A level results 2009
Posted on Thursday 20 August 2009
New A star grades awarded among outstanding success
College students celebrate outstanding success
50 students from Farnborough Sixth Form College are the first in the country to be awarded the equivalent of the new A star grade in a trial carried out between the College and the awarding body, OCR. Although the new nationally recognized qualification will not be introduced until 2010, the trial was conducted to ascertain how well students would deal with the more challenging A level questions. .
College Principal Dr John Guy said, “The College welcomes the changes to the A level examinations and, in particular, the introduction of the new A* grade from 2010.”
He added, “We always seek to understand any changes in examination specifications before they are introduced so that both staff and students are well-prepared; the trial with OCR was undertaken to enable both the College and the Awarding Body to see how well our students would respond to the more open-ended questions.”
In the trial involving nine subjects, 50 out of the 90 gifted and talented students who accepted invitations to take an additional examination paper were awarded a Grade A*. Four students were awarded grade A* in two subjects, a particularly outstanding achievement, and A grades in all their other subjects
Jessica Stewart of Camberley achieved A* in both English Literature and Film Studies and will read English at Cambridge University. She said, “I’m over the moon with my results – I just can’t explain how happy I feel! The College has done so much for me and now I am going to Cambridge where I really want to be!”
Helen Carrier of Hook and Eleanor Baker of Camberley, who both achieved A* in Geography and Psychology, and will read now Psychology at Durham and Bristol Universities respectively. Reece Straker of Aldershot achieved his A* grades in Physics and Economics and will go to Oxford University to study Physics.
Reece said, “I am really happy with my results and I am so looking forward to going to St Peter’s College in Oxford – Farnborough Sixth Form College has really encouraged me to study for these grades.”
Jean Marshall, Accountable Officer of OCR, said, “We were delighted to conduct this trial in partnership with Farnborough Sixth Form College because it has given our examiners an early opportunity to test some of their ideas in setting stretching and challenging questions to identify those students who deserve the A* grade.”
Farnborough Sixth Form College is widely recognized for its pioneering work and was the first College to introduce the new Extended Project for A level students; in 2007, Farnborough students were the first in the country to be awarded the AQA Baccalaureate.
Vice Principal Mr Simon Jarvis said, “With the additional stretch and challenge of the new A level, I believe that our A level programmes for young people, which also include an attestation of enrichment activities and an Extended Project, provide the breadth, depth and challenge of any baccalaureate or the new academic Diplomas – we are already doing it!”
Celebrating another year of outstanding results at the College, Mr Jarvis said, “We have a magnificent community of students who really understand the importance of studying to achieve well. Not only have we awarded the nation’s first A* grades, but also we have an astonishing five students who achieved six grade A passes in their A level examinations and 128 with four or more grade A passes.”
The six grade A stars are Maria Burova of Camberley who will study medicine at Cambridge, Alex Lau of Blackwater, who will study Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford, Christine Leung of Frimley Green who sill read Economics and Management at Oxford, Dean Palmer of Fleet who is taking a Gap year working with the top London law firm of Mishcon Reya, and Reece Straker of Aldershot who will read Physics at Oxford.
Overall the College is delighted with the achievements of students with an over 99% success rate for the 4058 A level subject entries. As one of the largest colleges in the country, Farnborough is also one of the most successful and was recently judged by Ofsted to be outstanding in every category inspected.
Dr Guy expressed particular delighted over the results in the mathematics and in languages, both areas which cause concern nationally. He said, “I am pleased to report that the numbers taking these important subjects are increasing at Farnborough and success rate in 2009 has been outstanding.”
In the four principal languages offered at the College, French, German, Italian and Spanish, 39% of students achieved Grade A standard, the best results ever in the College. In mathematics, where numbers are again growing, 45% of the 372 entries achieved Grade A, whilst in further mathematics, where the College has one of the largest entries in the country, 39 of the 50 entries were awarded Grade A, an astonishing 78%.
