All 179 Year 11 pupils at Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet, reached the Government’s key GCSE benchmark of five A*-C grades including English and Mathematics. In fact, QE far exceeded the national measure: 98% of pupils secured five or more A*-A grades, while these top two grades also accounted for 89% of all GCSEs taken.
The GCSE results come a week after QE’s best-ever A-level results, which saw the boys’ grammar school once again take the number 1 place in the Times’ and Daily Telegraph’s national league tables of state schools.
99.4% of candidates achieved the Government’s other preferred GCSE measure, the EBacc, by gaining A*-C passes in English, Mathematics, History or Geography, Science and a language.
Nearly 61% of the 1,788 GCSEs taken at QE received an A* this year: 2016 is the fifth consecutive year in which the percentage of examinations awarded this highest possible grade has exceeded 60%.
Congratulating the boys, Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This year group is very characterful, with an especially wide range of different interests. They represent very well the broad and varied approach to education here that underpins our academic success. They have worked hard and taken inspiration from the staff.”
Of particular note among the school’s GCSE results was the performance in Mathematics: 174 boys, or 97% of the year, received an A*. The Science results were also extremely strong, with every single Biology candidate awarded A*.
“There were in fact excellent results across a wide variety of subjects, including those for which boys sit the rigorous IGCSE examinations,” Mr Enright added. “Our pupils have laid a very firm foundation for the start of their Sixth Form courses in the new term.
“Both at last week’s A-level results and this week’s GCSEs, I have been thrilled to share these successes with parents as well as the boys. I would like to pay tribute to the great support afforded by our parents to their sons, not only in supporting academic work at home but also through their turning out in considerable numbers to drama productions, concerts, sports events and similar occasions.”
Other noteworthy aspects of this year’s results included:
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- A perfect performance by the first group of boys to learn Spanish, an after-school activity introduced three years ago, when the boys were in Year 9. All seven GCSE candidates gained an A*.
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- In total, 118 boys took separate Science GCSEs. All 118 gained an A* in Biology; in Physics, 116 received A* and two were awarded As; in Chemistry, 112 secured A*s, while six had As.
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- In Year 10, all 14 boys taking the Edexcel Higher Project Level 2 were awarded an A*. This qualification gives pupils the chance to study a topic of their choice in depth.
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- Full GCSEs were taken in 21 subjects, with a further two short-course GCSEs in Religious Studies and PE.
GCSEs: results from schools in Harrow, Edgware, Mill Hill, Hendon, Finchley, Barnet and Potters Bar – The Barnet Times, Thursday 25 August 2016
The Telegraph – Friday 26 August 2016
The Times – Friday 26 August 2016