Well Done to the Class of 2023!!

Clyst Vale’s top-achieving students this year include Jack Kingston and Laurence Raeder who both achieved grades A*A*A: Jack will now study History at Warwick University while Laurence will go to Bristol University to study Economics with international study. Sam Walsh achieved A*AA, and will study Mathematics at Cardiff University. Three students achieved straight A grades: Alex Cox, Will Jermey and Adam Large: Alex will go to Surrey University to study Chemistry, Will to Bristol UWE to study History, and Adam to Swansea University to study Chemical Engineering . Lara Gulec, Sam Saulter and Nicholas Sloan achieved AAB, and Hafina Clavey AAC. 22 students had at least one A grade or starred Distinction among their results.

 As I say every year, A-Level and BTEc Level 3 results day is about individual students, their achievements, and whether they are able to progress on to the next stage of their lives. We’ve known them since they were in Year 7 in many cases, watched them grow through those interesting teenage years over that time, and I’m delighted to say that the majority of Clyst Vale’s students can move on.

 The national media was really gloomy beforehand, which wasn’t great for students who were already anxious enough. Fortunately, the doom-mongering about 100,000 fewer top grades, and results plummeting has not really been reflected at Clyst Vale.  Our class of 2023 achieved a 98% pass rate with 25% of all grades at A* or A, and 51% at A*, A or B, which are indeed slightly down on last year although this is an unfair comparison. Despite further media reports that once again it’s an especially tough year for securing university places, nearly all of our university candidates have secured a place at the university or college of their first choice. However, spare a thought for the tiny proportion of young people who have just missed out, as it’s a really tough day for them with their friends celebrating.

 A huge thank you goes to my colleagues, who have taught and supported our students throughout the past two years, and to students’ families for all their support.

 So, many congratulations to our students; we’re very proud of you. You had your GCSE studies affected by lockdown; you didn’t get the experience of actually sitting GCSE exams; there were further disruptions with strikes; despite this, the government decided your year group would be the one to go back to pre-2019 standards as if nothing had happened. You have done brilliantly and shown great resilience through all this. Congratulations on today’s achievements, and congratulations in advance for the achievements yet to come.

Kevin Bawn

Principal