No student failed an exam and every girl achieved at least three A-level passes

No student failed an exam and every girl achieved at least three A-level passes. Almost 80 per cent of entries were awarded A or B grades, with slightly more than 60 per cent winning A grades.The school also topped The Independent’s table of high-scoring schools, achieving a university admission score of 515 points per student – equivalent to more than four A grades each.Elizabeth Ward, the headteacher, said she was delighted at the “phenomenal” results. She attributed the improvement to the new, modular A-level courses, which allow students to retake parts of the syllabus to improve grades.”It is far too simplistic to say that standards have fallen but under the new system the exams and the way of studying are very different,” she said.”Students are examined on small sections of the course during the two years rather than on everything at the end This brings advantages and disadvantages. It does allow students to improve their results but it does put them under additional pressure.”Nine of the school’s sixth- formers achieved five A grades, including twins Bahar and Negar Mirshekar-Syahkal, who achieved top grades in identical A-level subjects and will now both study medicine at Cambridge University.The twins denied claims that the exams were getting easier Bahar said: “We worked extremely hard to get our grades.

It is not true to say that A-levels are getting easier.”We spent a lot of time revising and didn’t have time for boyfriends, although we did have a social life – we both like listening to R&B music.”Negar said: “It certainly helped that we were doing the same subjects. When we were doing homework we could help each other out – and if one of us was revising it would encourage the other one to.”Pupils at King Edward VI Handsworth School in Birmingham also scored a perfect 100 per cent of passes.Elspeth Insch, the headteacher, attributed the results to students’ hard work but acknowledged that the new exam system allowed weaker candidates to drop out. She said: “Our girls are heading for the most competitive courses at the best universities and know they have to work hard to get good results.”The new system allows students to drop their weakest subject at the end of the lower sixth and this could well account for the improvement.”Colyton Grammar School in East Devon was one of England’s best-performing co- educational schools last year but this time it went one better and joined the handful of state schools that achieved a 100 per cent pass rate. The school was also delighted that a record 80 per cent of its A-level entries were awarded A or B grades. Four students at Colyton achieved six A grades while 10 others gained five A grades.Barry Sindall, the headteacher, criticised commentators who suggested that A-level standards had fallen, arguing that they devalued young people’s achievements.”Students today have to work with greater commitment and those who annually make simplistic comparisons devalue such effort,” he said.* A former all-boys independent school has recorded an impressive improvement in its A-level results in the past decade, attributed to the introduction of girls.St Dunstan’s College in Catford, south-east London, was languishing in 473rd place in the A-level league tables until it decided to admit girls in 1993 Yesterday it published its best results yet. Almost 70 per cent of grades were As and Bs, with 85 per cent A to C grades There was a 99 per cent pass rate.. A Kosovan refugee who could not speak a word of English on arrival in Britain three years ago has won a place to study medicine at one of the country’s leading universities.

“For the first five or six months, I couldn’t get into a school because they were all full,” he said. “Then I had to get work translated into Albanian before I could do it.” He has achieved a grade A in maths and C grades in physics and chemistry.UCL had offered a place on condition that he obtained three C grades after university admissions officers realised his potential.Perparim, who lives with two of his cousins in Haringey, north London, and obtained the A-levels at the College of North East London in Tottenham, admitted he had waited nervously for the results since June and said he would be indulging in a “rare” celebration last night.”Our community do not go in for celebrations but it is nice to achieve something you set out to achieve.”He also admitted that he had relaxed after UCL had told him it would admit him with three C grades. “I was confident I could achieve that and so I did take some time off to watch the football World Cup earlier this summer.”Ilia Karmanov was celebrating yesterday after becoming the youngest person to pass an A-level in computing. Ilia was 10 years and 10 months old when he sat the examination in June at Ryde College, an independent tutorial centre in Watford, Hertfordshire, which has a reputation for steering youngsters through GCSE and A-level exams at a young age.Mike Ryde, the college’s managing director, said: “To achieve a pass at A-level at his age is a testament to his dedication and commitment. It also bears out our philosophy that given the opportunity, parental support and motivation children of all ages can attain exam success.”In Salford, a teenager was celebrating six A grades in her A-levels, achieved while working five nights a week in her parents’ takeaway.Wing-Sham Lee, a pupil at the independent Manchester High School for Girls, scored A grades in maths, further maths, biology, chemistry, art and Chinese. “I think when you don’t have as much free time you study more instead of leaving your revision to the last minute,” she said.She is going to Cambridge University to study natural sciences “I wasn’t expecting to do so well,” she added. “Those who criticise and say A-levels are getting easier are not the ones taking them.”Wing-Sham’s school was one of only three in the country this year to achieve a 100 per cent A-level pass rate.