Withington is celebrating an outstanding pass rate in this year's A Level results with a large increase over last year in the percentage of A*s achieved.

 

Some of the girls who are heading to Oxford and Cambridge

From a cohort of 75 Sixth Formers, 94% achieved A*, A and B grades with 80.4% achieving A* or As and 37.6% securing A*s. The overall pass rate was 100%. Click here for a full breakdown of results.

This exceptional set of results bucks the national trend with exam boards reporting a slight decrease in top grades for the second year running. Nationally the figure was 26.3% achieving A* or As with 7.6% gaining the elite A* grade. Some 47 Withington girls clinched A* or A grades in all of their subjects, including a significant proportion in Sciences and Mathematics, traditionally viewed as being more popular amongst boys than girls.

Two students achieved a clean sweep of 5A*s, 4 girls scored A*s in 4 subjects with another 8 securing 3 A*s.

Jenny Flynn and Harriet McLeod enjoy the culmination of all their hard work (Picture by Christopher Furlong | Getty Images)

Said Mrs Marks: “We are delighted for all our girls who have worked very hard indeed with their talented teachers to achieve these exceptional results. I am really pleased that our girls continue to do so well in the rigorous academic subjects we offer at Advanced Level. Success like this helps Withington students to win places at the most selective universities in the country, as was borne out by last year’s Sutton Trust report.”

“Our girls performed exceedingly well across a wide range of subjects. Nearly half of the A Levels were in the sciences and mathematics, but the girls’ successes span the entire curriculum. It is pleasing to note that numerous top grades were also achieved in the humanities, social sciences, English, Drama and classical and modern foreign languages – and every one of our Art candidates achieved an A* grade, with two going on to Central St Martins, following in the footsteps of one of our former pupils Sarah Burton, designer of the Royal wedding dress and creative director at Alexander McQueen.”

Charlotte Senn and Becky Appleby enjoy their results

The vast majority of Withington students are now looking forward to taking up places at their first choice universities, including 12 who are heading to Oxford and Cambridge. One former student, Katie Mulholland, will be studying Chemistry at Jesus College, Oxford, where Mrs Marks was an undergraduate (and Rowing Blue) in the mid-70s.

 Updated 23rd Sept 2013