A college in Wirral has bucked the national trend by celebrating their "best ever" A-level results.
It was announced yesterday that grades received by UK students are down on the past two years, although they remain higher than pre-pandemic levels. And Birkenhead Sixth Form College has defied the expectation that students would struggle to cope with the demands of taking final exams for the first time in two years.
The area’s largest sixth form saw students achieve a high-grade percentage of 60.4% (A*- B) - a massive 15% higher than the last time that formal exams were taken in 2019. The range of undergraduate courses that students now move to spans from medicine and veterinary science to engineering, nursing, law and real estate.
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Four students earned a clean sweep of top grades with four A*s each, while the college’s head students, Abbie Williams and Jack Sibeon, achieved two A*s within their results, enabling them to go to their first choice universities. Principal at Birkenhead Sixth Form College, Mike Kilbride, said: “This is an absolutely remarkable achievement from our students, not least because they came to us having not sat all-important external exams before.
“The entire process of taking exams is not just about the performance in the exam: it’s the process of revision and building up to that final performance that matters most, so for our students to produce this level of excellence having not experienced anything like the pressure of terminal exams before makes the achievement all the more astounding.”
In the North West, 98.7% of students passed their exams this year, with the figure up from the 97.9% pass rate in 2019. Just down the road at St Anslem's College, there was also cause for celebration as 53% of students picked up A*-B grades. Furthermore, 81% secured grades A*-C, with 99% of all students being awarded three or more A Level or equivalent passes.
There were many outstanding individual achievements, including Dylan Adlard, from Bromborough, who secured three A* grades and Samuel Butterworth, from Greasby, who equalled a college record by being awarded four A* grades.
There was also a deluge of A* at Wirral Grammar School for Girls, in Bebington, where Rachael Price is among this year’s success stories. She told the ECHO the nervy wait for her exam results left her feeling “a bit delirious” as she made the journey to school this with her music “blasting” in the car.
Her anxieties were unfounded though, as the four A*s she achieved were more than enough to secure her place to study natural sciences at Cambridge. Headteacher Elaine Colgan said: “I’m so proud of the girls. They’re a brilliant bunch and they’re all going on to do amazing things and the staff have been amazingly supportive.”
Birkenhead School, an independent, fee-paying school, secured a whopping 79% A* to B grades, with 32% of grades being A*. With such a high rate of top grades, it's little surprise six students are off to study medicine and three are definitely going to Oxbridge.
Headteacher Paul Vicars said the results "vindicated" the work the school did during the pandemic as there was only a 5% difference between teacher assessed grades and today's results. Elsewhere, at Calday Grange Grammar, the 2022 cohort achieved an overall pass rate of 99.5% at grades A*-E while students at South Wirral High School are progressing to study a range of degrees such as Law, Journalism and Civil Engineering at University.
While many schools across the borough had reason to smile with yesterday's results, the leader of Wirral Council sent a message to students who may not have achieved their dream grades. Cllr Janette Williamson told students to "never give up" on education after she herself opted for an access course at Wirral Met, before going on to study at the University of Liverpool as a mature student.
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