News and Updates
25th August 2022GCSE Results 2022
I am proud to say that we are today celebrating the resilience and dedication not only of our staff team - teachers, support staff and governors alike – but also of a cohort of children who have truly thrived in their summer exam experience at GCSE level here at Guildford County School. My thanks to the Exams team for making sure that this morning ran so smoothly and also to Daryl Bond and the Sixth Form team for ensuring that the Herculean task of enrolment got so swiftly under way. I must also thank the many other staff who attended earlier on today in order to help with the distribution of results and to offer their congratulations and support to the students themselves. This is not an obligation by any means, but it is hugely warming when colleagues choose to give up some of their holiday time so as to see the children through to the next stage of their life journeys.
Whilst the beginning of Year 11’s GCSE studies were last year disrupted by the pandemic, it has been wonderful to watch them refocus under Ollie Smith’s leadership and with the support of a superb Year 11 Tutor Team. It was superb, this year, to be back to public examinations and I am delighted to say that our results are at least equal to and in many places better than our best ever at GCSE level. I look forward, next, to the national level data analysis that will enable us to accurately assess the amount of progress that each child has made. That said, with attainment a useful proxy for progress I feel quietly confident that we have performed well as a school and, as result, that we will also have opened many doors for the children; guaranteeing them every chance of a bright future. Early Surrey level analysis suggests that we are in a very strong position against our peers and that the good name of the school remains just that.
For whatever part you have all played in these results, my sincere thanks. The challenge for us now, as we move into the new academic year, is that we must go again and go stronger next year, in order to get the same results for the children. This is because the Ofqual plan was always for the 2022 results to be better than they were in 2019, so to equal the results of 2022 in 2023, we will need to ensure even higher levels of performance from the children. We will need to ensure that they really are working as hard as their teachers and that there are no hiding places for underperformance as you all continue to work so tirelessly to give the children such an incredible school experience.
Over the five year story that we have jointly told together, each and every student is now able to take forward something that they can feel incredibly proud of and I am delighted to be able to share with you some individual stories of success.â¯
With 41% of all grades awarded at 9-7, it is difficult to single out individual students. Deserving of a special mention are Anna McKinney, Matilda Billinge, Dominic McCarthy and Sybil Gimblett for achieving exceptionally high results. We are also tremendously proud of Jasmin Schwartz, Ella Hobbs-Wilde, Daria Simpson-Dernovaya and Mohammad Mustafa who topped the value-added charts, achieving well above their individual target grades – a fantastic achievement.
The school also recognises the performance of the following students who achieved 5 or more Grade 9s – Freya Bridge, Grace Faulkner, Ben Harpur, Neve Howson, Bronwen MacLaren, Daniel Nixon, Maggie Patmore, Madeleine Payne, Stanley Pillay, Michelle Suna, Naomi Tearle and Morten Wynde.
Today represents the end of one phase of each student's education and is a terrific opportunity to recognise and celebrate what they have all achieved. We are delighted to be able to congratulate the Year 11 Class of 2022 for their fantastic results and also to wish them well as they move on to the next phase of their lives with our full support and our very best wishes for the future. For most, I am thrilled to say that this will be here at Guildford County Sixth Form and we cannot wait to welcome them and a large number of external recruits through the doors in September.
Please see below some headline data for your interest.
With my very best wishes to you all.
Steve Smith, Headteacher
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18th August 2022A Level Results 2022
Today we are celebrating the hard work and multiple successes of our Sixth Form students here at Guildford County School. Our sincere thanks go to the Sixth Form and Exams teams for making sure that the preparation for today and the results distribution morning itself ran so smoothly and also to the many other staff who attended earlier on to help with the delivery of results and to offer their congratulations and support to the students themselves. Alongside the whole of an incredible Sixth Form staff team, it is important that we also take some time today to thank Helen Nurton very sincerely for her exceptional leadership of our Sixth Form provision over the past 8 years. Alongside her leadership and that of Gerry Black working so closely with Year 13, we have today seen the best A Level results in the school’s history.
I am pleased that the studies and preparation for the culmination of Year 13 felt, this year, to be more as we recognise in schools. With the return of public examinations and the opportunities therefore afforded for the students to show their calibre against a national field, we are now in a strong position to reflect on what we are capable of here at County. I wish for us to celebrate the many achievements of each and every student leaving us today; over the course of the 7 years that they have been with us, each has ensured that they will have a lasting place in the history of our school.
There will doubtless this week be an ongoing discussion in the media about the value of A level grades, but we must not become embroiled in this at the school. Choosing instead to adopt the narrative of resilient learners, dedicating themselves to their studies under the leadership of exceptional colleagues from across the school – teachers, support staff and governors alike. Every single student has worked tirelessly over a great number of years and they are now able to move on to the next stage in their education with the sense of achievement and recognition that they all so richly deserve.
Before we look at the results of the cohort as a whole, I am delighted to be able to share with you some individual stories of success.
Two students, Ada Kirczenow and Joseph Hearn, secured places at Cambridge and Oxford University. Ada will study Natural Sciences at St Catharine’s and Joseph has decided to decline his offer from Oxford University and study Computer Science at Warwick University. We are tremendously proud of Rebecca Boddington and Jeanie Pryer. Both students have shown exceptional tenacity and dedication and secured places at Durham University to study Climate Science and Biological Science. A special mention goes to George Shepherd whose dedication to his EPQ was inspirational. We wish him all the best studying Bio Medical Science at Southampton University. Marina Warchus has done incredibly well to be accepted at Ravensbourne University, London to study digital Film Production – a highly competitive course and Emma Robertson has accepted a place to study Medicine at Cardiff University. We are also really excited for Josh Kennedy and Harry Mason who will start an apprenticeship for BAE and Georgina Pickering who has an apprentice as a veterinary nurse. We wish Tim Stewart all the very best when he starts at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. At the time of writing, 88% of all of our departing students have secured places at Universities of their choice, including 32 offers from Russell Group Universities.
Today represents the end of one phase of each student's education and the opportunity to recognise and celebrate what they have achieved. We are delighted to be able to congratulate the Class of 2022 for their many achievements and also to wish them well as they move on to the next phase of their lives with our full support and our very best wishes for the future. I am hopeful that many will choose to become members of our ever growing alumni community and that we will then be able to continue to watch their successes over the years to come.
Please see below some headline data for your interest. You will be pleased to know that we have comfortably retained our Alps 2 progress grading, meaning that we remain in the top 10% of Alps Sixth Form providers nationally.
With my very best wishes to you all,
Steve Smith, Headteacher
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