Impressive A level achievements at Leighton Park School

With over 20% of the 2017 A Level cohort achieving A or A* in 3 or more subjects there were many happy faces at Leighton Park School this morning as excited students collected their results. “I am delighted that so many of our students achieved the highest grades.” commented Head, Nigel Williams. “I am particularly pleased this year to see that one in five were awarded exclusively A grades or higher.”

Deputy Head (Academic), Karen Gracie-Langrick, remarked: “The increase in our percentage of A* grades to 14.3% this year is excellent news as it demonstrates the quality, rigour and robustness of teaching at Leighton Park with regards to the new linear A Levels, and the hard work and application of our students who met and exceeded the grades required by their Russell Group Universities. In our truly co-educational school, we have an excellent gender balance in our grades, with both girls and boys performing equally well.”

Runbei Cheng, whose 3A*s in Physics, Maths and Further Maths, confirm his place to read Physics at Wadham College, Oxford, commented: “I’ve wanted to study Physics since I was 14 and plan to go on to do a PhD and then gain a Fellowship in Quantum Computing. I’ve been studying extra physics modules during my studies and am looking forward to getting started at Oxford.”

The EPQ was undertaken by 10% of the 2017 cohort including twins Helga and Peter Polz who achieved an impressive total of eight A*-A grades between them. “The workload is greater for A Levels, but so is the support, especially in the Upper Sixth.” said Helga, “I’m really grateful for that! It is the difference between really understanding the course, not just memorising facts. You have to get deeply into the knowledge of the subject.”

Charlie Harris (A*A*A) who dedicated many Sixth Form hours to his passion for stage management, leading the Leighton Park Tech Crew support of a variety of musical and dramatic productions in locations all over the 60 acre parkland, including the woods, was delighted with his results. “It was a lot to take on,” Charlie noted, “I had to work really hard all the time, in every moment I was either studying or busy with tech but I’m looking forward to studying Biochemistry at Imperial College, London.”

Joseph Norris also understands the relief of great results after so much effort. “I really blasted it in the Upper Sixth,” he said, “It paid off as I got A*AA in English Literature, Economics and Psychology and now I can study PPE at uni.”

Also celebrating was Rowan Taylor, who at 14 years old was the school’s youngest AS Level candidate achieving a B grade in Creative Writing. An enthusiastic member of the Leighton Park Creative Writing club, Rowan was inspired by club leader and Head of Teaching and Learning, Ken Sullivan. “Ken suggested we all just go for it!” explained Rowan. “You have to write in two genres with an 8,000 word limit so I submitted a collection of poems and two short stories. I love writing and would like to continue, maybe onto an EPQ next; I’d like to write a novella.”

Traditional A Level courses such as Geography (82% A*-B) and emerging subjects such as Economics were both highly successful. Similar grade successes were being celebrated in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) by Maths (68% A*-B), Design and Technology (80% A*-B), Chemistry (71% A*-B) and Physics (83% A*-B). 

Nigel Williams, Head, added: “It is fantastic to see our commitment to our STEM initiatives resulting in such brilliant A Level results; demonstrating the school's success as a STEM Centre of Excellence.”

Overview of results...

Number of candidates	57
% A*/A grades	37.7
% A*/B grades	58.9
% A*/C grades	80
% Overall pass rate A*/E	97.7
Average Points per student	117.8
Average Passes per student	3