Solihull School

GCSE results: pupils celebrate record-breaking performance

With many schools achieving their best ever GCSE results, independent school pupils take the reformed GCSEs in their stride

Posted by Lucinda Reid | August 24, 2017 | Events

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• #benenden-school
• #dld-college-london
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• #kings-monkton-school
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Although this year’s GCSE exams have been described as the most difficult since the end of O-levels by Barnaby Lenon, Chairman of the Independent Schools Council, independent schools across the UK have been celebrating record-breaking results.

From seeing year on year improvement with their results to achieving their best ever, here is a selection of independent schools who are immensely proud of everything their pupils have achieved.

Solihull School

Solihull School is celebrating another exceptional GCSE results day, with 90 per cent of this year’s grades at A* to B. The historic independent school saw 52 pupils achieve eight or more A*/A grades, while 14 pupils celebrated 8 A*s and eight pupils achieved 10 A*s.

David EJJ Lloyd, Solihull School headmaster, said: “This year’s results represent another excellent achievement from our pupils. My congratulations go to all of them, along with all of our staff, for their hard work and dedication.”

Howell’s School

Across the board, students at Howell’s School did very well, with 61% of all grades achieved at A* or A, but it was in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects that the girls at the Cardiff school really hit the heights.  

In Biology, 69% of all students gained A*-A, in Chemistry 73% of the grades were A*-A, 58% of students taking Physics gained A*-A grade and 59% A*-A was achieved in Mathematics. Nearly 60% of our girls gained A*-A in English Language and 61% gained A*-A in English Literature.

Principal Sally Davis said, “I am delighted for our girls, who have all done so well in their GCSEs this year, and have excelled in the STEM subjects. It is wonderful that so many of them will be continuing with Mathematics and Science subjects when they start their A-level studies at Howell's College next term.”

Benenden School

Benenden School is delighted to report another year of excellent achievements by girls in their GCSEs – with 80% of all grades were at A* or A.

Overall, a remarkable 53% of all Benenden’s GCSEs were graded at A*, with 522 qualifications at this level. This is an improvement on last year’s performance of 51%, as 38 girls received nothing less than an A when they opened their results this morning.

Samantha Price, Headmistress, said, “I am absolutely delighted by these results and am full of admiration and pride for the girls who thoroughly deserve this considerable level of success.The girls have worked exceptionally hard to achieve these results, and the efforts of staff cannot be understated, and everybody is understandably delighted.”

DLD College London

DLD College London has celebrated the success of its students as it announces a commendable 99% pass rate on GCSE results this morning,

An impressive 25 out of 26 subjects achieved an exceptional 100% pass rate, and the top grades have improved this year with 47% of students achieving A*-Bs compared with last year’s 41%.

An increase has also been seen in A*-C grades with 72% achieving this in comparison to last year, where an incredible 65% reached these grades.

Rachel Borland, Principal, commented, “We are extremely proud of these brilliant results and it is pleasing to see that we are continuing to go from strength to strength. These fantastic achievements are evidence of the hard work and commitment put in by both the students and our staff.”

Leweston School

Leweston School, Sherborne is celebrating its best GCSE results in four years, as over half of the examinations taken achieved an A and above (or equivalent) with 27% at A* (or equivalent). 81% of all exams were A* to B (or equivalent) and the school has a 100% pass rate in the standard measure of 5 A* to C grades (or equivalent).

In the new, more demanding, English and Maths exams 17% of the grades awarded to Leweston pupils were at grade 9 compared to a national pass rate of 3.2% in English Literature, 2.2% in English Language and 3.5% in Maths. Only 2000 pupils nationally achieved grade 9s in all three new papers, 2 of which were pupils at Leweston.

Kate Reynolds, Head of Leweston, congratulated the students on their achievements and said, “We are delighted with this year’s GCSE results.  The pupils worked exceptionally hard and, with the BBC reporting these are the hardest examinations since O Levels, this makes their achievements all the more remarkable.”

Wycliffe College  

Across the board, Wycliffe College saw a spectacular 48% of grades coming in at A* and A, or their new equivalents. More than one grade in every five was at A* or 9. 

A total of twelve pupils achieved at least five A* (or equivalent) grades and a quarter of the year group achieved at least four A* (or equivalent) grades. On every measure these are the school’s best ever GCSE results.

Wycliffe’s Head, Nick Gregory, said, “Against the back-drop of the changes to the curriculum, exam grades etc. imposed at national level, seeing Wycliffe’s boys and girls achieve our best-ever set of GCSE results is exceptionally gratifying.”

Kings Monkton

Pupils at Kings Monkton are celebrating a landslide of A*-C GCSE results. With a 100% pass rate in all subjects and subject areas including triple Science, French, additional Mathematics, Music and Art all achieved a 100% per cent pass rate of C or above, with Level 2+ 5 GCSEs including Mathematics and English at 83%, soaring above Welsh average pass rate. With an impressive 41% of students achieving A*-A grades and 88% of pupils receiving at least 5 A*-C grades in today’s GCSE results, Kings Monkton School have once again excelled. The school is proud to announce that the highest achieving pupil accomplished 7 A*s, 4 As, 2 Bs and 1 C.

Principal, Paul Norton, said, "We have an exceptional team of staff who devote a lot of energy and time towards delivering the highest standard of teaching and helping each and every pupil achieve their potential. Both staff and pupils have worked incredibly hard to achieve the outstanding results we’ve seen today.”

King Edward’s School

Out of a year group of 121 at King Edward’s School, 34 boys achieved 10 A*s, a further 17 achieved 9 A*s and 75 boys achieved only A*s and As. Overall, the percentage of A* grades attained was 70% – a new school record – and 90% were A*/A.

Dr Mark Fenton, Chief Master of King Edward’s School, said, “These results are an incredible achievement for the boys, the staff and the school. I would imagine that there are a lot of very proud parents, too.”

Dame Allan’s Schools

Dame Allan’s Schools are thrilled that 34 students achieved all A* and A grades, continuing the excellent streak of results achieved year on year and giving the boys’ school its best ever results.

 Dr John Hind, Principal at Dame Allan’s Schools, said, "Once again our students have achieved excellent results, with the boys’ school getting its best ever results. Every year we see how hard our students work and there are so many individual successes this year, we are very proud of them all." 

Kingham Hill School

Kingham Hill School (KHS) saw 48% of pupils gaining A* to A grades, an increase on last year’s results. A vast majority of pupils were awarded at least one A* to A. Stellar results continued as a school best of 71% A* to B and 91% A* to C grades were achieved. With the new grading system in Mathematics coming into force this year our pupils impressed with 90% gaining 4 or above and a third of entrants achieving an 8 or 9 grade.

A number of subjects saw fantastic results, demonstrating Kingham Hill’s high standard of teaching across the curriculum. Spanish and Latin both saw 100 per cent A* to B grades and 100 per cent of pupils taking English Literature and Language attaining A* to Bs.

Nick Seward, Headmaster, commented, “It is a tremendous testament to the quality of teaching at KHS, and the ethos amongst our pupils, that we have achieved record results at both GCSE and A-level for the second year running. This comes against the backdrop of more demanding qualifications nationally; I'm proud to lead a school which is committed to providing a liberal education in a non-selective environment, and which achieves such fantastic success for the girls and boys who make up our community."