Students reach A higher level

Photo: Jan Harwood

Andrew Bardsley of Cardinal Langley, who achieved five straight As in his A Levels.

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The nervous wait for more than a hundred of Rochdale's young adults was ended today (Thursday 20 August) as they picked up their A Level results.

The number of candidates across Rochdale's four sixth form colleges has gone down, while there has been an increase in average points scored and the number of grade A passes.

The average points score for the borough has gone up to 727, from 690 last year. There were 81 A grade passes, up from 77.

Tony Lasan, Principal School Improvement Officer at Rochdale Council said: “It is pleasing to see that even though the number of candidates taking A-levels has fallen, the students that are continuing studying are taking more subjects and have increased the total scores and points per subject entry."

Councillor Zulfiqar Ali, Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families said: “Congratulations to all these young people who have achieved these results. I would like to thank the teachers, parents and other family members who have supported them through their studying.”

The town will hoping to boost the number of A level candidates through the new Rochdale Sixth College.

Mr Lasan continued: "The new Sixth Form College that is currently under construction marks the start of a new chapter for A-level education in the borough and will ensure young people have the opportunity to access high quality A-level teaching near to their home.”

Several Rochdale pupils chalked up remarkable straight A grades, including Andrew Bardsley at Cardinal Langley, who got five straight As and will go on to read pharmacy at Nottingham. Andrew was all smiles as his results helped the Manchester United fan get over last night's shock defeat to Burnley.

Results at Cardinal Langley were the best in the borough, with an average point score of 197 among the 69 A level candidates.

Director of the school's sixth form Paul McPolin said: "Despite the economic gloom, both students and staff can be pleased with their performance. Students can now look forward to taking up their places at University."

Assistant Headteacher Howard Meredith said: "We are offering our sincerest congratulations to the students and their families. The school wishes them every success as they progress to the world of higher education or take up employment."

Other top students at Cardinal Langley included Stuart Ball, Jason Parr, Matthew Shepherd and Natasha Simpson, who picked up three or more grade As. Natasha is going on to study law at Liverpool University, while Jason will read genetics at Manchester.

Meanwhile Head Boy Andrew Coop could be pleased with his performance, securing a place at Edinburgh University to read astrophysics, while Rebecca Jones, who has just returned from voluntary service in India, has gained a place to read primary education at Edge Hill.

Students at St Cuthbert’s were all smiles despite the gloomy weather, with 41 candidates achieving an average points score of 185.

Students' hard work paid off with many getting the grades they needed to either go onto University in September or to take a gap year and have a breather from their studies.

A success story from the school came from football mad Ronan Szelesi. This time last year Ronan wasn’t so happy with his AS level results but the disappointment made him work twice as hard this year. Ronan said: “I was really upset when I got my AS results last year, I was disappointed to get a B and two C’s but I turned it round this year.”

Ronan had to re-sit some exams as well as take this year's exams but he came out with an A and 2 Bs and is going to Lancaster University in September to study law. He said: “I am delighted with my results and I want to thank my Mum and Grandma for all their support.”

Head of Sixth Form Mr Metcalfe said: “We are really pleased with all our students getting the places they wanted, we have had pupils accepted at Lancaster, Loughborough, Leeds and Liverpool.”

Another top student was Candice Burn, who picked up a grade A in French, B in Spanish, C in Business studies and a D in History. In September she will be continuing her studies in Edinburgh.

Assistant Head Teacher Angela Taylor was delighted with all the results, she said: “We are really proud of all the hard work we have seen this year. This year group have been ambassadors for the school and have been brilliant throughout.”

Sabrina Scholes has changed her plans after picking up her results this morning. She said: “Until today I wasn’t going to take a gap year, but in the end I got two C’s and two E’s. I had worked hard and just missed out, but, I am going to Coventry to study English in September.”

Other top performers at St Cuthbert’s include Thomas Spillane, who got an A in Maths, an A in PE and a B in Business studies, he is off celebrating in Manchester tonight, before getting ready to move to Loughborough to study Sport Management.

Billy Durkin who achieved an A in English Literature, a B in Chemistry and a B in Biology was full of nerves leading up to today.

He said: “I was so nervous last night I had convinced myself that I had failed, I was up at 6am this morning to check UCAS.”

Billy will be going to his first choice University, York, in September, to study Biological Medicinal Chemistry.

The post-16 students at Oulder Hill Community School and Sixth Form also enjoyed a high success rate, with 96% overall passes, excluding General Studies. Just under a third of the 96% of passes fall within the A and B grade boundaries. An average points score of 185 was achieved by the 39 A Level candidates.

Amongst the celebrations, Year 13 student Adeel Akbar exclaimed “I can’t believe I got an A” and now hopes to go on to study at University, like many of his peers.

It is expected that 90% of the Year 13 pupils will continue to study at University. Students with particularly exceptional results included Abid Javed (1A, 2Bs, 1C), Aleem Bani (3Bs), Zabara Rashid (3Bs) and James Bradford (3As).
Straight A student James Bradford, of Wickentree Holt, plans to study dentistry at Sheffield while Aleem Bani, of Woodcock Close, has set his eyes on a career in pharmacy.

Mr Javed, 19, of Durham Street, said of his A level results: “I could have done better but I am pleased. I am going to go to Manchester to study chemistry then do a PhD and go into research.”

A delighted Dr Hudson, gathered with his A2 Biology students which included three of the top achievers, stated he was “so pleased” with the effort they had put in and results obtained.

Mr Duffy, Deputy Headteacher at Oulder Hill said: “We are very proud of all our students who have worked hard this year and achieved some great results. We look forward to improving further again next year with out new cohort of Year 12 students and those going into Year 13. We also wish all of our Year 13 students every success at University or whatever they now choose to go on to do.”

At Wardle 45 candidates achieved an average points score of 190.

There were more success stories at Hopwood Hall College, where Imran Mirza, 26, of Park Road, picked up two As and two Bs for his AS Levels in the three science subjects and maths. Mr Mirza moved to Rochdale from Pakistan just over two years ago and now wants to study optometry at Manchester University once he has completed his A Levels next year.

Hopwood Hall's overall pass rate for A2 was 91%, with 39% of students achieving grades A-C. 

Eight A2 subjects achieved a 100% pass rate – Further Maths, Physics, English Language, History, Art & Design, Religious Studies, Media Studies and World Development

For AS the overall pass rate was 72%, with 31% of students achieving grades A-C. There were 100% pass rates in English Language, World Development and Religious Studies.