From entrance papers to GCSEs, A-Levels and beyond, exams are a fact of life for students up and down the country. But how do schools prepare young people for the trials and tribulations of testing and how important are good grades to future success? We spoke to Shropshire’s Adcote School to find out…
A SUSTAINED focus on STEM subjects at Adcote School this year has resulted in 100% grades in Physics awarded at A*-B, 85% of grades in Maths awarded A*-B and 87% of grades in Further Maths awarded the same.
Overall, Adcote reports a 4% increase in top grades, with 84% A*-C this year.
Two girls are celebrating gaining the exceptionally high grades needed to secure their places at Oxford University: Klaudia Chmielowska will study PPE with 3A, A* and Aurora Lu (3A*A) will study Chemistry.
A further four girls achieved at least 3As: Priscilla Wu (A*AA), Sherry Lyu (3A*A), Evelyn Zhang (2A*A) and Trista Chang (4A).
Three Adcote girls will take up places at UCL to study Biomedical Sciences, Electronic Engineering and Chemical Engineering. Other Russell Group destinations include Imperial (Maths & Sciences), Leeds (Maths & Statistics), Manchester (Economics & Finance) and Liverpool (Business Management).
Headteacher Diane Browne said: “We are so proud of all our students who have once again achieved an impressive set of A Level results. We are delighted that our increased focus on STEM subjects has resulted in significant increases in these areas.
“We are thrilled for Klaudia and Aurora and for the high number of girls who have achieved their dream of studying STEM subjects at prestigious Russell group universities. We are especially moved to be saying goodbye to our longest serving pupil Florence Galliers who joined us aged four and leaves us today to study Animal Sciences at the University of Nottingham.”
Aurora Lu said: “I’m so excited to be accepted by the University of Oxford. This couldn’t be achieved by myself – thank you to Adcote School for helping me realise my dreams. I hope it will inspire other girls to do the same.”
Florence Galliers said: “I was very pleased this morning. I didn’t think I would get what I did, but I’m happy. It’s going to be strange not driving into Adcote every day. It’s been a wonderful place to have spent 14 years.”