City Of Ely Students Celebrate A-Level Results

ELY students celebrated achieving top results in their A levels today (Thursday). Pupils from City of Ely Sixth Form, had a 99.1 per cent pass rate – slightly lower than last year, but Director of Sixth Form Mark Sirot Smith said he was pleased with the s

ELY students celebrated achieving top results in their A levels today (Thursday).

Pupils from City of Ely Sixth Form, had a 99.1 per cent pass rate - slightly lower than last year, but Director of Sixth Form Mark Sirot Smith said he was pleased with the students' performance.

"They have been hitting their target grades, which is important, particularly when you have such a small year group," he said.

"When I did A-levels I studied for two years and sat 3 hour exams at the end. Now students are assessed throughout the course and if they weren't going to do well they would have dropped off by now - they can see if they are going to succeed before they sit the final exam and make a decision about the subjects they want to take forward. We certainly see a lot more swapping between subjects than we used to with the old system."

He insists that this is why students still do so consistently well at A-levels. "They are not getting easier - it is the method of assessment and the fact that they are testing a different range of skills, but the level of continuous assessment means the students are under constant pressure to do well."

Ieun Guy was one of the top-flight students this year, gaining four 'A' grades in maths, physics, design technology and geography.

Principal, Ian Gartshore, who officially retired at the end of the summer term but was back to congratulate his former pupils, said: "We are pleased with the sound performance from the majority of our students. As the number of students in our Sixth Form expands, it is very pleasing to see that so many students are achieving grades that enable them to progress to university and all the opportunities university has to offer."

Down the road at King's School Ely, girl choristers Amelia Harrington and Holly Brown were both delighted with their results. Holly will go to Goldsmith's College in London to study English literature and Amelia to Exeter with her three As.