40 Advertiser, F r i d a y,August 24,2012 A LEVELS 2012 CCR-EO1-S2 w w w. t h i s i s c ro y d o n t o d a y .co.uk IN BRIEF School achieves 100% pass rate Joy and relief : It was top marks at Royal Russell School, which achieved an A*-E pass rate of 100 per cent. Students at the school in Coombe Lane are now making plans and confirming places at after two hard their chosen universities, to take up courses in a variety of subjects including dentistry, wildlife conservation and Middle Eastern studies. Headmaster Chris Hutchinson years of study said: “I am delighted to see this successful and talented group of young people moving on to universities of their choice. Keen students await results from 7.45am Congratulations to them all.” ITrinity School EXAM SPECIAL: Two years of hard work were Shirley Park, Shirley Going up... IA* to B –91.2 per cent realised last Thursday when students from : EAGER pupils queued from the across collected their A-level results. Students at Riddlesdown early hours in one town school to Collegiate in Purley beat last see if they had got the results The Advertiser news team visited schools across ye a r ’s A-level group –cl o ck i n g they so desperately needed after the borough and spoke to students to discover an impressive 96 per cent A*-E two years of hard work. their secrets of success and dreams for the pass rate. Students at Trinity School, in The results pipped that of the Shirley, were standing outside future... class of 2011, which recorded a the building as early as 7.45am to rate of 95 per cent. The find out whether they got the “We know how hard everyone “We are very proud of them.” proportion of A*-B grades also marks they hoped for to secure has worked and we just want the The school’s sixth form went saw improvement –rising from them a place at university. students’effort to be reflected in co-educational in September last 36 per cent last year to 40 per And it was good news, with the grades they get, so they can year and this year’s AS results cent. A school spokesman said: the school saying teenagers had go on and do whatever they want marked the first of the new “There are some fantastic achieved the best ever set of to do. female intake. A record 64.2 per achievements to celebrate, with results, with grades also rising Outcome cent of all this year’s grades at CELEBRATING: Pupils at Trinity School, Shirley results across the board for the fourth successive year. the school were A or A* –with significantly outstripping those School spokeswoman Diana “Many of our students are 91.2 per cent of all grades in the achieved last year.” Jonesco said: “We are all so today celebrating the outcome of A* to B bracket. chemistry, biology and maths – Latinwo gained four As*, in Top performers included Alice amazingly proud of all our their hard work and looking One of the stars, head boy winning him a place at Imperial biology and chemistry, maths, Pringle and Richard Haar, who students. It is always such a forward to some exciting future Laurence Pallent, made his College to study physics and further maths –and each achieved two A*s and an A nerve-wracking day for plans. We wish all of them every tutors proud by gaining four A*s m e d i c i n e. scored 100 per cent in his further g rades. everyone, including the teachers. happiness and success. –in English literature, Fellow top achiever Timi maths exam. Academy that turned itself around IOasis Academy Shirley Park transformation. We are really make a go out of trying to do Long Lane, Shirley proud of where we are today. well in his exams. IAS pass rate –grades A* to E “We have worked very hard at He said: “I fell into the trap –97 per cent turning things around, and it after GCSEs of just going along IT IS a sad and well-known fact has worked. The children here with it and I wasn’t really trying. that many Croydon youngsters are happy and settled and the At parents’evening half way are written off without getting a teachers are striving to help give through the year Mr Morrow chance to prove themselves. the children something to aim told my parents I wasn’t working It is this stereotype that one fo r. hard enough, and it came as a town school is trying to turn “The beautiful thing is when real shock to me. around –and it is so far doing a you see kids who had previously “I thought I was just getting rather successful job. written themselves off turn along with it, but then A few years back the Oasis things around and come back, it something struck and I decided I Academy in Shirley Park was is what makes me love what I needed to buckle down, and I known as Ashburton School, and d o. ” did. had a reputation for poor The school accepted around 40 “I want to go to university and teaching and even poorer pupils into the sixth form last study history. I have been behaviour from the pupils. September, and said not only has looking at which universities are But now the academy has it retained them for next year, best, and I am going to aim for celebrated its first year of having but that it has another 100 pupils the London School of Economics. a sixth form with some top AS- lined up to enter from year 11. I will work hard.” level results. Vynesh Pillai, 17, from Shirley, And Mr Morrow, who is Head of the secondary phase went into the sixth form after Vynesh's history teacher, added: Dan Morrow said: “If you look at doing his GCSEs, and says it was “Who knows, maybe he will where we are now and where we only after input from his come back here once he has have been, it is an amazing teachers that he decided to really graduated and teach history?” Year head’s especially nervous wait THERE were plenty of reasons described as simply “brilliant”. for Cath Dixie to feel nervous Of the 19 students, a last Thursday. staggering ten of them achieved Not only is she the head of an A* and four pupils –Susanna Year 13 at Coloma Convent McAlpine, Hannah Oliver, Maeve G i rl s ’School in Upper Shirley Slattery and Florance Tebbutt – Road, Shirley, but her own achieved a maximum 100 per daughter Charlotte was awaiting cent in every one of their four her results. art modules. But there was no need to And after the hard work comes worry, as the 18-year-old the celebrations. achieved 2 A*s in biology and Hannah Oliver, 18, was geography and an A in maths. planning to go to Tiger Tiger She will now be going to nightclub with her friends later Oxford to read geography at that day. Her grades included two Mansfield College. A*s in history and art, an A in A tearful Mrs Dixie said: “I’m English and a B in music. very proud of her and all the Evie McDonald, 18, was “ove r g i rl s. ” the moon”to get an A* in Daughter Charlotte added: “I chemistry and two As in think it’s more relief I feel now. German and maths, while Emma “It was a really tense wait.” Goddard, 19, gained two A*s, in Coloma once again achieved Fine Art and media studies, and record A-level results, with 33 two As in English Literature and individual students achieving at psycholog y. FAMILY AFFAIR: Cath Dixie and least one A* grade. She said: “The workload was daughter Charlotte, from Coloma And the art results were u n b e l i evabl e. ” School w w w. t h i s i s c ro y d o n t o d a y .co.uk CCR-EO1-S2 A LEVELS 2012 Advertiser, F r i d a y,August 24,2012 41 Failure not an option at private girls’school ICroydon High School Farley Road, IOverall A*-E pass rate –100 per cent ONE school managed to defy the odds and achieve a 100 per cent pass rate with its A-level results. Private girls’school Croydon High achieved the 100 per cent pass rate, along with 93 per cent of the girls achieving A* to C grades and 86 per cent A* to B. These impressive grades were an improvement on last year’s results, and “delighted”head teacher- Debbie Leonard said: “These results confirm what we believed the girls could achieve. We are proud of every single one of them and wish them continued SUCCESS STORY: Principal Mario Di Clemente success and happiness in the future.” with Artjoms Iskoves Students also performed particularly well in sub- jects such as maths, science and modern foreign langua g es. Latvian student Head of sixth form Heidi Mester said: “T hese subjects are not ‘soft’options. The girls have a strong educational foundation which has equipped them to triumphs with secure places at the very top universities.”.” five A* grades ICambridge Tutors College Water Tower Hill, Croydon IOverall pass rate –98 per cent LATVIAN student Artjoms Iskoves only arrived in the UK two years ago –but has gained a remarkable 5 A* grades. The 18-year-old from Riga studied at in Water Tower Hill, Croydon. He has won a place at Trinity College Cambridge to study computing. Artjoms had never visited the UK before, but says he was surprised at how “polite and helpful” people were here. He had been planning to study abroad “for several years”because he knew “h ow renowned the British higher education system is”. Describing coming to this country, Artjoms said: “I didn’t know anybody on the plane and was a bit scared to be plunged into an unknown e nv i ro n m e n t . C l a s s m at e s “Yet, as soon as I landed and went to meet my host family and then the college staff and my soon- to-be classmates, I didn’t feel alone anymore.” Artjoms says it is difficult to say how much hard work went into getting his astonishing A- level grades in maths, further maths, physics, computing and Russian. He said: “It’s like climbing a really gentle hill. The progress over a small timeframe feels negligible, yet at the end of the day you are still higher up than in the morning, and at the end of the year you suddenly realise that the hill is g o n e. ” Artjoms is planning to stay in the UK for the next three or four years. He added: “I am not sure what will happen next, but I have grown very fond of the British culture during these two years and wo u l d n’t mind staying more.” Pupils at Cambridge Tutors College achieved a total pass rate of 98 per cent, with 52 students achieving either 3 or 4 A* or A grades. TENSE MOMENTS: Kwame Graves-Okokon shows his results to a nervous Rebecca Wilson at Harris Principal Mario Di Clemente said: “We are Academy crdc20120816a-005 Photo by David Cook delighted by the achievements of our students. If debt is destroying your lifethen “They are a fitting reward for their dedication callusnow. and commitment and, of course, that of their Harris students buck national trend teachers at the college.” When you’re in debt they neverseem to stop -the letters, thedemands and IHarris Academies –Crystal Palace, South Norwood and Purley thephone calls.

DESPITE higher grades dipping in the country for Wouldn’t it be arelief if someone could the first time in 20 years, students at the Harris help youtosortthem out. Debt is less Academy managed to achieve more As and A*s of aproblem when managed correctly than ever before. Pupils from South Norwood, Crystal Palace and so callusnow. Purley went to collect their results at the Crystal Ouradvice is immediatewithnowaiting Palace academy, in Maberley Road, and screams of celebration rang out as A* after A* was revealed time and no appointment needed. from the brown envelopes. Onephone calltoDebt Free Direct Lord Harris of Peckham, the academy sponsor, could change your life. had even come down to greet the students and share in their celebrations, as well as comfort Callustodayon those who may have been disappointed. He said: “I come here every year when the students get their results. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. This is what it is all about and they have worked so hard.” One of Harris Academy South Norwood’s biggest success stories was 18-year-old Omar Bello, who managed to achieve three As and one A* in the challenging subjects of maths, chemistry, physics and further maths, and will now study maths and physics at Bristol University. Not all the Harris students are going straight to university; many have decided to go straight into work or take a gap year. One of these students is 18-year-old Faislo Rutansin, who will take time out of education before studying bio-engineering next year - for now working as a lab technician at his old school.