Highlights Academic Insert Autumn 12

S T A L BA N S S C HO OL

ST ALBANS SCHOOL Abbey Gateway, St Albans, Hertfordshire AL3 4HB

Telephone: 01727 855521 Fax: 01727 843447

www.st-albans.herts.sch.uk

At St Albans School, all Upper Sixth Pupils have taken at least three A levels and one AS level. Some of these pupils have also taken A and AS levels in the Lower Sixth. All Lower Sixth students are expected to study four subjects at AS level, with at least three being continued to A2 level in the Upper Sixth; some also do an Extended Project. In addition, all Sixth Formers take AS General Studies and Critical Thinking courses. Some pupils take Mathematics IGCSE and some take French GCSE in the Fourth Form. Most other GCSE or IGCSE subjects are taken in the Fifth Form, with some students also undertaking a Higher Project during this year.

Although we are proud of the examination successes of our pupils, we believe that examination statistics are only one criterion of educational success. We therefore advise that they be interpreted with caution.

Summary of Statistics Results in Public Examinations 5th Form - GCSE

2010

2011

2012

Candidature

123

120

112

Percentage grades A* – C

100

100

100

82

87

84

100

100

100

99

100

100

100

100

100

Candidature

137

131

136

Percentage pass rate

100

100

100

89

94

95

Average UCAS points per entry

112.9

116.6

117.3

Average UCAS points per candidate

456.9

462.4

477

Percentage grades A* and A Percentage of candidates gaining grades A* – C in at least 5 subjects Percentage of candidates gaining A* – C in English Percentage of candidates gaining A* – C in Mathematics

U6 - A Level

Percentage of grades A* to B at A level (A to B 2009)

All examination results are provisional, depending on inquiries on results and remarks.

29

1

50

5

11

4

10

2

17

2

29

0

0

9

24

6

27

1

4

6

46

9

33

1

20

Cumulative %

Art

Cumulative %

Biology

Cumulative %

Chemistry

Cumulative %

Drama

Cumulative %

DT Pr Des Gr

Cumulative %

DT Pr Des RM

Cumulative %

Economics

Cumulative %

English Literature

Cumulative %

French*

Cumulative %

General Studies

Cumulative %

Geography

Cumulative %

German

Cumulative %

French

Subject

D1

5

Ancient History

Pre U

A*

Subject

100

4

85

14

100

7

79

18

50

5

70

17

60

3

71

3

83

8

57

20

59

21

100

1

82

9

A

D2

100

0

100

4

100

0

100

5

91

9

100

11

100

2

100

2

100

2

86

12

91

14

100

0

100

3

B

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

2

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

6

100

4

100

0

100

0

C

2

D3

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

D

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

E

1

M1

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

U

5

27

13

24

22

37

5

7

12

42

44

2

17

M2

124.0

123.7

129.2

116.7

113.6

118.9

112.0

120.0

120.0

110.5

112.3

130.0

122.4

Total UCAS ave

A 11

A* 9

5

B

22.5

106

0

0

23

6

20

5

0

0

0

0

42

5

44

27

30

3

23

8

0

0

4

1

A*

Extended Project

Cumulative %

Totals

Cumulative %

Spanish

Cumulative %

RS

Cumulative %

Physics

Cumulative %

P.E.

Cumulative %

Music

Cumulative %

Further Maths

Cumulative %

Mathematics

Cumulative %

Latin

Cumulative %

History

Cumulative %

Greek (Classical)

Cumulative %

Govt & Politics

Subject

71.1

229

75

3

69

12

68

12

25

2

29

2

67

3

87

26

80

5

77

19

100

2

58

13

A

2

C

95.3

114

100

1

92

6

88

5

100

6

71

3

92

3

98

7

100

2

100

8

100

0

96

9

B

0

D

99.6

20

100

0

100

2

96

2

100

0

100

2

92

0

100

1

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

1

C

0

E

99.8

1

100

0

100

0

96

0

100

0

100

0

100

1

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

D

100

1

100

0

100

0

100

1

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

E

0

U

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

U

27

Total

471

4

26

25

8

7

12

61

10

35

2

24

60.0

UCAS ave

117.7

115.0

116.9

113.6

105.0

100.0

118.3

125.9

122.0

120.0

120.0

111.7

Total UCAS ave

U6 A Level Results

L6 AS Level Results Subject

A

B

C

D

E

U

Total

UCAS ave

Ancient History Cumulative % Art Cumulative % Biology Cumulative % Chemistry Cumulative % Drama Cumulative % DT Pr Des Gr Cumulative % DT Pr Des RM Cumulative % Economics Cumulative % Electronics Cumulative %

8 67 8 100 15 36 19 38 4 57 4 50 2 50 23 35 5 100

2 83 0 100 17 76 21 80 3 100 4 100 2 100 17 62 0 100

2 100 0 100 8 95 5 90 0 100 0 100 0 100 18 89 0 100

0 100 0 100 1 98 4 98 0 100 0 100 0 100 3 94 0 100

0 100 0 100 1 100 1 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 2 97 0 100

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 2 100 0 100

12

55.0

8

60.0

42

50.5

50

50.6

7

55.7

8

55.0

4

55.0

65

47.4

5

60.0

English Literature Cumulative % French AS Cumulative % French A (equiv AS) Cumulative % Geography Cumulative % German Cumulative % Govt & Politics Cumulative % Greek Cumulative % History Cumulative % Latin Cumulative % Mathematics Cumulative % F urther Maths Cumulative % Music Cumulative % P.E. Cumulative % Physics Cumulative % RS Cumulative % Spanish

19 54 4 36 8 44 19 66 1 25 8 31 2 100 23 49 11 100 56 57 21 78 0 0 0 0 37 57 8 40 5

12 89 5 82 8 89 10 100 2 75 11 73 0 100 17 85 0 100 25 83 5 96 0 0 1 25 13 77 10 90 2

4 100 2 100 2 100 0 100 0 75 5 92 0 100 6 98 0 100 8 91 1 100 2 67 2 75 11 94 0 90 2

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 100 0 92 0 100 1 100 0 100 7 98 0 100 1 100 1 100 2 97 1 95 2

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 2 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 99 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 98 1 100 0

0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 100 0 100 0

35

54.3

11

51.8

18

106.7

29

56.6

4

47.5

26

48.8

2

60.0

47

53.2

11

60.0

98

52.7

27

57.4

3

36.7

4

40.0

65

52.2

20

51.5

11

49.1

Cumulative % Totals Cumulative %

45 305 50.2

64 187 81.1

82 78 93.9

100 24 97.9

100 9 99.3

100 4 100.0

607

52.2

100 100 100 94 100 100 99 100 100 100

38 13 16 16 112 111 84 56 37 5

4th Form

70.6

Cumulative %

90.9

12

45.5

FS Maths

Cumulative %

5

A

82.4

2

100

1

B

94.1

2

100

0

C

100

1

100

0

D

100

0

100

0

E 100

0

F 100

0

G

100

0

100

0

U

17

11

100

Total % A-C

0 69 93 94 87.9

Cumulative % Mathematics Cumulative % Totals Cumulative %

100

13

100

5

100

1

100

5

100

1

A 30 84 0 100 0 100 11 81 52 94 7 89 2 25 30 82 12 88 1 100 1 50 0 100 366 84.0

Extended Project

99

110

A* 22 35 2 100 2 100 15 47 53 47 1 11 0 0 60 55 25 60 1 50 0 0 10 100 581 51.5

A*

100

19

Subject History Cumulative % Italian Cumulative % Japanese Cumulative % Latin Cumulative % Mathematics* Cumulative % Add Mathematics Cumulative % Music Cumulative % PE Cumulative % Physics Cumulative % RS Cumulative % Science Cumulative % Add Science Cumulative % Spanish Cumulative % Totals Cumulative %

Extended Project

100

110

Total % A-C 7 100

0

U 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100

Japanese

G 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100

Further 5th Form Results

F 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 7

E 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100

78

D 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 100 0 100 0 100 1 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 25

C 0 100 1 100 1 100 1 99 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 1 94 1 100 0 100 5 99 4 100 4 100 0 100

Cumulative %

B 0 100 21 99 2 95 13 98 0 100 6 100 3 100 2 100 5 88 9 99 3 100 16 93 10 93 14 89 0 100 A

A 2 100 32 80 9 84 39 86 0 100 18 84 2 77 7 88 7 56 34 91 14 97 24 74 22 75 10 51 0 100 A*

A* 5 71 56 51 7 37 56 51 1 100 14 37 8 62 7 44 2 13 68 61 94 85 38 45 20 36 9 24 5 100 Subject French

Subject Art Cumulative % Biology Cumulative % Bus. Studies & Eco. Cumulative % Chemistry Cumulative % Chinese Cumulative % Drama Cumulative % DT Electronics Cumulative % DT Graphics Cumulative % DT Resistant Mats Cumulative % English* Cumulative % English Literature* Cumulative % French Cumulative % Geography Cumulative % German Cumulative % Greek (Classical) Cumulative % * IGCSE

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

B

B 8 97 0 100 0 100 4 94 7 100 1 100 1 38 17 97 5 100 0 100 1 100 0 100 148 97.1

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

C

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

D

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

E

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

F

C D E F 2 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 1 0 1 94 97 97 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 5 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 3 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 100 100 100 100 28 4 0 1 99.6 99.9 99.9 100.0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

G

G 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100 0 100.0

100

0

100

0

100

0

100

0

U

107

74

1

32

100

100

100

100

Total % A-C

U Total % A-C 0 62 100 100 0 2 100 100 0 2 100 100 0 32 94 97 0 112 100 100 0 9 100 100 0 8 100 100 0 110 100 100 0 42 100 100 0 2 100 100 0 2 100 100 0 10 100 100 0 1128 100 100.0

5th and 4th Form GCSE Results

Olympian Heights Headmaster’s Prizegiving Address 2011. Follow that with a Paralympics that was a complete sell-out and received with a passion and fervour to equal the Games that preceded it and perhaps we really can start to think a little more benignly of human nature in general and of our nation and our society in particular.

Chairman, Bishop Alan, Ladies and Gentlemen, If the past twelve months have not been an annus mirabilis, I’m not sure what a year would have to do to qualify.

Last summer, the isle was full of very different noises: Croydon was ablaze, gangs of feral and larcenous youths were roaming the streets of our great cities and the Guest of Honour and I were lamenting, like Gloucester, in King Lear: “love cools, friendship falls off, brothers divide: in cities, mutinies; in countries, discord; in palaces, treason; we have seen the best of our time: machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves,” just not quite as eloquently.

What a difference a year makes! Far from treason in palaces, most of the population of London, it seemed, were delighted to stand in a June rainstorm worthy of Act 111 to celebrate the jubilee of a monarch slightly older but much wiser than Lear; her younger grandson spent most of the summer playing Prince Hal with no need of a Falstaff to mislead him, whilst Bradley Wiggins gave us a demotic Henry V in sideburns, and was cheered by the French for turning the Tour de France into another Agincourt.

To be part of London 2012 this glorious summer was to experience an extraordinary tide of benevolence towards strangers, of uncharacteristic good humour and tolerance, of a natural courtesy for which the East End of London has not necessarily always been celebrated and it was to see supreme determination, ambition, idealism and commitment from young people at the opposite extreme of the spectrum from the nihilism of summer

Andrew Grant, Headmaster

The most feral creature we’ve seen has been the Essex lion.

And then, even as the crowds were cheering the victory parades, another Shakespearian hero stepped forth: this time, Coriolanus, a boy raised by a terrifying and ambitious mother to be a single-minded, sociopathic warrior, capable of storming and capturing a foreign citadel entirely single-handed and defeating the enemy’s champion in face-to-face combat, but struggling in vain to win the hearts of his people – or do you think that’s a bit unfair to Andy Murray and his mum?

For us, too, as a school, it has been a year of wonders. Can there ever have been a better year to open a new Sports Centre and what a superb building it is. Designed by OA architect David Morgan, who was also responsible for the Woollams pavilion as well as many smaller projects around the school site over the last fifty years, it is his masterpiece and will be his memorial. Sadly, he did not live to see it completed.

For us, too, as a school, it has been a year of wonders.

But tribute is due, too, to our contractors, SDC, who faced a difficult site and a tight schedule but brought it in on schedule and on budget, and especially to our own Bursar, Derek Todd, whose work to manage the project over the past year has been little short of superhuman.

He and his team, now much strengthened by Iain Thompson and Gary Douglas, did not pause for breath before moving on from one massive project to the next, at Aquis Court, which was also brought in on an eyewateringly tight schedule by the same contractors. Taking these challenges in their stride, they have now set out to accomplish the impossible by Christmas on the entirely enclosed site of the old gym.

airs that give delight and hurt not, with which the isle has been full, we heard the Chairman of the British Olympic Association apparently lamenting the predominance of independent school alumni among our medal winners.

I suppose if anyone is entitled to criticise the association between sporting success and an expensive education, the 4th Baron Moynihan, Monmouth School and University and Brasenose Colleges, Oxford, Oxford For me, what has been happening here Blue and Olympic rowing cox, is in a on the School site over the past twelve pretty good position to do so. months has been, corny though it may But in fact, that’s For me, what has been sound, a vision coming to reality, and not what he was happening here on the School some parts of that vision date back doing. What he was site over the past twelve months twenty years. Together, the parts are lamenting was how has been… a vision coming to about making St Albans the nonpareil little investment is reality, and some parts of that of day schools. made in sport these vision date back twenty years.

So we begin this new academic year days in mainstream with an immense, cruciform, brick state education. building at each end of our campus Olympic Chief Lord Moynihan Blasts – this Cathedral and Abbey Church Private School Dominance In Games at one end and Aquis Court, the traduced what he intended – which former headquarters of accountants he deserved for expressing himself KPMG at the other. Sandwiched as so clumsily – but it made a much we were between temples to God and better headline and pandered to the Mammon, we have overthrown the prejudices of the liberal-left chatterati tables of the money changers in the and twitterati. They, clearly, would latter and made of it a place sacred to prefer team GB to win no medals than have them won by pupils from schools learning and the Liberal Arts. like this one.

Between them, we have constructed an enormous six-lane immersion font Thank goodness some of us are still and in three months, from the ruins of taking sport seriously, say I, and so, I the old gymnasium, will rise a place for think, say a majority of our countrymen the breaking and sharing of bread, and and women. While governments, including this one, continue to allow sometimes, no doubt, wine. the selling off of school playing fields, Around this, in upper rooms, newlyall the high-minded aspirations for the constructed facilities for Modern legacy of London 2012 are going to ring Languages will help to ensure that pretty hollow and team GB will still be our students go out into the world needing in Rio what HMC schools seem possessed of the gift of tongues. to able to provide, whether from their So Bishop, I trust you will agree that in own alumni, or from young people our twenty-first century way, we are who have benefited from the excellent keeping faith with our first Founder, facilities our schools make available at little or no cost to the community.

Abbot Wulsin.

There have been a few false notes It makes a good one-liner to hope that this summer: among the background the Olympic dressage will inspire kids static behind the sounds and sweet from every council estate in Kilburn

to saddle up their ponies in pursuit of Olympic gold, (I choose Kilburn because that’s where Bradley Wiggins grew up), but Locog would have been in rather a fix if Eton College, for example, hadn’t, some time ago, created a rowing lake from its own resources at no cost at all to the public purse. Eton gets no public thanks for it, of course; only envy and resentment.

Here in St we are reliant on the generosity Albans, we have of those, mostly OAs, who have seen something already responded generously to o f t h e s a m e the call from the Development phenomenon: our Office.

Woollam Playing fields, bitterly opposed though they were in the planning, have become an intrinsic part of the sporting provision of this city and the venue of choice for county, district and regional youth fixtures.

In the same way, our new pool is already in use by local clubs and children from local primary schools from dawn until well after dusk and others are beating a path to the Bursar’s door to use the Sports Hall, the dance studio and the climbing wall. To me, it remains a source of great satisfaction that whatever the changes forced upon us for ideological and political reasons, we remain what we have historically been, a school that is part of, and serves, the local community and our partnership work with nine local primary schools and the Cathedral Education Centre, who benefit from the expertise of our staff and students in a variety of subjects, and from access to our specialist facilities, academic and sporting, is something of which we can be proud.

Mindful of this School’s roots and heritage, that is a much more authentic relationship with our community than sponsoring some distant academy as we are repeatedly urged to do by politicians for whom this is the current ideological orthodoxy and

therefore, for the time being, the only conceivable mantra.

To those who chant this mantra, it is an article of faith that all independent schools are so awash with money and under-employed staff that they can take the management of another school in their stride without sullying their starched wing collars or removing their tail coats.

It does occur to me that, given just how much we’ve taken on in such a short time, there may be one or two of you sitting out there who have a sneaking suspicion that there may be something in that awash-with-money bit and are wondering why we need a Foundation and a Development Office to raise funds. If you are harbouring such uncharitable thoughts, let me just disabuse you.

We have been able to fund the Sports Centre in its entirety thanks to a windfall from the disposal of a unique asset – the remainder of our lease in the King Harry Lane site – an opportunity that will not come again in your lifetime or mine.

Likewise, the unexpected appearance on the market of Aquis Court was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and though the timing wasn’t ideal, we could not afford to pass it up. The purchase and the conversion of that and the gym have been funded largely by prudent borrowing, beyond which it would certainly not be prudent to stretch the School’s credit, so to keep the whole show on the road, to avoid deferring essential routine expenditure and to complete these and the remaining projects including the conversion of the Hall to a proper Centre for the Performing Arts, to a reasonable timescale, we are reliant on the generosity of those, mostly OAs, who have already responded generously to the call from the Development Office.

At the same time, our ability to offer a St Albans education to boys and

girls who have the potential to benefit from it, but whose parents could not otherwise afford the fees, has been significantly enhanced by donations to the Bursary fund, though, of course, we remain far from the ideal of being able to offer places on a needs-blind basis.

Academically, our Upper Sixth set a record with 95% of all grades at A*-B.

As many of you know, of course I look down with Olympian disdain on league tables, but I do recognise that looking down on anything, with or without disdain, is much more convenient when There is a belief in some quarters that you occupy an Olympian height. success and quality are a finite and Some of you also know that the only constant commodity and that you league table that I think can be taken can’t have either except by depriving seriously is the one barely anybody someone else of it; that is why success reads, in the Financial Times. This one and quality breed envy and resentment avoids the usual pitfall of applying and we, as a school and as a sector, crude percentages which leads to are phenomenally successful. But the three A grades Olympic Games are the exception deep roots at the heart of this being worth more that proves the rule that success and t h a n t h r e e A historic community of St Albans quality are not finite. It is true that grades and a B, so to win a gold medal is to prevent it was instructive someone else winning that one, but, to see Harrow sixteen places below as British cycling, in particular, has us, Merchant Taylors’ twenty places demonstrated, there’s no rule that says down, Manchester Grammar thirty, you can’t learn the habit of success and Charterhouse forty and King Edward’s, win your own in the future.

Birmingham, Highgate, Dulwich and Here at St Albans School, we are other great names trailing fifty or more happy to help others begin to learn places behind. the habit, through the Primary School A t G C S E , w e e m er ged l ar gel y Partnership Scheme, through master unscathed from the grading fiasco classes and through sharing our chiefly due to the fact that in a large superb academic, cultural and sporting number of subjects, notably, now, facilities and I regard us as extremely English, our pupils study for the IGCSE, fortunate that our location and history, the international GCSE, which, though which have deep roots at the heart of it is set by the same awarding bodies this historic community of St Albans, as GCSE, is immune from political or makes it relatively easy for us to do so. regulatory interference.

Of success and quality, which is, of It is also a linear exam, like the O course, what a Prizegiving evening level that will still be familiar to many is principally about, we have had an parents. It’s therefore immune also to abundance this year. the intractable difficulty, peculiar to We do, of course, make a very good modular exams, of applying consistent return on our investment in sport. I’m standards across examinations taken not going to list all the successes; I’ll just by different groups of candidates, not mention one, which I think deserves only in different months, but different the palm for 2012. For the second year years, that have eventually to be in succession, our intermediate cross combined on the principle that a given country team won the English Schools number of marks achieved in January Cup and, as national champions, 2010 reflects exactly the same level of represented their country in the world achievement as the same number of schools championship in Malta, taking marks achieved in June 2012 and added fourth place. up to give a final overall grade.

This year’s chaos is an exact re-run of what happened in 2002, when the contributing modules sat over the preceding two years for the new modular A levels were added up for the first time and no-one could predict what the effect on the overall pattern of grades would be.

That mess cost an Education Secretary her job and it is deeply depressing to see how little governments and regulators learn from the mistakes of their predecessors.

I think we should stick to our mission, which is to excite the curiosity of our pupils, inspire in them a love of learning, encourage them to aspire beyond what they can achieve without effort

IGCSE is to GCSE as independent schools are to the state maintained s e c t o r : a benchmark that can’t be fiddled with for political expediency.

That is why strong independent schools are actually vital to our democracy; we don’t have to teach what the politicians decree. We are a constant benchmark, a standing point of reference as to what can be achieved, and therefore, all too often, a reproach to Departments for Education, which is why politicians of both sides find us inconvenient and with varying degrees of bluntness, rather wish, ideally, we’d disappear, or failing that, become part of the state sector so that they can fiddle with us, or, failing that, run state schools, called academies, for them, at our expense, but only on their terms, so that they can blame us if it doesn’t work out.

Personally, I think we should stick to our mission, which is to excite the curiosity of our pupils, inspire in them a love of learning, encourage them to aspire beyond what they can achieve without effort and let the exam grades take care of themselves.

To illustrate this, I’m going to subcontract my conclusion to an OA, a former pupil of this School who knows a bit about these things. This is part of

what he said at the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games.

“What is it that breathes fire into the equations, and makes a Universe for them to describe? We live in a Universe governed by rational laws that we can discover and understand. Look up at the stars, and not down at your feet.

Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the Universe exist. Be curious. There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the Universe, and what can be more special than that there is no boundary?”

“And there should be no boundary to human endeavour. When Isaac Newton saw an apple fall to the ground, he suddenly realised that it must be the same force that holds together the beautiful system of the Sun, the planets and the comets.

We are all different, there is no such thing as a standard or run-of-the-mill human being, but we share the same human spirit. What is important is that we have the ability to create. This creativity can take many forms, from physical achievement to theoretical physics. However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at.”

That seems to me a pretty good summary of what true education is about and I’m not going to quarrel with Stephen Hawking, so let’s move on to a celebration of the achievements of those who are learning that lesson very well: our prizewinners.

Academic Matters: Commentary on Examination Results A Levels This year, a record 95% of all results were at A*, A or B grade and 70% were at A* or A. There was also a record number of UCAS points per candidate.

The average number of A level passes was 4.1. Exceptional, even among a plethora of superb achievements, were those of Sam Eley, Alex Goldstone and Chris Stobart, each of whom recorded three A* grades and a further A at A level. Chris Milsted went one better, with an additional A* in the Extended Project qualification, but even these were topped by Philip Ruis, with four A* grades and another in the Extended Project, alongside top grades in three further AS levels, to confirm his place to read Natural Sciences at Emmanuel College, Cambridge; Alex Shavick, with four A* grades, to secure his place to read Medicine at Trinity College, Oxford; Samantha Magnus, also with four A* grades; and George Tasker, whose four A* grades confirm his place to read Economics at Durham.

Overall, 61 students achieved at least one A*. 67 students achieved 3 A grades or better, of whom 33 recorded 4 and 2 students achieved 5.

GCSE For the fifth year running, the School’s students achieved more than 50% A* grades and more than 80% A* and A grades. The average score per entry is well above an A grade.

Nineteen boys achieved 10 or more A* grades, among whom Jem Bosatta, David Cartwright, Mark Pearce and Edmund Wrigley scored 11 and Chris Williams, by dint of additional courses in Chinese and success in the Higher Project Qualification, which demands independent study and research, achieved an astonishing 12.

After St Albans Rob Crookston (2007) has been awarded a Distinction in his Dissertation and a Merit for his Masters in Development Economics at Sheffield.

Ben Richards (2008) has been awarded a First Class degree from Bristol in Mechanical Engineering.

Joshua Delane (2009) has been awarded a First Class degree from Nottingham in Industrial Economics.

Alex Rutherford (2010), studying History at the University of Warwick, spent his second year at the University of South Carolina, where he was awarded the Dr Martin Luther King Jnr Social Justice Award. The accolade is bestowed upon an individual who has been notable in their involvement in advocating racial reconciliation and social justice.