breakdown and serious illness. Clearly, it would be wrong to name names, but the perseverance and courage of these students should be acknowledged, as well as the superb support offered by my colleagues.

Young people are not statistics; they are individuals with personalities, hopes and dreams. Even so, the individuals who have made up the class of 2014 have combined to produce the following excellent statistics:

• 70.3% of our 165 students achieved 5 or more A*-C grades including English and Maths (we have broken the 70% “barrier”) !
• 55% achieved at least one A or A* grade in their results.
• 95% achieved at least one C grade, and 99.4% at least one G grade.
• 75% achieved 5 or more A*-C grades in any subject.
• 7.5% of all grades were A*, which bucks the national trend; 26% were A* or A, another best-ever result; 78.7% of all grades were C or better.
• The best performing subjects in terms of attainment are Additional Maths, Biology, Dance, English Literature, French, Graphic Design, Physics and PE (all with 90%+ of students achieving A*-C).
• Most subjects saw improvement from 2013, including significant improvement in English Language (79% A*-C).

The last photo summed up a good day: our students are Smarties, staff and parents Heroes….

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