Manchester is bracing itself for an invasion from the Fylde Coast this year with many of Rossall School’s A* students heading to the City’s top university following a bumper A Level year for the independent school.
Rossall’s star is shining brightly this year with its pass rate increasing to 97% and A* – A pass rate performance rising. The figures include very strong performances in Mathematics and Science, with British boarders and local day students faring very well in the core subjects. These results demonstrate that Rossall does not need to operate a rigid selective pupil policy to deliver excellent academic returns for its students. Indeed, Rossall’s inclusive policy indicates that all students, irrespective of ability, have a chance to shine.
Top A-grade students, Jack Morrison, Abigail Small and Daisy Manning have all been accepted at Manchester University. Jack Morrison belies the myth that to be good at sport you have to sacrifice academic achievement. Rossall School’s rugby captain, cricket vice captain and Lancashire County U-17s hockey star hails from Carleton and has scored highly this year off the sports field, with A-stars in Economics and Philosophy and an A in Mathematics, which have allowed him to read for an Economics degree.
Jack is delighted with his results but looking over his shoulder at younger brothers Michael and Tom, both also at Rossall, with Michael achieving straights ‘A’s in his AS Levels and Tom awaiting his GCSE results next week. “We’re all pretty competitive,” Jack says, “But my youngest brother Tom is the one that would like to outshine us all. However, despite the rivalry, we’ll all have a celebration today and again next week if Tom does well in his GCSE results.”
Budding music journalist, Abigail Small, 18, of Bispham, Blackpool, regard Manchester as her favourite city. She is a huge fan of the Manchester music scene and will get plenty of source material to help her in her future career following an English Literature degree at the University. She is delighted with her results having gained an A* in English Literature, A in Geography and B in PE. Abigail has spent five years at Rossall and can’t wait to qualify as a journalist to enable her to interview a few A-listers of her own. She added: “I can’t wait to get to university but I’ll miss Rossall, because I’ve had a great time here, but journalism is my goal, so there has to be some sacrifice.”
Another of Rossall’s A-list students, Daisy Manning, achieved three A grades in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics which will allow her to study towards a medical degree and ultimately, to life as an A & E doctor. The eighteen year old, who joined Rossall in sixth form, only focused on science seriously once at the school, having previously majored in arts and drama at another school, but has identified a life in medicine as her chosen path. “Today is such a great day for my family.” Said Daisy, “I checked results online, so knew what I’d got but I was still nervous coming to collect the results because it doesn’t really sink-in until you see them in black and white on a piece of paper.”
Rossall’s Acting Headmaster, Anton Maree is delighted that so many of Rossall’s students are going on to top universities. “This has been an exceptional year for the school.” Mr Maree said, “Not only do our pupil numbers continue to rise but we are also financially strong and continue to invest in our facilities. Strong A Level results auger well for the future of pupils at Rossall School."
“A 97% pass rate and an impressive number of A*- C grades demonstrate that we give students of all abilities a chance to succeed and this year’s results prove that faith in our teachers and students is not misplaced. With a significant number of A* grades in Maths and Science it is clear that our policy is working.”
Mr Maree went on to praise the performance of Rossall’s many local students, saying: “We have academically gifted pupils from around the world at Rossall but our local students are also exceptional performers and I’m delighted to report that many of them have produced excellent results in this year’s A Levels.”
Results for Rossall are:
Five passes:
A Li, D Liu, J Wan, G Wang.
Four passes:
C Andrews, E Cai, L Chan, V Chen, T T Dao, TL Do, S Ho, D Leung, J Liu, T D Nguyen, P Pei, M Phan, L Vo, Z Wu.
Three passes:
G Aceto, C Atkinson, M Au-Yeung, M Bate, G Briscoe, S Burney, J Chard, N Choong, A Cope, K Deng, M Doan, G Finney, H Fryer, J Guthrie, E Hadfield, M Hou, T Howard, J Hughes, K Jiang, J Landmann, L Le Anh, A Li, J Liu, T Mai, D Manning, L McIlhargey, J Morrison, I Nasir, S Nguyen, C Nguyen, K Nguyen, J Nguyen, W Parker, T Pham, E Schofield, M Shak, T Sit, A Small, A Smith, H Southern, F Standring, R Tang, S Thompson, D Tran, B Usman, A Walker, L Williams, J Yang, S Yeung, L Ying, B Zhang.
Two passes:
E Jackson, F Lewenhagen, D Parry, J Tang, A Vu.