St. Clare’s School students celebrate another brilliant set of GCSE results

22 Aug 2019

Pupils at St. Clare’s School in Porthcawl are celebrating excellent GCSE results today, having significantly outperformed their peers nationally.

A staggering 91.2% of grades achieved were 4+ (A*-C) while 43.5% of grades awarded were 7+ (A*/A), compared to 67% and 20.6% respectively compared with the UK national average.  Almost 25% of all grades at St Clare’s were 8 or 9, the latter being the equivalent of an A** to show exceptional performance. 10.6% of entries was a grade 9 (A**) compared to 4.5% nationally; that’s almost one in every nine entries and more than double the UK average. An exceptional set of results for the small, non-selective independent school.

Results in specific subject areas were exceptional.  In Biology 47% of grades were Grade 7+ (A) versus UK national average of 42.3%. In Maths 90% of grades were Grade 4+ (C) versus the UK national average of 59.6%. In English Literature 11% of grades were Grade 9 (A**) and in English Language 5.5% at Grade 9 (A**) versus the UK national average 2.2%. In Art 37.5% of grades were Grade 9 (A**) versus the UK national average of 5.8% and 100% at Grade 6+ (B).

A number of individual pupils excelled including Lucy Baynham and Theo Quantick. Lucy’s grades included six 9s, three 8s, one 7, and an A in Further Maths, whilst Theo’s included five grade 9s, two 8s, two 7s and a 6.  Ben Fodor, Amelia Jenkins, Carys Lock, Emily Smith and Kym Zhang also performed superbly well and will be joining St Clare’s excellent Sixth Form in September.

Headteacher Helen Hier said, “It is a pleasure to celebrate with our staff and students who have worked so hard to achieve these results. My congratulations go to all of our GCSE students and I wish them every success as they take their next steps into A-Levels and beyond.”

St Clare’s delivers the English curriculum for GCSE examinations and not the Welsh which means that its students sat the new reformed GCSEs this summer in all subjects apart from Further Maths.

The reformed GCSEs are more exacting and the examinations are sat at the end of Year 11 with very little or no coursework and rely on the performance of the pupil on the day. The examinations are challenging and are designed to match standards in the strongest performing education systems elsewhere in the world.

Today’s excellent GCSE results follow last week’s outstanding A-Level results where students achieved 40% at A*/A.

Limited places are available in St Clare’s Sixth Form for September 2019. Call the admissions team on (01656) 789966 or visit www.stclares-school.co.uk to learn more.

Photo: Celebrations for students at St. Clare’s School, in Porthcawl on results day 2019