Prior’s EPQ Results Dazzle Again

23 Mar 2013

For the third consecutive year, Prior Park College students have achieved truly outstanding results in this increasingly important A Level qualification that champions independent learning.
Prior Park College A Level students achieved eight A* grades and two A grades, with one candidate, Meg Osborne achieving an incredible 50/50 mark in the 2013 EPQ results which have just been published nationwide.
Prior’s EPQ coordinator, Dr Rob Wilmott is once again delighted with the results. “We have, in terms of average percentage, excelled against both state and other independent schools with 71% of our candidates achieving A*-A grades compared to 48% in similar centres and 44% in all AQA centres. I am also delighted at the professionalism of our teaching staff as all of their marks were agreed by AQA.”
Headmaster, James Murphy-O’Connor is also delighted; “As we await news of our Oxbridge candidates’ placements, these results give us great confidence and are so well deserved by our students. This is a qualification that champions independent learning and one which universities such as Warwick, Cambridge and Oxford increasingly use as the basis for interview discussion. We are very proud of our students and of these outstanding results.”
The EPQ (Extended Project Qualification) was introduced as part of the revision of AS and A Level qualifications. It offers Sixth Form students the opportunity to study a topic in depth and produce a final dissertation. It is a free-standing A2 qualification and its purpose is to add a further dimension to Sixth Form study and to stretch the more ambitious scholar.
The subjects that Prior students chose for their projects this year were as diverse as in previous years:
– How important were the zoological research and writings of Aristotle and Pliny the Elder to the later development of zoology up to and including Charles Darwin?
– Is social inequality inevitable?
– To what extent has the English language diluted the French language? And to what extent can the French resist this perceived dilution?
– The architectural dynamics of a skyscraper
– How did the Roman military adapt its tactics and strategy during the Punic Wars?
– Are dying languages worth saving?
– To what extent was the premiership of Tony Blair a failure?
– To what extent does the English legal system benefit from the European Legislative System and European Union law?
– To what extent does age affect the acquisition of a second language?
– To what extent was Arthur Miller a Marxist?
– In what way can we use Nuclear Technology to benefit the human race?
– Synthetic biology: good or evil?
– To what extent are we able to gain a clear understanding of Artemis in Graeco-Roman society?