Exam passes put England in shade (From Penarth Times)

Exam passes put England in shade

TALENTED pupils at Stanwell School are top of the class after getting better exam results than their peers in England.

School performance results are not being released in Wales. However, in comparison with English results, Stanwell students have done amazingly well.

At Advanced Level, the Stanwell students achieved an average of 30 points per student, the equivalent of three grade As.

And at GCSE, National Assembly data reveals that Stanwell's 16-year-olds also broke records with 77 percent gaining five or more top grades, 27 percent above the Wales average of 50 percent. Additionally, a perfect 100 percent achieved GCSE passes.

Chris Barber, deputy head, said: "Everyone at the school is proud of their achievements."

The A-level results contained outstanding achievements with 53 percent of students gaining the equivalent of three As or better. Top was Nicolas Wu with six As, and Rebecca Donkin, Elizabeth Jones and Helen Shanahan with four As and one B. Megan Pugh got three As and two Cs.

At GCSE, all pupils gained at least one pass, with the average pupil achieving 55 points, the equivalent of 11 grade C passes, the average for Wales being 39 points.

Outstanding pupils included Medeni Griffiths, Gwenan Knight and Jennifer Prytherch with eleven A grades each. Samantha Rowley got ten A*s and one A, while Gabrielle Davies, Catherine Esseen, Samantha McGuire and John Woolley got nine A*s and two As. Although the girls' achievement just exceeded the boys, both genders gained almost exactly 77 percent five A*-C grades.

Assistant head teacher Alec Lewis said: "I am delighted that they have set new records of achievement."