Students celebrate on A-Level results day

St Cuthberts A-Level Students, Emma Johnson, Ashley McDermott & Kirsty McCormack

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Sixth Form students at Rochdale’s Sixth Form colleges and schools had much to celebrate today Thursday 16 August as they collected their A Level results.

It was evident that nerves were running high as students received the much anticipated results after two years of hard work, but for the vast majority their results met and in many cases exceeded their expectations.

Mr Wood, head teacher at St Cuthbert’s RC High School commented: “It’s a great achievement! St Cuthbert’s students have worked really hard and they have fulfilled their potential. They will now go on to university or employment and we wish them all the best. OFSTED said our Sixth Form was good when they came to inspect us in March, and these results prove that point.” 

One of the many students who proved the point was Katie Bell, who achieved 4 A’s in English, Chemistry, Maths and General Studies. Katie was delighted with her results, saying: “I’m really proud of myself. These results mean I have got in to my first choice of university which is great news.” Katie is going on to study English Literature at the University of Warwick.

Mr Metcalfe, who is head of the Sixth Form at the school added: “It has been fantastic to see so many students getting into their first choice universities after having worked so hard, I’m so proud.”

Alison Clarke, Personal Advisor from Connexions, who was on hand to offer career advice to the students, said: “It’s pleasing to see a lot of the students being accepted from their first choice university and I haven’t seen anybody who’s been disappointed with their results, in fact most of them have done better than expected.”

Wardle High School was pleased to announce a major improvement in the grades from last year, with the percentage of A and B grades jumping from 31% to 41% and the average point scores per student rising from 760 points to 797 points. Several students achieved three straight A’s with Alice Melvin achieving 4 A’s.

Alongside Alice, other top achievers at Wardle included Adam Beardmore and Victoria Hutchings who both got A’s in Biology, Chemistry and Maths. Victoria has been offered a scholarship at Bristol University to study veterinary science. Benjamin Parkes, a partially sighted student at Wardle, will be going on to study English Literature at Manchester University after he got 3 A’s and a B in his A-Levels.

Graham Wright, head teacher at Wardle, commented: “The results are an indicator that the school is continuing to move in the right direction and have reflected the hard work put in by students. I am particularly pleased with the efforts made by the staff and am also thankful of the constructive support from the Sixth form parents during the last eighteen months which has contributed to the all-round successes.”

Cardinal Langley School in Middleton produced a new record in their A-Level results, and their average total points achieved stands well above the national average.

Paul McPolin, who is Head of Sixth Form at the school, commented: “This is a very happy day for our students. As staff, we join in wishing them bon voyage as they set off to a variety of prestigious universities. As we did last year, we have again had a very high number of students gaining the results necessary to progress into higher education.”

The resounding success was also evident at Hopwood Hall College as students arrived to collect their results. The overall pass rate was 88% and the percentage of A-C grades achieved was 45%. Many of the students at the College achieved grades far better than could have been anticipated considering their previous GCSE grades. The college also achieved a 100% pass rate in nine different subject areas including Art and Design, Business Studies, History, Physics, Physical Education, Religious Studies, Sociology, Japanese and Chinese.

Hopwood students Steven Walls and Joanne Archer are both worthy of a mention after they returned to education last year to study on the Access Level 2 course and passed their GCSEs. Now they have both passed their A-Levels after returning to do the Access Level 3 course.