However, closer analysis shows that the Year 13 students have made
greater progress than in previous years.
Headteacher Andy Owen told Burnham-on-Sea.com: “This year’s and last year’s headline results are almost identical. However, last year’s A-level students had, on average, higher GCSE scores and as such our current cohort of students has made greater progress to match their results. This has been achieved through the hard work of students and staff supported by parents and carers.”
He added: “The sixth form has been a major area of school improvement throughout the last academic year and these results are encouraging. We have put in place a raft of strategies, including working collaboratively on learning and teaching with UWE and SSAT (Specialist Schools and Academy Trust), issuing every post-16 student with their own netbook, placing all schemes of work on the school network, which can be accessed from home by our students and introducing post-16 Study support and mentoring.”
There were some excellent individual achievements with the stand-out performance being Rebecca Mail who attained a A* grade in Sociology and As in History and Psychology.
Other noteworthy results were achieved by Emily Sanders, Paige Popham, Alec Cockram and Anthony Derham and Becci Chappell who achieved an A* and two C grades. She will be going on to university with fellow student Owen Jandrell. “We are both so relieved,” Becci told Burnham-On-Sea.com.
Special mention must also be made to eight Level 3 BTEC Sport students who achieved six Merits
and two Distinctions.
One of the most significant achievements is that the overwhelming majority of
students who applied to university have been offered places. The head of sixth form, Jonathan Gaskell, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We are delighted that our young people who want to progress to further education have been offered places despite the much publicised issue of the huge number of applications to universities.”
AS level results were also encouraging with 60 out of the 61 Year 12 students securing the grades to allow them to progress to Year 13. Assistant Headteacher (Post-16) Jackie Cahill said: “As well as the increased number of students staying on into Year 13 we are hugely encouraged by the number of students from our current Year 11 who have applied to stay on in our 6th Form.”
Others celebrating today included Ceri Plested who achieved B, C and D grades to go to Cardiff university to study dance and drama. “It’s a great day!” she said.
