Against a backdrop of national concerns about declining grades and changes to assessment regimes, this year’s leavers at Christ College, Brecon, achieved the school’s best A level results ever this summer. Their choices of university courses are indicative of an increasing desire to achieve professional qualifications and to pursue courses that lead to specific future careers.
Remarkably, 29 out of 58 pupils obtained grades of AAB or better, with 51% of all entries graded at A*/A and 79% at A*-B. The overall pass rate was 100%.
Engineering seems to be the most popular choice for this year’s Christ College A level candidates with three of these future engineers gaining places at the country's top universities. Hugh Perkins hit the jackpot with 3 A* grades and is heading for Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, while Lewis Murray obtained 2 A* and 2 A grades and is bound for Keble College, Oxford. Kyle Wang also obtained 2A*s and 2As and will head for Worcester College, Oxford.
Medicine has also proved popular this year too with last year’s Head of School Dominic Hayes, and Elgan Jones, both from Brecon, gaining places on this most competitive of courses, to study Medicine at Cardiff and Newcastle respectively. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in the light of this, Maths and Science were among the top performing subject areas in the school. In Maths 42% of candidates achieved A* grades, and Further Maths and Physics were among those subjects where 100% of pupils achieved A*- B grades.
However, these were not the only areas of strength; Economics, Music and French also produced 100% A*-B grades and Photography saw no fewer than 10 of 13 entries gaining A* grades.
Other local pupils performing particularly well were Andrew Roderick, who achieved A*AA to read Economics at Nottingham, and David Silk who was rewarded with A*AA. Last year’s Head Girl, Holly Taylor from Brecon, gained AAA to make it to Bath for Modern Languages, while Laetitia Tanqueray takes her straight A grades off to Exeter to read Law.
Last year’s Head of School Dominic Hayes and Deputy Head of School, Holly Taylor
Further notable performances by local pupils included Jamie Morris (AAB) who hopes to read History at Newcastle, Ben Wigmore (AAB) who may also be heading to Newcastle to study Architecture, Sian Lewis (A*AB) who is Exeter bound to study Exercise and Sports Sciences, Lizzie Metcalfe (AAB), and Cara McNaughton (AAB).
Meanwhile, Fiona Horridge from Builth Wells achieved ABB and aims to study History at Royal Holloway whilst Abercrave’s Rhys Brown and Jack Hall secured places at their first choice universities. Rhys was rewarded with AAB and will head to Bath to study Chemistry for Drug Discovery, whilst Jack secured the necessary grades to study Photographic Arts at the University of Westminster.
Alex Edmunds (BBB) from Brecon secured a place in Swansea to study Mechanical Engineering. Cerys Parry, from Upper Chapel, will be heading to the UWE in Bristol to study Biological Sciences, whilst another local pupil heading for the West Country will be Doug Evans, from Cradoc, who will study Music at Bath Spa.
Further afield, fellow Christ College pupils, Will Thomas, from St Hilary near Cowbridge, was rewarded with 3 A grades and aims to read History and International Relations at Exeter, whilst Jacob Lewis from Court Colman near Bridgend, will study Business & Management Studies at Cardiff Metropolitan. Former Penglais Comprehensive pupil, Sophie Rudge from Aberystwyth, was rewarded with AAB grades and aims to study Music at Durham. Sophie joined Christ College, Brecon in September 2012 as a Music Scholar at Christ College and is well-placed to do exceptionally well at Durham, going there with an outstanding musical pedigree. Former Caereinion High School pupil, Nan Thomas from Kerry near Newtown, who studied A levels at Christ College Brecon, was rewarded with an AAB and will head to Bath to study Sport and Social Sciences, and Sarah Davies, from Sketty, was rewarded with an A*, A and a B and will go on to study Geography at Loughborough.
Mrs Emma Taylor, Head of Christ College, said ‘Although the examinations themselves finished some weeks ago, the lives of these leavers have inevitably been on hold until they were sure of their futures. Almost all of them have achieved the grades to attend their first choice universities, and they can now set off on the next stage of their lives – congratulations to them all!’
More stories