10:50pm Thursday 19th August 2010
THERE were tears at New College when hundreds of students made the grade yesterday.
The college had a record 805 successful A-level candidates, a seven per cent increase from last year.
Nearly 40 per cent of students earned A*, A or B grades and 32 subjects had a 100 per cent pass rate.
Principal Graham Taylor said: “It’s fantastic, it’s been a very good year. These A-level results are a credit to the talented and hard working learners we have at New College, and a tribute to the efforts and support of our staff.
“Every year you get people saying the A-levels are dumbing down and every year I have got to say that those people who have reached the end deserve everything they get.
“We are extremely proud that so many of our students this year applied to university. This is a tricky time to be leaving further education and considering whether work, an apprenticeship or university is the best choice.”
This year 21 New College students achieved three A grades or more.
“Many young people are competing for fewer places in all these options, and even more attention will be paid to the exam results gained this year, so it’s fantastic that our students have managed to secure such impressive success rates to set them in good stead whichever route they choose to go down,” Mr Taylor said.
This year marked the first time students could get an A* at A2 and between them, students at the college scored 54 A* grades.
David Casey, 18, of Old Town, achieved two A* grades in maths and further maths as well as two As in physics and chemistry.
Next month he is off to Imperial College London to read physics.
“I didn’t think I would do so well. I knew I was going to do all right but this is pretty good. I’ll be celebrating tonight,” said David, a former Commonweal School pupil.
There were tears of happiness from Nicole Greenhalgh, a former Ridgeway School pupil, when she achieved As in graphics, business and French.
The 18-year-old, of Bishopstone, will travel for a year before she goes to Aston University to read business and French. “I worked really hard all year so to get the grades now is just such a huge relief,” she said.
Another student jumped for joy when he got the grades he needed for Sussex University.
Josh Chesterman, 19, of the town centre, scored an A in citizenship and Bs in politics and sociology.
“I didn’t think I was going to do that well. I’ve been telling everybody I would be going to a lower grade university.
“My friend and I just literally jumped up and down and screamed, I got exactly what I needed for Sussex.”
There was a 100 per cent pass rate for BTEC National Diploma students at New College too, with 77 per cent of students achieving distinctions.
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