Broadest smiles and highest echelons at Churcher's College

For every school across the country comparison of results with previous years has become almost an impossibility, writes Churcher's College Headmaster Simon Williams. Not only do we have a mix of letter and number grades across the subjects, in some individual subjects you may even also have a mix of letters and numbers where some pupils have taken an exam a year early as our top Mathematicians have, and all those were graded A*.

In the very awkward conversion from number to letter grades the Department for Education say the only direct comparisons are previous A* to A with the new 9 to 7 grades and the A* to C with the new 9 to 4 grades. Using these two benchmarks then, to complement this year’s brilliant A Level results for Churcher’s, we have broad smiles of satisfaction with the GCSE results and delight that we will, once again, be in the highest echelons of schools at both A and GCSE levels. With over 65% of the exams graded A* to A or 9 to 7 grade and over 98% at A* to C or 9 to 4 grade there are smiles aplenty for the students, their parents and teachers.

A scientific review by Cambridge Assessment predicted that as few as 200 students across the country would achieve straight Grade 9s across all their subjects and Churcher’s boast two of them: Annie Chamberlain and Ollie Mutch; but they are joined by Lizzy Gallagher, Callum Francis, Joshua Coates and Oliver King who have only a 9, 8 or A* on all of their certificates.

As ever, academic exam results are only a small part of the equation when it comes to school life. This GCSE year group boasted a rugby team that could count its losses over the last five years on one hand; performing arts enthusiasts with the most exceptional top Grade 8 music and drama certificates which would need more than two hands to count and successful Duke of Edinburgh awardees that St James’s Palace inform us exceed the numbers for any individual establishment in the county, to name but a few examples from their portfolio of success.

With our largest number ever moving through into our Lower Sixth Form in September we are really looking forward to the next two years over which this very successful year group will almost certainly continue to astound and delight as they have done over the last five years; the future looks startlingly bright on Ramshill!