Cobham Hall today sends congratulations to our Year 13 students who have secured a host of excellent A Level grades and places at some of the UK’s top universities. As of this moment, 90% have been offered places at their first choice destination, more than one-third of which are at prestigious Russell Group universities.
Their performance is particularly pleasing in the context of this year’s nationwide return to 2019 pre-COVID grading norms, wiping out the significant grade inflation seen across the last three years. Astonishingly, the proportion of Cobham Hall grades falling in the all-important A*- C band has increased year on year to an excellent 81%, despite 2023’s significant toughening of grade boundaries and standards. Our students also passed every single subject they took, with this 100% pass rate again an improvement on 2022.
An outstanding 100% of grades in all Science subjects fell in the key A* – C category, with 100% of grades in Geography likewise reaching this critical band. Another notable subject success was Art, gaining 100% top A*/A grades. In the Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) – beloved by universities – two-thirds of Cobham Hall students’ grades (67%) were A*/A, while more than three-quarters (78%) were A*/B.
Individual student successes include Geography scholar Francesca, whose A grades in Geography and EPQ, and B in Biology, helped secure a place at the University of Exeter, to read Geography; Erica, who is off to study Politics and International Relations at the University of Southampton; and Alice, with a place to study English and Creative Writing at Royal Holloway. Alice not only achieved results which include A grades in both English and EPQ and a B in History but, incredibly, she managed to publish her first novel during her A Level study.
Headmistress Mrs Wendy Barrett said:
“We are so proud of the achievements of each and every one of our Year 13 students, particularly given the wholesale changes in grade boundaries they have faced. Theirs is an unusually small cohort, which makes analysis and comparison difficult, but to have achieved grades which outperformed last year’s percentage in the vital top A* – C band is testament to their tremendous hard work and determination.
“There is so much to celebrate today, and as a physicist myself, I must say I am especially pleased to see how Science continues to thrive in our hitherto all-girls environment. There is also so much to look forward to in the coming year, as our curriculum is enhanced by the inclusion of Global Perspectives at GCSE, and we build on this year’s great success in Art with its expansion to include not only Art, Craft and Design but also Graphic Communications, and Textiles. As well, of course, as the opening of our first sixth form boys’ boarding House, Stuart House.”
She concludes: “But above all, today we send heartfelt congratulations to our Class of 2023 and wish them all the very best for the next exciting stage in their education and careers ahead. I also give enormous thanks to their teachers, whose endless dedication these results reflect, and which makes all our new developments possible.”