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Yes! We did it!
Students’ joy thanks to brilliant A Level results
Pupils from The Holt School celebrate their exam results – they were not the only school in the borough to be pleased with their grades. Find out how your local school did in our four page round-up inside Picture: Phil Creighton / WP160812
EXCLUSIVE
By GEMMA DAVIDSON gdavidson@wokinghampaper.co.uk A SUMMER of waiting and hoping came to an end for Wokingham’s students yesterday as they tore open the envelopes of their A-Level results. Whole families turned out to support their youngsters across the borough, with many bright students claiming places at some of the country’s top universities. Nationally, the proportion of A* and A grades was 25.8%, down by 0.1% on last year, with 42,000 places being offered to universities, up 3% on the same time last year. Around 41,000 places have been made available through clearing, a slight rise on last year. The pass rate nationally remained at 98.1%. Along with the removal of the cap on university places in England, and a decline in the number of 18-year-olds, the application process for university has been described as ‘a buyer’s market’. Students across the UK have performed well in mathematics and foreign languages, while courses such as ICT and media studies have struggled
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to get their students achieving the top grades. More than half of all students who took Further Maths achieved an A* or A grade, while 88% achieved a C or above nationally. Modern Foreign Languages have seen a decline in interest from students, with just 13,500 exams sat in German and French this year, compared with 18,400 in 2011. The most popular subjects were Maths, English, Biology, Psychology and History. The gender gap has narrowly closed by 0.1% this year, with 8.5% of boys achieving
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the top A* grades compared with 7.7% of girls. Wokingham Borough Council’s executive member for children’s services, Cllr Charlotte Haitham Taylor said: “Congratulations to all our pupils, teachers, support staff, schools, governors, and, of course, parents and carers, for all your hard work and dedication in the examination process. “There are marginal shifts in results from 2015, but the strong performance of our schools is sustained. We’re very fortunate to have such great schools and
dedicated staff in our borough, working ceaselessly to do the best for our young people. “We wish all our graduating students the very best for their future endeavours – whatever they decide to do. If your results aren’t quite what you expected, please don’t be disheartened. It is far from being the end of the world. Yes, the path you are going to tread may now be slightly different, but the end destination can still be the same, or maybe even better than what you might have anticipated.” n Results special pages 4-7
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