A Level Successes

Bristol Cathedral School pupils were today celebrating another successful group of A level results, with the independent school recording the best performance in terms of A and B grades since 1995.

Around 55% of students gained the top two grades, while the overall pass rate at the school reached 97%.

Headmaster Mr Kevin Riley paid tribute to the hard work of staff and pupils. “This is another outstanding set of results for Bristol Cathedral School ,” he said.

Individual success stories included 17-year-old Chris Brown, who took his A levels a year early and achieved four A grades. Chris, who is a former Head Chorister in the Cathedral Choir, has a place to read Modern Languages at New College , Oxford .

Another top musician, eighteen-year-old Jon Rees, who plays cello in the National Youth Orchestra, was also celebrating. He secured three As grades and will take up a place at Gaius College , Cambridge .

Classmates Issy Quinn and Lottie Sprague were also among the high-flyers, both achieving three A grades. Issy and Lottie are former pupils of Clifton High School , a girls’ school, who opted to join Bristol Cathedral School ’s co-educational sixth form. Bristol Cathedral School recently announced it will become fully co-educational from 11-18 from September 2006.

Congratulating Issy and Lottie, Mr Riley said: “The academic standards of our female students are a great foundation for introducing co-education through the school. Our results have consistently shown that the idea in some circles that girls under-perform when they come from a single-sex school into a co-educational sixth form is a myth.”

Commenting on the renewed controversy this year about whether A level standards are falling, Mr Riley added that the UK should follow other countries by looking to the future, not the past.

“In the last year, I have been to Uganda , India and Austria . All of these countries, and especially the last two, are proud of their education systems – and they are certainly not trapped in the past. As long as their exam system is fit for purpose, they find looking backwards a pretty pointless exercise.

“ India aims to be the IT hub of the world by 2020. Perhaps that is the kind of goal we should have, rather than worrying about whether A level results are better or worse than 20 years ago. The issue is not about standards over time: the issue is whether the standards are commensurate with helping students get into higher education and into the world of work, so they can become useful members of society.”