Year 13 students are celebrating the end of over three months of uncertainty with a set of IB results that vindicate all the hard work they have put in since September 2018. We feel the frustration they feel in having been unable to demonstrate their performance in final examinations due to the pandemic but they should now be proud of what they have achieved through their hard work and commitment. The 182 students of our second fully IB cohort improved on last year’s results with an average of 5.3 points per subject (world average = 4.6 in 2019), an average of 33.4 total points per student (world average = 29.6 in 2019) and the best progress (value-added) in four years. It is remarkable that the average achievement in UCAS points (189 points) of our students exceeds the equivalent of 3 A* grades at A level.

Isabel Hosier, Koner Kalkanel and Daniel Constantini all achieved 42 points out of the maximum 45 points, 4 grade 7s and 2 grade 6s each! Five students achieved 41 points: Kate Leadbetter, Alice Brayford, James Du, Stacy Kindred and Heather May; and another five achieved 40 points: Ibrahim Khan, Mariah Bennett, Megan Mitchell-Woodford, Rosie Burrows and Elisabeth Enechi. These are remarkable achievements which demonstrate the aspiration and resilience of our students.

One in six students gained 38 points or more, a typical Oxford University offer. 43% of all the grades awarded were a 7 or a 6. Perhaps the most pleasing, the value-added measure across the whole cohort (the progress from their GCSE starting points at the beginning of Year 12), is the highest of the past 4 years when cohorts were half the size or smaller; they have raised the bar again for future cohorts.

Receiving results so early in the summer is a distinct advantage, perhaps more so than ever in these extraordinary times. Many students secured their first choices immediately and UCAS has been confirming places so that by the end of this week the majority of those students in the UCAS system will have been accepted into a university of their choice, including some of the most prestigious destinations in the world. And this, 7 weeks before A level results are published!

I am delighted for, and grateful to, our students, their teachers, their families, indeed for the whole BGS community which celebrates these wonderful outcomes from the world-class education they have enjoyed. As we reflect on the events of the summer, there has probably never been a more important time for our young men and women to flourish in the IB with its outward-looking, international curriculum. The summer is now theirs to enjoy, secure in the knowledge that they will be studying at some of the most prestigious institutions in the world this autumn.

Mr Elphick Headteacher