Shebbear College Doubles A Level A* Grades and Celebrates a Significant Increase in A and B Grades
The class of 2014 at Shebbear College are celebrating the publication of their A Level results. Amongst the many delighted faces on results day were Will Collins whose five A Levels (2A*s, 2As and a B) secured his place at King’s College, Cambridge to study Natural Sciences, Head Girl Ellen Chamberlain who scored an A* and 2As and will be studying Economics at Bath, and Saskia Weale whose A* and 2As means she can now study History at the University of Warwick.
Over 80% of Shebbear’s Upper Sixth will go on to university this year. Harry Chibbett (Economics), Josephine Richards (Biomedical Science), and Emma Dixon (Anthropology) are all going to the University of Birmingham – the Sunday Times ‘University of the Year’. Meg Furse (English) is going to Cardiff, Catherine Kotarski (History and Philosophy) to Leeds, Will Hill (History and Philosophy) to Southampton, and Emily Neal (Ancient History) to King’s College, London, having also been offered a choral scholarship to the Royal College of Music. Chloe Aveyard and Juliette Joubert are both following their dreams of getting into the fashion industry by securing prestigious places at the London College of Fashion and ESMOD, in Paris, respectively. Other destinations for students include Keele, Brunel, UWIC, Sussex, Southampton Solent, Marjons, Plymouth, and Aberystwyth.
Some students have decided to enter the workplace or take a gap year before heading off to college. A good example of this are Hayley Prouse and Joe Furber who both joined Shebbear Sixth Form from Holsworthy Community School and both achieved an A*, A and B at A Level! Hayley has taken up an internship with an accountancy firm whilst Joe is aiming to develop his culinary skills for a year before studying English at Sussex. Others have chosen more vocational routes – Charlotte Harper is learning to be a Primary School Teacher at Plymouth and Fran Traxton will be training as a Sports Therapist at Marjons. Jess Lambert, Head of Ruddle House is joining the Army whilst Rupert Burnard is off to university in Canada. He may well be followed to overseas universities by some of Shebbear’s International boarders who now have the option of studying higher education in a number of countries and will finalise their decisions in the coming weeks.
Headmaster Simon Weale said ‘I am delighted with the range of destinations that our students will move on to. The students have thought carefully about their choices and set their sights high. Although we are in a very quiet part of North Devon we aim to educate our pupils for life beyond Exeter. The newspaper headlines have been dominated by falling A Level pass rates, but our students have doubled the number of A*s achieved and there is a significant rise in the percentage of A grades and B grades achieved (60% overall). Our Sixth Form is not academically selective so I think this is particularly impressive. Our students benefit from the fact that we are a school, not a Sixth Form College. Our students receive close academic and pastoral support throughout their time here and enjoy a range of opportunities which raise their self-reliance and self-esteem and encourages them to finish their courses. I am confident that this year’s leaders will move on to lead successful and fulfilling lives’.