GCSE Results 2014: St Albans School

One week after a large number of its students won offers from Oxford or Cambridge with their A-Level grades, St Albans School is again celebrating success with this year’s GCSE results.

Incoming headmaster Jonathan Gillespie said that the school has achieved a record number of A* grades with 55.6 per cent of entries being awarded the top grade, compared to a national figure of 6.7 per cent.

He said the 4.7 per cent increase in the number of A* grades gained by boys this year was in marked contrast to the slight national decrease in the award of the top grade.

More than one quarter of candidates achieved at least eight A* grades, and 11 boys were awarded straight A* grades.

Local residents Alex Cook, of Bricket Wood and Robert Williams, of Redbourn, celebrated gaining 12 A*s and 11 A*s respectively.

Other students also welcoming the distinction of gaining a clean sweep of 11 A*s were Charles Oliver and William Pavey.

Charles Broom from St Albans now has nine A* grades to his name to accompany his tennis achievements: he is currently the top-ranked U18 player in Herts and 21st in the UK.

Congratulating all pupils upon their results, Jonathan said: “These splendid achievements at GCSE level provide an excellent springboard for the start of A-Level courses.

“The culmination of two years’ hard work, these outstanding results are a great credit not just to individual pupils but also to their teachers whose expertise and dedication has enabled our candidates to achieve so highly.”

The majority of examinations taken at the school are now the International GCSE (IGCSE), which are more demanding than the national GCSE.