Ealing Schools Perform Well Despite Tougher Marking
Sharp fall in top A Level grades across the country
Girls at St. Augustine's celebrate their A Level results. Picture: St Augustine's Priory
August 17, 2023
Early A Level results from schools in the Ealing area suggest that local students have performed relatively well despite a tougher marking across the country.
The proportion of A or A* grades awarded dropped to 27.2% compared to a peak of 44.8% during the pandemic meaning that 100,000 fewer grades were given out at this level.
This brings the level of top grades closer to 2019, the year before Covid-19 when it was 25.4%.
There have been some notable achievements at Greenford High particularly by Nithushaan Jeyakumar and Bansi Patel who both gained 3 A*s. Nithushaan has accepted an offer to study Economics at Warwick University whilst Bansi intends to take a gap year prior to applying to study medicine next year. Maisah Kabir, Jenusiya Jeyaseelan and Priya Nayyar all gained 2 A*s and an A.
Maisah and Jenusiya are both heading off to Oxford University to study Medicine and Biochemistry, respectively. Priya has succeeded in securing a place to study law at Queen Mary University. Sumaiya Butt, Mominah Ansar, Alvin Gurung, Kowsar Mohamed, Jagveer Sunner, Maria Lightfoot-Boston, Thisha Sivakumar, Arkhash Thiruchelvam and Zaid Munir all achieved at least one or two A* grades and will also be getting ready to start at a range of universities. By securing a place at Imperial next year, Sumaiya Butt will be joining Maisah in studying medicine.
Picking up results at Greenford High
Zoe Gordon achieved 3 A grades and will be taking up her offered place to study medicine at Oxford University, along with Antwone Andrews who will also be attending Oxford University to study Law, having achieved A, A, B.
For those taking a purely BTEC route, outstanding results were obtained by Serena Dhande, Miya Hendricks, Danny Islam, Jason Panesar, Silvia Talwar and Mounika Thambithurai who all obtained either D*D*D* or D*D*D.
The school is particularly excited that, once again, one of its students - Kanika Poonia - has successfully received a scholarship to study at the University of Toronto in Canada.
Headteacher, Mia Pye, said, “Students sitting their examinations in 2023 have faced enormous difficulties over the last few years and have sat their first public examinations this year, as a result of not being able to sit examinations for their GCSEs 2 years ago. Once again, however, Greenford High School students have achieved exceptional results. I am immensely proud of each and every student for all of their hard work and focus throughout their 2 years of study at Post 16.”
At St Benedict’s nine students have achieved straight A* grades in at least 3 subjects, including Eleanor Bowden (English Literature, History and Sociology), Thomas Gordon (Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Physics), and Alice Jenkins (Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics), all of whom are taking up places at Cambridge University. A further 11 students achieved straight A*/A in at least three subjects. The majority of St Benedict’s students will now be heading off to a top 30 UK university, very many to their first-choice institution.
St Benedict's A Level students -
Rami (A*, A*, A*, A*), Toby (A, A*, A), Lea (A*, A*, A*) , Eleanor (A*, A*, A*) and Thomas (A*, A*, A*)
Headmaster, Andrew Johnson, said, “I am hugely proud that St Benedict’s A Level students have worked so hard and have achieved excellent results across the whole range of subjects. They could not have achieved all this without the dedicated and excellent support of their teachers. These results continue the strong upward trend in public exam results at St Benedict’s: the proportion of A* grades (16.3%), and the proportion of A*-B grades (77%) are the best ever achieved in a year when the full A level grading standards have been applied.
Results were strong across all subjects, and were particularly impressive this year in Art & Design (83.3% A*-A), Chemistry (50% A*-A), Geography (48.3% A*-A) and History (47.6% A*-A).
St Augustine’s Priory has exceeded its 2018 and 2019 results with 38% of grades being awarded at A* and A.
In this, the first completely normal year of examinations since 2019, the school achieved all A*s and As in Art and Design, English Literature, Drama, Photography and Geography, with one Year 12 pupil achieving an A* in Mathematics at A Level.
Students are looking forward to going to top universities, with their out-going Head Girl off to read History at Cambridge with grades of A*, A* and A and an A* in her EPQ and Deputy Head Girl achieving a place studying Veterinary Medicine at Nottingham University.
A wide range of subjects are being studied at other universities, from Architecture via Biomedicine, Computer Science and Sociology to Veterinary Nursing at universities such as Durham, Central St Martins, Hartpury, Queen Mary and Bath. The school is particularly proud that students who have been instrumental in developing its unique farm will be pursuing courses in veterinary sciences.
Mrs Christine Macallister, Headteacher said , “We are so pleased to see our young women heading off into the world to make their mark and continue their story. They have been a tremendous year group and an inspiration to the younger girls in the school. These young women have shown that it is possible to come through a pandemic and excel; they are resilient with a love of learning and are now ready to embrace the exciting challenges that await them at university and beyond. Congratulations to them all!”
Sixth form students at Villiers High School have returned exceptional outcomes in their A-level and BTEC Level 3 exams. In 2019, in the last examined cohort before the pandemic, Villiers High School sixth form was ranked as the highest achieving sixth form in Ealing and placed in the top 1% of all sixth forms nationally. This year’s cohort have beaten their 2019 predecessors and the outcomes for Villiers students are projected to be amongst the highest in the country once again.
There have been some exceptional performances this year. Tajvir Jhamat secured his place at Oxford to study Psychology and Philosophy; Usayd Hussain will study Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial after obtaining A*AAA and his feat was repeated by Gurvir Singh who achieved A*AAA and will study Computer Science at Kings.
Lenita Da Silva and Mrs Aruna Sharma (Headteacher)
Another high achiever Mohammed Irfan, who attained A*AA and will be going to Queen Mary to study Economics, said, “I’m really happy. It's been a lot of hard work, but the teachers have been brilliant”. Lenita Da Silva was delighted to have secured her place at Queen Mary with AAA to study Medicine and paid tribute to the support he has had from the school: “This is one of the happiest days of my life! I can’t believe all that hard work paid off. My teachers have been amazing: I couldn’t have done it without their support.”
Aruna Sharma, Headteacher said, “We are tremendously proud of our students’ achievements and very pleased that we have improved on the 2019 comparison. They have overcome unbelievable challenges during their time with us and persevered with drive, determination and optimism. We wish them the very best for the next stage in their education whether it be at a university or apprenticeship.”
Left to right, Mr Matthew Benson, Tajvir Jhamat, Gurvir Singh, Mrs Aruna Sharma (Headteacher), Mrs Gopali Nagi, Usayd Hussain, Mohammad Irfan, Malaviha Baheetharan and Ravninder Singh.
Villiers High School students will progress on to some of the best universities in the world, including Oxford, Imperial College London, King’s College London and other Russell Group universities around the country.
UCAS says that, for the UK as a whole, 79% of those taking A Levels this year gained a place at their first-choice university.
Further A Level results from local schools will be published here as they come in. Results should be emailed to editor@ealingtoday.co.uk.
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