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Sunny outlook for Rossall A-level students (from front):
Swie Joo Liem of Thornton;
Toby Holder-Williams of Rossall; Alice Jackson of Blackpool and Jake Gartside of Poulton
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A* INCREASES FOR ROSSALL SCHOOL
More students achieved the A* and A grades in this year’s A-levels at Rossall. Overall, the school has recorded 92% of students achieving A*-E grades; one percent down on last year’s performance. However, the plus side is an increase in the number of students attaining the highest A* grade, which has risen from 7% to 10%.
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Also on the increase is the number of students achieving A*-A grades. The number has risen from 28% in 2010 to 36% this year, and is viewed as an excellent achievement for a non-selective school, which in stark contrast to many state and independents, encourages students of all abilities to sit the exams of their choice, without cherry-picking students to take only those subjects in which they have a stronger than average chance of success.
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Boarding pupil, Cherry Zhu, was a star performer this year, recording 5 A* passes in Maths, Further Maths, Economics, Physics and Chinese. And, her excellent results have earned the Chinese born student a place at the London School of Economics. For a number of local pupils the future is equally bright, with many attaining A* and A passes in core subjects to earn them some of the scarce university places available to students in the UK.
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One of the top performers was Swie Joo Liem, 18, of Thornton, who achieved 3 A’s in English, Maths and Music, plus a B grade in Philosophy, which she hopes to study at Edinburgh. Her case was cemented further this morning when she learned that she’s also attained a D1 grade Pre-U in Philosophy, which is valued higher than an A* pass at A-level.
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Swie Joo, who has attended Rossall for 15 years, is thrilled at the prospect of university. She commented: “I’m not taking a gap year, and that’s not because I’m worried about tuition fee increases, but because I can’t wait to get started on my Philosophy degree. I’m going to be sorry to leave Rossall though because I’ve been here most of my life, so tonight’s celebrations with my friends at school will be tinged with a little sadness.”
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Rounding off her year as girls’ school captain, Alice Jackson, 18, of Blackpool, gained an A in PE, and 2 B grades in Geography and RS, which are enough to get her into Leeds Metropolitan University where she’ll study for a PE degree, prior to a career in teaching. Another long-term student of Rossall, Alice joined the school 11 years ago. She’s a sports fanatic and plays centre half for Blackpool Ladies football team. And, to use a well-worn football cliché, Alice is “over the moon” with her results.
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An A*, A and B in Art, English and History will set, Toby Holder-Williams, 18, of Rossall on the road to Lancaster University and a degree in History, before embarking on a career in the British military. Toby, who is the son of Rossall’s art teacher, Sarah Holder-Williams, is the last of three brothers to graduate from Rossall sixth form and admits to a little sibling rivalry when comes to Art. He commented: “My older brothers, Charles and Guy, both studied here and we had a bet to see who could get the best grade in Art, because mum teaches it. I’ve just won with an A*, so I’ll be calling in the bet when I phone them both later today, which should pay for my night celebrating the results with all my friends from Rossall.”
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A student with designs on a creative career is Jake Gartside, 18, of Poulton, who proved that you can still achieve your dream without A grades. The student, who joined Rossall 12 years ago, knew the grades needed to get his first choice university place at Huddersfield, where he’ll study product design. However, his 3 ‘B’s and one C grade have left him “speechless.”
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Commenting on this year’s A-level results, Rossall School’s Director of Studies, Gillian Pryor said: “We are delighted to have recorded significant increases in the numbers of students achieving A* and A grades and this is testament to some hard work from our A-Level students. And, although at 92%, we are fractionally down on last year’s A-E figure, we are still pleased with the sterling efforts of staff and students, many of whom have achieved excellent results whilst managing to balance study with a full programme of extra-curricular activity, so this is particularly gratifying.
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“It is also interesting, but not unexpected to note that students this year are, in the main, opting to go straight to university, rather than take a gap year, which points to some concerns on their part to avoid the increases in tuition fees proposed for 2012.”
The full results are:
ROSSALL SCHOOL A-LEVELS 2011
Five passes
C Zhu
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Four passes
V Avagyan, M Chen, B Lau, S Liem, A Nguyen, S Sloane.
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Three passes
C Baxter, C Chen, N Do, M Duongova, E Feng, S Fraser, J Gartside, T Holder-Williams, J Huynh, A Jackson, S Jones, E Kelley, N Lau, H Le, T Lester, K Leung, A Lewis, I Li, S Markbride, J McIntyre, C Metcalfe, M Nguyen, L Nguyenova, A Pham, H Rimmer, S Roschinger, J Schofield, E Taylor, H Tran, M Tranova, K Tung, I Vo Le, C Vu, Z Vu Hoang, J Whiting, J Worsley, T Wu, V Xu, T N Zielinsky.
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Two passes
M Giangova, J Hough, C Nguyen, N Nguyen, A Parfenova, S Rao.
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One pass
J Strottmann, P Purva
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Come Blow Your Horn
Sixth Form student, Mark Harding is not one to sound off about anything, but that’s exactly what he’ll be expected to do now one of the Country’s leading orchestras has come calling.
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The seventeen-year-old Rossall student is to join the wind section of the prestigious National Youth Orchestra, having blown away the competition with his skill on the French Horn during an audition in London. Mark is already established as Principal Horn with Manchester’s Hallé Youth Orchestra, which he joined two years ago, but his elevation to the NYO is a major step on the road towards realizing his ambition of joining the Royal Academy and becoming a professional musician with a leading orchestra.
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The Cleveleys youngster has been demonstrating his musical prowess for parents Andrew and Vivienne from the age of six, but has flourished in Rossall’s musical environment; cutting his teeth as lead cornet player for the School’s Combined Cadet Force band and also its up and coming jazz band. His obvious talent will now see him attend two courses with the NYO in Oxford and Durham before performing national concerts with the full orchestra, which will include an appearance on the BBC Proms season in 2011.
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In amongst all the glamour of stage performances, Mark will still have his sights set on more mundane, but equally important AS and A-Level study, as he looks to get the grades required to go on to obtain a music degree. He’s a young man with his feet firmly on the ground, and knows how much hard work is involved. He comments: “To get this opportunity is fantastic, because the NYO is the top orchestra for musicians of my age in the UK. I know though that I have to maintain good grades and study hard if it’s to result in a career in music, but I get great support here at school, so I’m sure I’ll be able to combine everything next year.”
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Rossall’s Director of Music, Margaret Young is equally delighted that Mark is on the first rung of a career in music. She said: “It’s a great honour for Mark to join the NYO, but he’s earned the right to be there because of his obvious talent. It’s also wonderful for the school to have such a talented musician in the Country’s leading youth orchestra and we’re all proud of his achievement.”
Mark has already toured in Europe with the Hallé, most recently in Italy, but now has a chance to practise his skills on a global stage with NYO tours in coming years."
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