The Association has recently learnt of the sad passing of Doctor Peter Olney, on October 27th. Peter was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s from 1931 to 1938.
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With 85.6% of GCSEs at QE awarded level 8 or 9 grades – equivalent to the old A* – the first pupils to sit public examinations since 2019 have put in a “terrific” record-breaking performance.*
In fact, the results at the highest grades are not only stronger than for the last pre-pandemic GCSEs in 2019, but also surpass last year, when the Government brought in a system of Teacher Assessed Grades.
Behind the statistics lie many individual successes, such as the 28 boys recording straight 9s across all their full GCSEs, and Vigaashan Asokan, whose performance in Economics was the best in the country, according to examination board OCR.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This is a super performance from our Year 11 boys, who faced significant disruption because of the pandemic in the first year of their GCSE courses. The results for the top grades are simply terrific!
“These pupils had to cope with home-learning, close-contact isolation, stringent health & safety measures and frequently changing routines. Yet their results indicate that while the methods used by them and their teachers were somewhat different from normal years, they have delivered on their potential. They worked diligently and with dedication, were always mature about the challenges, and were enthusiastic about embracing all the opportunities available to them, both within and beyond the classroom.
“Congratulations must also go to our staff, especially in view of the great flexibility they showed during those difficult months. Using our eQE platform and other technologies, they maintained the breadth and rigour of the normal QE experience as much as possible, ensuring that no one fell behind, that we maintained pace with course content, and even that we delivered opportunities outside of lessons for enrichment and collaboration.”
Among the key highlights of today’s GCSE results at QE are:
- Almost two-thirds of examinations taken (64.1%) are awarded the highest possible grade, level 9 *
- 85.6% of GCSEs are awarded grades 9 and 8 *
- More than 19 out of every 20 GCSEs are given grades 9–7, representing a 0.4% drop on 2021’s Teacher Assessed Grades, but a sharp increase of 4.6% on figures for 2019, when public examinations were last sat
- A near-perfect grade performance in Latin, with the 18 candidates achieving an average grade of 8.90
- Similarly strong performances for the individual science GCSEs – Chemistry (8.88), Biology (8.82) and Physics (8.82), with no pupil awarded a grade below 7
- In Mathematics, taken by all 191 boys in the year group, the average grade was 8.80: again, no pupil was awarded a grade below 7.
Mr Enright added: “Looking back, necessary though the lockdowns and pandemic restrictions were, we can now see that they gave staff, pupils and parents alike a fresh appreciation of the benefits of on-site learning. Happily, things here have since rebounded as strongly as ever, with these pupils, and the School as a whole, able to look forward with optimism to what comes next.”
* October 18th 2022. Following appeals and re-marks, the proportion of GCSEs awarded level 8-9 has risen to 85.9% and the figure for grade 9 increased to 64.8%.
QE is today celebrating its best-ever results, with seven out of every ten A-levels awarded the highest-possible A* grade.
The results are yet another golden achievement at the end of a year that has seen the School earn an ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted, win the Sunday Times’ coveted State Secondary School of the Year title, and secure 35 Oxbridge offers.
Not only are the results better than in the past two years, when no examinations were taken and figures were based on assessments, but they are also up on the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “Exams are back, everything is back, and all the better for it! This has truly been an annus mirabilis for QE, and I am delighted that we have been able to crown the year with such a magnificent set of results, notable especially for a substantial increase at the very top.
“These brilliant outcomes are well deserved and are testament to both the talent and dedication of pupils and staff, and to the quality of education maintained throughout the last two-and-a-half years.
“The return of public exams has given the boys the opportunity to clearly demonstrate the fruits of their continued hard work and focus during the challenges of the pandemic, and their strong motivation to push forwards.
“The fact that nationally pupils are being warned of lower grades and unusually strong competition for university places makes our own boys’ results all the more impressive: the vast majority here will secure their first choice of university, although of course, staff will be on hand today to guide and support anyone in need of help or advice.”
Among the many highlights of today’s results at QE are the following:
A* grades amount to 69.9% of all results – up 10.4% on 2021 (when there were Teacher Assessed Grades or TAGs), and up from 45.3% in 2019; *- 92.2% of results are at A*–A, again higher than during the pandemic and up 6% on 2019; *
- The A*-B figure is 98.3%, again higher than 2021’s TAGs. This is the 17th consecutive year above 95% for this benchmark figure;
- 71 of the 167-strong cohort (42.5%) have achieved straight A* grades;
- All 50 Economics candidates are awarded either A* (37) or A (13); similarly, there are no grades lower than A for English, French, Geography, Latin, Music and Sociology;
- Mathematics was taken by 139 boys (83% of the year group), with more than four out of five pupils (82.0%) achieving A*.
Mr Enright said: “As the Ofsted report helpfully pointed out, at QE, we are resolutely determined to keep up the momentum with further improvements. It’s not just about academic results – important though these are – but about achieving our mission to develop fully-rounded young men ready to make a positive impact in a fast-changing world.
“Extra-curricular activities here are flourishing: it was wonderful to open our state-of-the-art Music school in May and to celebrate boys’ endeavours in fields as diverse as drama, translation, robotics, debating, engineering and cricket.
“At the same time, many of our boys are involved in volunteering and charity work, while our pastoral programme aims to ensure that the School remains a happy, inclusive environment for boys from all backgrounds.”
* October 18th 2022. Following appeals and re-marks, the proportion of A* grades has increased to 70.7%, while the figure for A*-A has risen to 92.8%.
The Association regrets to announce the passing of Colin Gibbens on April 29th. Colin was a pupil at Queen Elizabeth’s from 1947 to 1953.
The Association is sad to announce the passing, on April 28th of Robert Thorogood. A pupil of the School from 1949 to 1954 and a strong supporter of the Old Elizabethans, Robert later achieved the distinction of Fellowship of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and the Institute of Management.