News

Berkhamsted Group | 18.08.2016

A Level success for students after busy year in and beyond the classroom

A Level success for students after busy year in and beyond the classroom

A Level students at Berkhamsted School receiving their results today can be proud of their efforts within the classroom: nine of them have secured a place at Oxford or Cambridge and 54 (32.1%) students attained a set of results that included at least one A*. Patrick Kennedy-Hunt, who will study Natural Sciences at Cambridge, achieved an astonishing six A* grades.

Almost one grade in six was at A*, more than three quarters A* – B and more than nine in 10 A* – C.

“These results reflect the excellence of the pupils’ academic results, but the students who achieved them were able to continue to flourish in many areas outside the classroom,” said Richard Backhouse, the Principal. “Among those with high grades are the England U19 Lacrosse Captain, others playing sport at the highest level, winners of national academic competitions, budding entrepreneurs, students currently performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival,  Gold DofE Award recipients and others successfully balancing their studies and other pursuits.”

The outgoing Year 13 students included key members of the team who were National U19 Lacrosse National Champions, members of the cast of The Hypochondriac, which this week achieved a five star review at the Edinburgh Festival, the Rugby 7s team who reached the semi-finals of the Rosslyn Park Tournament, and the editorial panel of INK – the School’s successful student-run magazine which was shortlisted in the national 2016 Shine School Media Awards.

“These leavers were the first to go through our Student Consultancy programme, developed with the University of Oxford Careers Service, in which they provided management consultancy to charities, local government and businesses, they gave more than 2600 hours of voluntary work, and were those fortunate to be at the top of the School for the visit of our Patron, Her Majesty the Queen,” added Mr Backhouse.

Mr Richard Petty, Head of Sixth, paid tribute to them: “Not only have these students done very well in their exams, but they showed ambition, leadership, adventure and integrity throughout their time at the School. We wish them well at university – many of them on some of the most selective courses in the country.”

Some examples of the breadth of involvement and talent among this year’s top A Level achievers at Berkhamsted School are highlighted below:

Patrick Kennedy-Hunt  – 6 A* in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Further Mathematics (Additional) and Physics; A* in the EPQ. 

Patrick has performed at an exceptional level in both the British Chemistry and Physics Olympiads over a number of years, culminating this year in him winning a Gold award and a place in the second round of the Chemistry Olympiad at Cambridge University in April and securing a Gold in both Paper 1 and 2 of the traditional Physics Olympiad and in the newer British Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad. His Physics performances earned Patrick a place on the five person team that competed in the International Physics Olympiad in Zurich, Switzerland during July. Patrick also achieved a LAMDA Grade 8 with Distinction in Speaking in Public when in Year 12. He has secured a place to study Natural Sciences at Cambridge

Ben van Vlymen – 4 A* in Economics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Physics. 

Ben this year achieved a Gold in Paper 1 of the British Physics Olympiad and was a member of the Sixth Form Economics team that came third in the area championship semi-final of the Bank of England ‘Target Two Point Zero’ competition. Ben also achieved a LAMDA Grade 8 with Merit in Public Speaking, was awarded colours in the sport of Eton Fives and was judged the best squad commander in the annual Yates Drill competition. He is also a recipient of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Ben will study Economics at Cambridge.

Anna Nicholls – 3 A* in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics; A* in the EPQ. 

Anna is the first girl to represent Berkhamsted School’s 1st XI cricket team and is enjoying her fifth season in the Senior Middlesex Ladies’ squad. She has been part of the England Women’s Development Programme (EWDP) for four years and more recently has been selected as part of the Yorkshire Diamonds squad this summer in the first Women’s Kia T20 Super League series. She was awarded a Silver medal in the British Chemistry Olympiad and Bronze medal in the British Biology Olympiad. Anna has secured a place to study Medicine at Leeds.

Phoebe Smith – 1 A* in Physical Education and A grades in Biology and Psychology

Phoebe joined Berkhamsted Sixth as a Sports Scholar from Abbot’s Hill and immediately made her mark on the Lacrosse pitch. As captain of the 1st XII this year, Phoebe led her team to victory at the National Championships, the first time in 16 years that Berkhamsted has achieved the most coveted prize in School lacrosse. At a national level Phoebe co-captained the England U19 lacrosse Home Internationals team and was selected for the U19 England Touring squad. Phoebe will study Physiotherapy at Cardiff University.

Elizaveta Timoshchenko – 1 A* in Photography and A grades in Art & Design and Sociology

Elizaveta joined Berkhamsted in Year 12 as an international boarder from Russia; she has thrived at the school, particularly within Berkhamsted’s highly rated art department. She was Photography Editor for INK student magazine and House Captain for the girls’ boarding house. Elizaveta has secured a place to study History of Art at University College London.  

Ralph (Pui Fei) Tam – A* in Mathematics, A grades in Chemistry and Chinese and B in Physics

Another international student who has fared well during his time as a boarder at Berkhamsted, Ralph joined in Year 12 from Hong Kong and has managed to secure a place on the highly selective Pharmacy course at UCL.  

Ed Tidey – A* in History, A in Business Studies and B in Economics

Ed has been a stalwart of rugby at Berkhamsted, representing the 1st XV since he was in Year 11. He was a member of the unbeaten 1st XV in Year 12 and captained the squad during his final year when the team produced another highly successful season, losing just one game out of 15 fixtures. He is part of the Saracens U18 Academy. Ed had the honour of waiting on Her Majesty the Queen’s table during the lunch held as part of her visit to the School on Friday 6 May. He goes on to study Management at Nottingham University.

Other notable results:

The following students achieved at least 3A* and an A grade:

Omar Hatteea  – 3 A* in Chemistry, Mathematics and Further Mathematics and an A in Economics; an A* in the EPQ. Omar plans to study Economics at Cambridge.

Frederick Wilkinson – 3 A* in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and an A in History. Frederick plans to study Medicine at Cambridge.

Anna Broughton – 3 A* in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics and an A in the EPQ. Anna holds a DofE Gold Award and will study Biochemistry at Oxford.

Jeremy Steed – 3 A* in Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. Jeremy achieved a DofE Gold Award and has secured a place to study Materials Science at Oxford.

The following six students achieved at least 2A* and an A grade:

Seoin Chai, Kwun Yin (Jason) Chen, Olivia Iacoponi, Charlotte Lee, Katya Savill, Andrew Wells.

Over and above those mentioned above, the following 24 students achieved at least three A grades (those whose results included an A* grade appear in italics):

Amish Adodra, Imogen Allport (also achieved an A* for her EPQ), Robert Barrow (also achieved an A* for his EPQ), Natasha Blake, Vladyslav Bondarenko, Samantha Bousfield, Jessica Campbell-May, Cheuk Kit (Chucky) Cheung, Scott Duguid, Richard Emanuel, Stuart Frame (also achieved an A* for his EPQ), Nicola Godsell, Verity Greenway (also achieved an A* for her EPQ), Katya Khazaneh, Hip Wing (Zachary) Lau, Hon Yin (James) Leung (also achieved an A for his EPQ), Robert Nash (also achieved an A* for his EPQ), Annabel Prowen, Jack Roalfe, Nicholas Rosenhagen-Christensen, Monty Thompson (also achieved an A for his EPQ), Imogen Tyer, Chloe Vialou-Clark, Frederick Yates (also achieved an A for his EPQ).

More facts and figures:

Percentage of A* grades – 15%

Percentage of A* / A grades – 45.5%

Overall pass rate (A* – B) – 75.8%

Overall pass rate (A* – C) – 92.5%

Overall pass rate (A* – E)  – 99.6%

SCHOLARSHIPS 

Two or more Sixth Form Academic Scholarships (Incent Scholarships) of value up to 100% are available for September 2017 as well as a Full Science Scholarship for talented students who aspire to study Science or Medicine at university – for further details contact the school on 01442 358001.

Click here for more information 

SIXTH FORM OPEN DAY – Thursday 29 September 2016

Berkhamsted School will hold an Open Day on Thursday 29 September 2016, from 5pm – 7pm for prospective Sixth Form students. On Friday 30 September the Pre-Prep (Haresfoot campus) and Prep will be open to prospective pupils and their parents from 9am – noon, and Senior Girls and Senior Boys from 3.30 pm – 6.30 pm.

Click here to book online

 

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