The “unflappable” GCSE students at Brighton Girls “aced their exams”, the school said today (Thursday 22 August).
Brighton Girls said: “In a year that nationally has seen record numbers of GCSE pupils hit by anxiety as they ploughed through their exam papers, a Brighton head teacher has praised the ‘unflappability’ of her pupils who have delivered the best set of results for the school since 2016.
“Brighton Girls head teacher Rosie McColl congratulated her Year 11 students for achieving top grades despite their first few years of secondary school being hugely disrupted by covid.
“The school said 19 per cent of all grades were a grade 9, 40 per cent of grades were either an 8 or a 9 and some 59 per cent were a 7, 8 or 9.”
Ms McColl said: “This year’s Year 11s students impressed us from start to finish.
“A survey out this week and published in the newspapers showed just how much anxiety has affected 16-year-olds across the country after the covid years yet I saw our pupils being utterly unflappable.
“They took it all in their stride and they have aced their exams. It makes me very proud indeed to see what they have done.
“These are our best results, bar the covid years, since 2016. This cohort was only just finding its feet at secondary school in year 7 when Covid hit so they should be incredibly proud of themselves.”
A quarter of the school’s Year 11 achieved a clean sweep of top grades (7 to 9) while 11 per cent of the cohort achieved straight 8s and 9s.
The school reports a very good year for modern languages, with 25 per cent of Spanish GCSEs coming in at a 9 and 26 per cent of French grades also 9s.
The school said that individual students also achieved top grades in German, Arabic, Russian and Italian despite language GCSEs being the hardest to ace, according to Ofqual.
The school added: “The re-introduction of DT rebadged as design and innovation at the school has also got off to a flying start with a quarter of students scoring a 9.
“The English literature department was also celebrating as a healthy 45 per cent of grades were 8s or 9s.”
Well done. Need to try harder though to catch up with Rodeean and Brighton College.
Think this is Bella Sankey’s old school where she later became a Governor. Haven’t seen any message of congrats online from her, or much or any comment about her private education at all tbh, but imagine she’s pleased to see pupils at her former £18,000 a year school doing so well. For the many, not the few and all that…
Jealousy isn’t a very good look. Whilst the better opportunity has been afforded to those children, and not all of them come from the stereotypical background, no need to be jealous. Be grateful that some children are doing well, and work hard to lift state schools to that standard.
You’ve misinterpreted my comment – am certainly not jealous – I am sure all of those who got good results worked hard for them and they are very deserved.
Just a bit sad that the current council are closing state schools in the city with high number of children with SEND issues and other problems, which Bella led on. I can’t see she’s ever been particularly transparent on her own rather privileged education, and it would be nice to think it’s not something she’s trying to hide – I hope not.
Fair enough, it’s a reasonable point. While Bella’s educational background is her own, personally, I believe it’s more important to focus on her actions and whether they genuinely serve the needs of our city. Rather than questioning her past, let’s hold her accountable for her decisions now and ensure they align with the values of inclusivity and support for all children.
That’s def a key concern of mine – ie about decisions now, and I am alarmed at the way Bella and her administration handled the closure of St Peter’s, St Bart’s and Bright Start nursery. Both schools and the nursery have high numbers of children with special educational needs, and many children have english as a second language and are from what would be considered disadvantaged households. Although falling pupil numbers is a problem the council needs to address – I think the handling of it all has been incredibly poor – I have concerns that the Labour administration’s handling of the closures do not align well with reasonable expectations and “values of inclusivity and support for all children.”