Private School News

SOLID A-LEVEL PERFORMANCE FROM ROSSALL

The Fylde coast’s oldest independent school has recorded a solid performance in A-Levels this year, despite growing numbers of pupils opting to take the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma in its growing Sixth Form.

Rossall School, Fleetwood has increased A-Level pass rates A-E to 92.5%, an increase of 1.5% on last year’s performance. A-B grades were 57% compared with 58% last year, which the school believes is a good, solid, performance given that a larger number of the school’s British pupils, who would have excelled at A-level, opted for IB study, in what is one of the largest Sixth Forms in the independent sector locally.

Although many pupils achieved A grades, perhaps one of the most impressive results, 4 A grades, came from Czech speaking Vietnamese boarder, Ha Phoung Nguyen, who achieved the grades needed to read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University. The School believes that this is a remarkable achievement given that English is her third language behind Czech and Vietnamese, the two countries she has lived in for most of her life. However, perhaps the most pleasing result for a local pupil celebrates two C grade passes for Lytham youngster, Lewis Raines, 18, who has overcome severe dyslexia to gain the passes he needed in Media Studies and Music to go on to study for a BA in Musical Theatre at Blackpool and the Fylde College.

Lewis, who was diagnosed as dyslexic at the age of nine, received intensive tuition in Rossall’s special teaching unit to help him overcome his problem and even attended special courses in the United States to help with his dyslexia, which affected his reading, writing and speaking abilities. Said Lewis: “The School has been fantastic with me over the years and the specialist help I’ve received here has almost certainly been the reason for my A-level success. For most people only A grades would do, but for me to even get an A-Level pass would have been unthinkable only a few years ago, so I’m really proud of my achievement.

“Hopefully, I’m proof that even severe cases of dyslexia can be overcome, which might give some inspiration to others who have been in my position.”

Lewis’s mother Karen, a doctor at Weeton Army Camp is said to be “overjoyed” at the news, which could now see the plucky youngster fulfilling his ambitions to become an operatic tenor or a performer in musical theatre, once he’s bagged his degree.

Commenting on this year’s performance, First Deputy Headmaster, Fergus Livingstone said: “Lewis Raines and Ha Nguyen epitomise the spirit at Rossall and the quality of our teachers. I’m especially pleased to see pupils overcoming real adversity to gain their grades. It proves that if properly taught, motivated and encouraged any child can achieve their goals.

“As a non-selective school we believe that even pupils with a weaker academic background should be given every opportunity possible and our policy has proved to be successful. In many subjects, including mathematics, business studies, music and languages many of our pupils have achieved beyond their expectations, which is extremely gratifying.”

A-Level Results:
4 Passes
W CAI
C CHAN
G CHEN
H CHEN
D FELIX-JOHNSON
G LAU
H NGUYEN
E TAO
C VU
V ZHOU

3 Passes:
J CANNING
J DAWSON
M DOCHERTY
N FURNISS
G HOLDER-WILLIAMS
F JONES
X LI
A LIAO
A LIU
C PAI
B TENG
B TRAN
R WATT

2 Passes:
J BARKER
S BROWN
A CHAN
A FENG
S FLOOD
A MIN
L RAINES
W WANG
T VE

1 Pass:
K HIRV
S HUANG

International Baccalaureate Diploma Passes
In addition to A-levels, 39 pupils studied for and earned the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma in Rossall School Sixth Form. Many candidates passed with scores above the international average. At this level the IB Diploma is the equivalent of 4.5 ‘A’ grade passes in A-Level.

Rossall is one of a select number of school’s in the UK with lengthy experience in IB. The school’s dedicated IB department has been working with Diploma students for ten years and the school’s experience is reflected in the performance of its IB graduates, many of whom will now go on to study at some of the top universities in the UK and overseas.

Caption: There’ll be singing in the Raines household, with 18-year-old Lewis having overcome severe dyslexia to pass his A-Levels at Rossall School