Alderney head proud of pupils who all 'met or exceeded their potential'
JUST over half of Alderney’s Year 11 students achieved five or more GCSEs at upper grade levels but successes in maths and English were lower than in previous years.
A total of 16 pupils took exams at St Anne’s School this year and 56% of students achieved five or more GCSE exams at grades A*-C (9-4) and top grades equivalent to the former A* were gained in science and art.
However, only 18.8% achieved the benchmark five or more qualifications at A* to C (9-4), including maths and English, down from 50% last year.
Deputy head teacher Wendy Wilson explained that the percentages did not tell the full story of achievement this year at St Anne’s.
A total of 37.5% took Functional Skills courses, with 80% of those achieving Level 2 in English and 43% achieved Level 2 in maths.
Pupils also gained a plethora of extra curricular qualifications in areas such as IT qualifications, food hygiene, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince’s Trust awards and first aid.
‘This year’s cohort contained the full breadth of abilities from academic to sporting and vocational skills and there have been some fantastic personal achievements.
‘Predictions for this particular cohort were lower than previous years but that’s because of the demographic make-up.
‘We have very low numbers in school and each one of the 16 pupils accounts for a large percentage, meaning our figures fluctuate from year to year.
‘All of our pupils met or exceeded their potential, so we’re really proud of them.’
All but one of this year’s cohort are going on to study in Guernsey – the vast majority will embark on vocational courses.
Matthew Dooley, 16, did much better than predicted, achieving seven qualifications.
‘I took Functional Skills Maths and English and GCSE Science, French and IT and I passed the lot. I didn’t expect to do this well but I did work very hard and it all paid off.
‘I haven’t yet got a long-term plan but I’m doing an IT course next year and I think if that goes well I’m on to a bright future.’
Abbie Chandler, 16 – this year’s Miss Alderney – also had a pleasant surprise when she opened her results.
‘I expected to get a bit lower on a couple of my exams which I’ve managed to go over so I’m really happy with my results. I thought I’d get quite low in science and managed to get higher than I needed for the health and social care course that I’m doing in Guernsey.
‘I’m really excited to go to a new place where I’m going to meet a lot of new people.’
