Private School News

Straight A’s for Durham School’s ‘Heads of School’

Durham School sixth formers, Alex Duell and David Quinn, are celebrating straight A’s in this week’s A level and AS exam results. Alex, who has held the position of ‘Head of School’ for the last year, is delighted to be celebrating together with David, who will succeed him as ‘Head of School’ in September.

At A2 level, Alex Duell, a member of Caffinites House, has been awarded straight A`s in all his subjects – English Literature, French and German and also History (AS) – an excellent set of results. On hearing the news, Alex said he was thrilled and very much hoped that he will now be offered a place at Dublin, where he wants to study languages; French and German. Alex already has an offer from Bath University, but will have to wait until Monday to hear from Dublin.

At AS level, David, a member of Poole House, has been awarded straight A`s in his exams – Ancient History, Art & Design and Music in which he gained top marks in 2 of his Music modules. He was hardly able to contain his excitement and commented, “I am absolutely delighted with my results. I am thoroughly looking forward to the new academic year and hope to repeat Alex’s success at A2 level.” He added:” Alex will certainly be a tough act to follow as Head of School, but he has passed on some excellent advice and I have a superb team of monitors to assist me in my new duties.” In the meantime, David is due to travel to Bath next week to attend the RSCM (Royal School of Church Music) Summer School, for which he was awarded an Organ Scholarship.

Alex and David have both played a huge part in the school’s successes over the past year and should be highly commended for their commitment to both their academic studies and their contribution to school life; Music, Drama and their Houses in particular.

Special congratulations also go to Sarah Jones was amongst the Top 10 candidates in the country who sat A Level German this summer, according to Edexcel, the UK’s largest awarding body. Out of 2931 candidates, Sarah achieved one of the highest overall marks. Edexcel’s Managing Director, Jerry Jarvis, said: “This is a tremendous achievement and testament to the hard work students put into preparing for their exams. We send our congratulations to Sarah.”

Head of Sixth Form, Mr Paul Gerrard, was delighted with the performance of his students. “

“All these students worked very hard and deserve their success. Our results represent a very solid improvement at the top end of the grades. A 5% improvement on our grade A percentage from last year, an 8% improvement on our A/B percentage. Overall they are our third best set of results since the new exam format came out in 2001. Another very pleasing aspect was the improvement the students showed from the percentage of A’s they scored in their L6 AS exams, to the percentage of A’s they eventually scored at A2. There was a 12% improvement in this area.”

The Assistant Deputy Head of Curriculum, John Everatt commented: “I am particularly pleased for our star students but we must not forget that there are some equally significant, or even more significant, success stories lower down the ability range where boys and girls have worked just as hard for their grade Cs, Ds and Es. It is easy to overlook their efforts.”

Photo:
David Quinn and Alex Duell ‘Talking Heads’