Leighton Park School’s Sixth Formers were delighted to receive their A Level results this morning. 32% of candidates received A*/A grades, 6% higher than the national average, and with an average of 281 points per pupil there were plenty of happy smiles from students looking forward to joining their chosen universities in the Autumn. The A Level results continue to build on the excellent success of Leighton Park’s Sixth Formers, with the 2014 cohort of International Baccalaureate students averaging 34 points against a world average of 29 points in July’s results.
Nigel Williams, Head, commented “It’s a huge privilege to observe our Sixth Formers develop and flourish throughout their time at Leighton Park and celebrate with them the results that will allow them to progress to the next stage of their educational career. ”
Leighton Park has experienced a strong uptake of the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) which enables sixth formers to explore a topic of their choice in great depth and is noted by The Times as ‘favoured by many leading universities as an excellent preparation for undergraduate study.’. A fantastic 60% of the 2014 EPQ students have achieved A* or A. “Since we introduced the idea of each student giving a public lecture on their topic the February before submission the EPQ results have just soared.” commented Head of Sixth Form, Ken Sullivan. Top scoring projects included topics ranging from American gun law to a piano composition spanning the piano styles through the ages and a graphical novel charting the history of the universe.
High scoring A Level student, Josie Dean-Lewis said “I’m so pleased to have got A*A*A with an A for my EPQ. It confirms my place to read Biochemistry at Sheffield. I can relax now!”
Josie also undertook the school’s new AS course in Creative Writing, a subject introduced to the UK by AQA this year. “Creative Writing was fantastic, I really enjoyed it and I got an A; which is also fantastic!” she grinned. Head of Sixth Form, Ken Sullivan, who taught the Creative Writing AS as an extra-curricular activity, was amazed by the quality of the work produced on the course. “We attracted students from Years 11, 12 and 13, studying GCSEs, AS, A2 and IB, so it was a very diverse class with a wide range of interests. I’m delighted with the 100% pass rate with 57% A*-B. There were some incredibly creative ideas expressed including Albert Kemp’s (Year 11) brilliant story about a robot rebuilding a human and Zoe Morgan’s (U6th, IB) philosophical portrayal of ‘A Caelo Usque Ad Centrum’ which was awarded 98%. Zoe will be joining Edinburgh University in October to read Philosophy. Of the 14 students enrolled in the Creative Writing course, 5 were awarded A grades, 2 of which were gained by Year 11 students.
Leighton Park School, located in 60 acres of beautiful parkland, opposite the University of Reading, offers Sixth Form students the opportunity to choose between studying A Levels and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. In addition, Leighton Park also offers a rigorous one-year Pre-Sixth Form course primarily for international students seeking an intensive programme of study prior to Sixth Form.
The school is offering Year 11 students the opportunity to learn more about studying A Levels and the IB at Leighton Park at their Sixth Form evening on Monday 13th October 2014, 6pm.