Private School News

NON-SELECTIVE SCHOOL’S SOLID PERFORMANCE IN A-LEVELS

Despite growing numbers of students opting for the International Baccalaureate Diploma at Rossall School, Fleetwood, the independent school returned a solid performance in this year’s A-level results with a percentage pass rate of 91% A-E grades and a 6% rise in A-B grades to 63%, a rise which is significant given the school’s non-selective policy, which means that students of all abilities are allowed to sit the examinations of their choice.

Forty nine sixth form students sat a total of 23 subjects in this year’s examinations with the remaining sixth form population opting for International Baccalaureate in which the school excelled with a number of students amongst the highest points achievers worldwide.

Among the straight ‘A’ students this year was outgoing school captain, James Cross of Stanley Park, Blackpool who took three subjects – English Literature, Geography and History, and achieved the top pass rate in each, which means he is now on his way to study English at Oxford University. Also among the ‘A’ grades with four top passes was Garstang student, Toby Ma, who joined Rossall in 1994. His father Ken is owner, manager of Garstang’s prominent town centre Chinese eaterie the Ken Ma Restaurant. He is “delighted” that Toby will now achieve his ambition to study medicine at Sheffield University. Toby gained his straight ‘A’s’ in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics.

Rossall teacher’s son, Alex Alonso of Thornton will head for York University and an English degree course following his three A’s in Chemistry, English Literature and Mathematics, and a ‘B’ in Further Mathematics. Mum, Sharon, who teaches Spanish at the School is overjoyed by his results. She said: “Alex has put in a tremendous amount of work, as have all students, so to see him get such high marks is very rewarding.”

Thornton student, Charlotte Armstrong, 18, has double reason to celebrate today, with two A grades in English Literature and Music and a B in religious studies paving the way for her acceptance by Durham University, where she’ll study music in an attempt to emulate her cousin, Jane Wilkinson, also a former Rossall pupil, who is now one of Britain’s up and coming operatic sopranos. However, she won’t take up her place at Durham until next year, because she is also one of only 35 UK students to have gained a scholarship to a top independent school in America through the English Speaking Union, and in September she’ll take a place at the prestigious Tabor Academy in Massachusetts.

Commenting on this year’s performance, Rossall’s senior mistress, Jean Briggs said: “Although our pass rate overall was similar to last year it is particularly encouraging to see that we have more students achieving higher grades, as illustrated by our 6% increase in A-B grades, taking us to 63%.

“As a non-selective school we believe that even those pupils with weaker academic backgrounds should be given every opportunity possible, and our improvement in the A-B grades is proof that our policy is successful for the school and more importantly, for the pupils. Some students have achieved beyond their expectations.

The full results are:
Five Passes: L MAMANI
N TRAN

Four Passes: A ALONSO
Z BAI
L CHU
K LAM
S LEE
S LU
T MA
M NGUYEN
F PARKER
J SHUI
A SUN
J XU

Three Passes: H ANDERSON
C ARMSTRONG
H BENNETT
J CATER
S CHELTON
J CROSS
K DAVIES
R DOCHERTY
F FAN
X FU
L GILLESPIE
S HARDIE
H INGLE
T KENYON
S SALNIKOV
J THOMPSON
T TSUI
P TUNG
M WONG
J YU

Two Passes: M CHEN
T CHEN
J CHEN
S HUANG
W WANG
B WU
A ZOU

One Pass: L LARK
J LIAO
P EISSEN
F MEUER
T NGUYEN

International Baccalaureate Diploma Passes
In addition to A-levels, 32 students studied for the prestigious International Baccalaureate Diploma in Rossall School Sixth Form. Many candidates passed with scores above the international average, increasing the School’s pass rate by 10% to 84.38%, which takes it above the world average.

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 twelve 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.

The School’s top scoring student, Isabell Mencher from Stuttgart, Germany, achieved 44 from a possible maximum points total of 45 for six subjects (the maximum number of subjects permissible), but also added an extra seven points by passing a seventh subject, Spanish, which regrettably won’t be counted in her total. She is joined in the high pass grades by local student, 18-year-old, Sam Ireland of Bispham (42 points) and local golfing sensation, Jenna Birch, also 18, of Larkholme (33 points). Anh Vu, a Vietnamese boarder at the school achieved the school’s second highest total with 43 points. Last year, there was not one recorded pass in the world with a full 45 points and only 0.03% of all students achieved 44 points. There were similar percentage passes for 43 and 42 points totals. .