Hard work pays off for GCSE students at King’s Ely Senior

King's Ely students are celebrating their GCSE results with around two thirds of all grades achieved being 9 to 6.

65 per cent of all GCSE results achieved this year were Grades 9 to 6, 22 per cent of which were Grades 9 to 8. Under the reformed GCSE marking scheme, results are awarded on a 9 to 1 scale, with 7 being broadly equivalent to an A grade. Grade 8 is approximately equivalent to the former A* grade, with Ofqual seeing a 9 as ‘exceptional performance’.

8 per cent of this year’s results were Grade 9, 42 per cent were Grades 9 to 7, 84 per cent were Grades 9 to 5 and 95 per cent were Grades 9 to 4.

In Maths, 100 per cent of students achieved at least a Grade 4 pass, with 88 per cent achieving at least a Grade 5 ‘strong pass’. 31 per cent of results in Maths were Grades 9 to 8. In the challenging Further Maths, 33 per cent of students achieved a Grade 8 or 9.

In English Language, almost half of all students achieved a Grade 9 to 7.

Results in History were of particular note, with over 50 per cent of students gaining a Grade 8 or 9. In Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Spanish, Textiles, Latin and Physical Education, over one third of all grades were at least an 8.

Joseph Lacey and Victoria Davies led the field with Grade 9’s in six of their subjects; they also achieved A* grades in GCSE Further Maths. Victoria also took an extra GCSE in Dance and achieved an A* in Ancient Greek which she took last year. Charlotte Ebbens, Edmund Heaney, Imogen Kirkpatrick, Anthony Taylor Gutierrez, Toby Whittome, Elena Wilden and Sihan Yu all achieved four Grade 9’s with Lily Buckley, Anna Chaudhry, Ben Garrett, Daniel Grapes, Tom Henderson, Lucy Lott and Charlotte Wilkinson all gaining at least two Grade 9’s among their excellent results.

Overall more than 20 per cent of students this year achieved Grades 9 to 7 in their top eight subjects. These students were Solomon Boon, Lily Buckley, Anna Chaudhry, Victoria Davies, Madeleine Dening, Ben Garrett, Daniel Grapes, Edmund Heaney, Tom Henderson, Imogen Kirkpatrick, Joseph Lacey, Anthony Taylor Gutierrez, India Thomas, Toby Whittome, Elena Wilden, Charlotte Wilkinson and Sihan Yu.

Principal of King’s Ely, Sue Freestone, said: “This period of transition has given rise to some trepidation. However, our students have given a really good account of themselves and we are proud of what they have achieved.”

A total of 37 students from 11 different countries also studied the intensive one-year IGCSE programme at King’s Ely, which sees them studying in their non-native speaking language. Maths was the only subject out of the 15 on offer that followed the new Grade 9 to 1 syllabus; all other subjects were assessed A* to F as in previous years.

This year’s IGCSE results are among the highest in the course’s 18-year history at King’s Ely, with 26 per cent of results being A* or Grade 9 to 8, 53 per cent being A* to A or Grade 9 to 7, 78 per cent being A* to B or Grade 9 to 6, 97 per cent being A* to C or Grade 9 to 4 and 99 per cent being A* to E or Grade 9 to 2.

Photography, Textiles, Chemistry, Further Maths and First Language English achieved 100 per cent A* to C or Grades 9 to 5, and the highlight of the year was Chemistry, which achieved a 100 per cent A* to B pass rate for the 16 students who sat the exam.

In Maths, 87 per cent of students achieved Grades 9 to 7, of which 38 per cent were Grade 9 (exceptional performance). In English Language, 94 per cent of results were A* to C.

Of particular note this year is Ilaria Dimina who sat ten IGCSEs after just two terms of study at King’s Ely International and achieved A* and A grades in nine of them, including three languages.

Four students achieved all A* and A grades in the eight or seven exams they sat; Anastasia Belan, Gar Bo Chow, Liam Joe Lau and William Wu. In addition, the following eight students achieved 100 per cent A* to B grades in their one-year courses: Zhiying Cen, Jingyi Fu, Suttapa Ittipornavich, Pui Man Leung, Eric Poon, Ho Lam Tsang, Yanhan Wang and Fanyao Ye.

Academic Director of King’s Ely International, Matthew Norbury, said: “These are the global citizens of tomorrow and, as ever, they flourish at King’s Ely. That our cohort continues year on year to achieve excellence whilst studying abroad bears testament to the outstanding teaching and highly focused effort these pupils apply. As always, King’s Ely is immensely proud of its international community.”

Autumn Open Events are being held for all sections of King’s Ely in September and October. To book your place for more information, please visit www.kingsely.org.