A GRADE STUDENTS OWE IT ALL TO THE BARD
Rossall School has come within a whisker of equalling one of its best years of A-level results with the figures out today and three students in particular are thanking William Shakespeare for their triple ‘As’ in English.
Joshua Grey, 18, is delighted with his three A’s in Philosophy, History and English Literature. The clergyman’s son, whose father, Stephen, is vicar of St Thomas’s Church in Garstang, has had his prayers answered with the grades that have opened the door to a history degree at York University.
He commented: “My feeling today is one of relief, because I worked really hard and was worried I wouldn’t achieve the grades to get me to York. I owe it all to the Bard though, because his work really brought English alive for all of us.
Also celebrating English ‘A’ grades were Shakespeare lovers, India Reville of Thornton and Hattie Warren, of Staining, both 18. India’s putting her ‘A*’ in Psychology, ‘A’ in English and ‘B’ in Philosophy to good use at Nottingham University, where she’ll study Psychology.
Hattie’s next step, following three ‘As’ in English, French and Spanish will be study at Manchester University with a view to teaching overseas and spreading the word about Shakespeare and the English language to an international audience.
Said Hattie: “My mum is ‘over the moon’, and has been crying all morning. She knows how much I’ve wanted to study languages, and being here, with loads of children from countries around the world has helped me pick up French and Spanish much more easily. I’m so happy today and tonight my friends and I are all going out for a huge celebration. With a nod to ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, we’ll all be raising a glass on the first round to the salute of ‘Bottoms Up’!”
Rossall’s A* – E pass rate of 90% is only two percentage points adrift of last year’s figure, which was acknowledged at the time as a golden performance. A* – A passes are maintained at 2010 levels of 28%, whilst A* – C grade passes are 67%. Within the results the school has recorded a strong performance in core subjects of English, Mathematics and the Sciences, which is particularly pleasing given the non-selective policy operated by Rossall, which doesn’t preclude students from examinations on the basis that their performance might adversely affect league table position.
Commenting on the results, Rossall’s deputy headmaster, Anton Maree said: “Overall we’re two percent down on last year with results of 90% A* – E grades, but 2011 was one of our most successful years in a decade. However, we’ve matched our 2010 performance figures, which illustrates that we’re maintaining a stable performance level and I’m delighted by that, given the number of overseas students sitting A-levels in English, their second language. I’m also pleased because we manage to maintain our non-selective policy, which means we don’t cherry pick only the most gifted students to take subjects we know they’ll pass with flying colours, simply to pay lip service to league tables.
Obviously, we also have very gifted students, but for some, the attainment of a ‘B’ in English or Maths is a major achievement; therefore we want to encourage all levels of ability to push their boundaries and achieve success.”
Results for Rossall are:
Four passes
A Bogdanov, S Cai, L Chong, M L Do, J Feng, H Jenkinson, K Kamiya, C Lin, L Ngo, H Nguyen, VML Pham, A Phung, B Sorokin, T Walsh, Z Xu.
Three passes
M Bailey, E Baxter, J Boyd, J Bradley, T Brand, S Butler, T Chiu, C Corrie, O Cross, R Davies, D Fisher, M Greenhalgh, J Gregory, J Grey, B Guo, B Harker, J Lee, L Li, D Lu, M Mai, A Marsh, C Mitchell, K Ngu, A Nguyen, HL Nguyen, L Nguyen, T Nguyen, D Onasanya, T Parker, B Rae, I Reville, P Rimmer, L Ross, L Seaton, M Smith, C Sorbie,M Sudo, Y Tan, C C Vu, J Vuong, D Waistle, F Wang, I Wang, T Wang, H Warren, Q Xia, K Yap, J Zhou.