Examination Results

Ellesmere College students are celebrating their exam results today with a98% pass rate at A-level with some outstanding performances and securing places at top universities across the UK and overseas.

The good news follows on from the excellent results achieved by students who completed the IB Diploma course and BTEC Diploma.

The 2023 results saw 66% of IB students achieving 30 or more points, the gold standard for the IB Diploma and the top performing student this year, Iris Grigoras (Bucharest) achieved an impressive 44 points out of a maximum of 45 which equates to 4 A*s and 1A at A level and places her in the top 1% of IB students worldwide. She will be taking up her place at the University of Maimi, USA to study Law.

The BTEC Diploma results continue to impress with students celebrating another year of 100% pass results that included several Distinctions (A* at A level).

Another student off to study in USA is one of our BTEC Diploma students, Jemimah Choi (Gresford) who secured distinction/merit in her diploma and a Tennis scholarship in Ohio to study Global sports and Culture.

The BTEC top performer of the year with 3 star distinctions (equivalent to three A* at A level) Tom Boggemann (Diemen, Netherlands) is staying closer with his place at Surrey to read Psychology.

Places have been secured at universities that cover the length and breadth of the UK and around the world. Here is a sample of the Ellesmere 2023 cohort destinations and subjects.

Aditi Chezhian, Chirk, is both a talented tennis player, representing Wales and a high achieving academic, securing 3 A* grades in Biology, Maths and Chemistry to secure her place at Girton College, Cambridge to read Medicine.

Anna Farrow, Rugby, managed to combine an outstanding swimming career with outstanding A level results, 4 A* grades in Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths and Economics to secure a place at Bath to read Chemistry and continue her swimming career.

Tessa O'Brien, Llangollen, achieved an impressive set of four A levels grades A*AAB in Art & Design, Maths, Chemistry and Physics securing her place at Durham to read Chemistry.

Carmen Kilgannon, Ellesmere, is also off to Durham University having secured A*AA in Religious Studies, History and Politics and will read Religion, Society and Culture.

Alex Norris, Ellesmere, secured an A* in Maths, 2A's in Further Maths and Physics and a B in Chemistry to read Computer Science at Exeter.

Lili Harvey Hemming, Ellesmere, secured A's in Biology and Psychology and a B in Chemistry to secure her place at University of Surrey to read Veterinary Medicine and Science.

Molly Fry, Whitchurch, achieved A's in Latin and Music and a B in Spanish and will be reading Classics at University of Birmingham.

Naomi McGuire, Fleet, achieved AAB in History, Biology and Chemistry and will read History at University of Glasgow. Naomi is a student who has effectively combined her sport with her academic commitments as a member of the Ellesmere College swimming academy.

Archie Neaves, another outstanding swimmer at the Ellesmere College swimming academy has managed his training regime and is academic work successfully securing A* in Geography alongside two B grades in Economic and History and will be taking up Geography at Swansea University.

Mr Brendan Wignall, Headmaster said "It is a pleasure to see how well pupils have achieved and they are commended for their positive approach to the examination experience, having had the GCSEs interrupted by the pandemic.

"These results are a testament to their hard work and determination, to the diligence of their teachers and the constant support of parents.

"These pleasing A level results follow the excellent results in July for IB Diploma and BTEC. The breadth of courses and destinations that our students move onto is particularly pleasing to see as an outworking of being a school with a global focus and in keeping with our high-performance learning (HPL) philosophy."

Ellesmere College students are celebrating today with a 98% pass rate (100% girls) at A level and BTEC Diploma, a pleasing conclusion to a very difficult year.  Places have been secured at universities that cover the length and breadth of the UK and around the world.   A number of students secured impressive A*/A in all subjects.

A selection of the Ellesmere 2022 cohort destinations and subjects;

• Ethan Beaver, Condover, A*A*A*B, University of Manchester, Mathematics and Physics,
• Isaac Dodds, St. Helier, A*A*A*, University of Bath, Mathematics and Physics.
• Isaac has managed to combine an outstanding set of A level results alongside being a competitive swimming and a member of our Swimming Academy. Having taken his A levels in June he went on to represent his home country Jersey at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last month. Competing in multiple individual and team events across the week, Isaac was part of the 4 x 100 Medley Relay team that made the final. Isaac will continue his high-performance swim training at Bath University where he will study Maths and Physics.
• Abraham Pritchard, Gresford, A*A*A B, University of Manchester, Mathematics.
• Robyn Welti, Ellesmere, AAA, Queen's University, Belfast, Medicine,
• Ben Zakers, Nantwich, A*A*A*, University of Edinburgh, Biological Sciences (Biochemistry)
• Aeneas Dennison who has secured a place at Homerton College, Cambridge with A*AA to read Anglo Saxon, Norse and Celtic

Two Ellesmere students are off to study in the USA; Millie Foster has been awarded a Hockey Scholarship and will study Criminal Justice at St Anselm College, New Hampshire and Olivia Herron has gained a place at Southern Illinois to study Pre-Veterinary Medicine.

Earlier this summer the IB and BTEC results were equally pleasing; Michal Andryskowski achieved an outstanding 42 points in the IB Diploma and secured a place at Imperial College London to read Software Engineering and BTEC students and members of our Golf Academy, Charlie Ashbrook and Jonjo Ashbrook gained Distinctions across all modules to complete with three distinction stars each, equivalent to three A* at A level.

The Lower Sixth added to the celebrations with excellent results in their Extended Project qualification (EPQ) that all have the opportunity to do in their first year and has ucas points to add to their A levels next year. 

Ellesmere College students are celebrating today with a 100% pass rate at A level and BTEC Diploma, a pleasing conclusion to a very difficult year. The results this year are testament to how well our students and teaching staff have coped and adapted to increased levels of uncertainty, new methods of teaching, remote learning and self-management of their learning and teaching schedules.

University places have been secured that cover the length and breadth of the UK and around the world, and a number of students secured an impressive A*/A in all subjects with some completing 5 A levels at A*.

A selection of the Ellesmere 2021 cohort destinations and subjects in the UK include:

• Medicine at Cardiff, Sheffield, Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London
• Biomedical Sciences at Plymouth, Exeter, Cardiff, Edinburgh
• Computer Science at King's College London
• Engineering at Durham
• Theoretical Physics at Durham
• Chemistry at Imperial College London
• History at Durham, Exeter
• Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Warwick
• Politics at Durham
• Psychology at Aberystwyth
• Economics – University of Central London, Birmingham
• Drama and Film at Manchester,
• Drama and Music at Royal Holloway
• Violin at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire,
• Vocal Studies at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama

Further afield:

• USA - Accounting in Nebraska, Criminology in Iowa, Natural Sciences in North Carolina
• Globally - Business in Singapore, and Medicine in Germany.

The Lower Sixth added to the celebrations with excellent results in their Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) - all students have the opportunity to do this qualification in their first year and it carries a maximum of 28 UCAS points (half an A Level). 

The 2020 A level results have again been impressive with 100% pass rate and routes secured to university by many pupils. Places that have been secured cover the length and breadth of the UK and a number have opted to study abroad. (please see University Destinations 2020 for a breakdown of the courses and university pupils have taken up place at).

A number of students secured impressive A*/A in all subjects and destinations include Music at Cambridge (Homerton College), Medicine at Birmingham, Chemistry at Birmingham, Classics at Durham, Law at Cardiff, Mathematics at Imperial College London and Bath, Music at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Physiotherapy at Liverpool, Philosophy at Newcastle, and Product Design Engineering at Nottingham University.

The new UCAS points system includes points for the extended project, a course available to all in the lower sixth. For university entrance the following table converts A level grades to points as follows.

• UCAS Points System A* A B C D E
• A Level & BTEC 56 48 40 32 24 16
• AS Level n/a 20 16 12 10 6
• Extended Research Project 28 24 20 16 12 8

Students at Ellesmere College are celebrating after the publication of A-Level results, which saw an overall pass rate of 96% - a record breaking year for the College!

The results featured some highly impressive individual performances and more than 50% of all grades awarded were in the top A* A B grades, the threshold required for many Russell Group University places.

• Alistair O'Brien, from Llangollen, swept the board with four A* grades in Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics, and Further Maths. He will now take up his place to study Computer Science at Queen's College, Cambridge.
• Toby Slack, from Ellesmere who secured two A* grades in Geography and Biology and an A in Chemistry, will now read Medicine at the University of Liverpool.
• Verity Buglass, from Shrewsbury, achieved an A* in Mathematics and AA in Biology and Chemistry and secured her place at the University of Manchester to read Medicine.
• Alice Smail, from Church Stretton, achieved an A* in Fine Art and three A grades in Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry and will attend Lancaster University.
• Lydia Smith, from Oswestry, achieved an A* in Psychology, and AA in History and English Literature. She will read History at the University of Nottingham.
• Jack Pochin, from Nantwich, secured an A* in Geography, and AA in Mathematics and Physics. He now moves on to the University of Birmingham to read Civil Engineering.
• Angel Xia, from Shanghai, and Cynthia Qiu, from Hangzhou City, both achieved AAA in Mathematics, Biology, and Chemistry. Angel will pursue Biotechnology whilst Cynthia will pursue Medical Biosciences, both at Imperial College, London.

This was following the strong performance of the BTEC and IB students.

It was another 100% pass rate for pupils taking the BTEC Sport Diploma. Six Ellesmere College students secured Extended Diplomas with one student attaining the highest mark possible with three Distinction Stars, four attained core Diplomas while two collected Subsidiary Diplomas. The Extended Diploma is equivalent to three A-Levels, the Diploma is equivalent is two A-Levels and the Subsidiary Diploma is equivalent to one A-Level; both are usually taken alongside one or two additional A Levels as part of the broad offering of academic opportunities at the College

The International Baccalaureate results were again impressive, with an average of 31 points and some notable excellent individual performances.

• Paul Kontrus from Austria scored 36 points and will now read Geography at Kings College London.
• Natan Marczak, from Poland was the headline performer who achieved an outstanding 44 points with 45 being the maximum available. Natan will now read Economics at the New York University in Abu Dhabi.
• Head Girl Kimberley Ong from Malaysia was next with 41 points; equivalent to A* A A grades at A Level. Kim will now go on to Edinburgh University to read Economics with Environmental Studies.
• Bethan Huxtable from Shrewsbury achieved 38 points and will now read Politics and International Relations at Bristol.

Ellesmere College Sixth Form students are celebrating an outstanding set of A level results this year with over 50% of all grades awarded were in the top A*A B grades, the threshold required for Russell Group universities. The overall performance saw 92% pass rate including quite a number of outstanding performances.

Whilst heartfelt congratulations go to all our students there were several particularly notable performances that are worthy of specific mention here.

• Victor Zhao (Shenyang) securing 4A* in Computer Science, Mathematics, Further Maths, Physics and an A grade in Chemistry plus an A* in the extended project.
• Wayne Wang (Fushan) achieved 2A* in Mathematics and Physics and 2 A's Further Maths and Chemistry, and also gained an A* for his extended project. Victor will now pursue Computer Science at Trinity College, Cambridge and Wayne will read Engineering at Imperial.
• Maks Graczyk (Jeziora) with 4A* grades in Computer Science, Mathematics, Further Maths and Physics - and an A* in his extended project. Maks will read Computing at Imperial College, London.
• James Jefferies (Welshampton) A*A*A*, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics secures his place at Birmingham to read Civil Engineering.
• Elinor Haworth (Ellesmere) A* A* A, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics will read Medicine at Cardiff.
• Elena Bateman (Cross Lanes) A* A A, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics will read Medicine at East Anglia.

These excellent results follow the strong performance by students following the BTEC Sports Performance and Excellence Diploma and the International Baccalaureate Diploma. The new UCAS points system includes points for the extended project, a course available to all in the lower sixth. For university entrance the following table converts A level grades to points as follows.

• UCAS Points System A* A B C D E
• A Level & BTEC 56 48 40 32 24 16
• AS Level n/a 20 16 12 10 6
• Extended Research Project 28 24 20 16 12 8

Mr Brendan Wignall, Headmaster, said 'It is always a delight to see our students secure impressive grades such as these and it is particularly pleasing to see all who wish to progress to university being able to do so. I congratulate our A level, IB and BTEC students on their achievements. It is even more impressive when taking into account the wide range of co-curricular activities they participate in as members of the choir, sports teams, orchestra, drama groups and debating.

They have participated fully in all the College has to offer and managed their academic commitment effectively. All our students completing their studies with us deserve this success. Credit must also go to the excellent work of our teaching staff and, of course, to parents for their constant support and encouragement.'

Ellesmere College students are celebrating the first results of the summer with the publication of the International Baccalaureate Diploma results. The diploma pass level of 24 points has the equivalent value of BCC grades at A Level and 90% of the 2017 Ellesmere cohort achieved 24 points or more, with over a third awarded more than 30 points, which is equivalent of A*AA grades at A Level.

There were a few notable performances that are worthy of further comment: Rosie Jackson, of Dudleston Heath, achieved of 38 points, which equates to 3.6 A* grades at A level (or 206 new UCAS points) securing her place at the University of York to read biochemistry. Others achieving and impressive 30 points or more are; Henning Bergmeyer, (Rheine) Vincent Moonen, (Tilberg) Marthe Richter, (Detmold) Catrin Stephens, (Newtown) Tapas Varshneya (Bangalore) and Chelsea Watson (Shifnal).

The International Baccalaureate Diploma was introduced at Ellesmere College over ten years ago in September 2006, as a challenging alternative to A Levels. Students who follow the International Baccalaureate course study six subjects, a course in The Theory of Knowledge, and produce a university standard Extended Essay as part of their assessment.

It is a demanding and highly rewarding course of study held in high esteem by universities. The IB Diploma opens doors to the top universities in both the UK and around the world. Universities value the course as an excellent preparation for university and for life.

A relatively recent introduction has been the BTEC sports course to run alongside A Level and IB. The course continues to go from strength to strength, and serves the students who pursue it very well indeed. Once again we have 100% pass rate in 2017 with over 70% gaining a distinction*, equivalent to A* A Level grades. The BTEC sport is proving an excellent route into sports related degree courses and continues to be a great success.

The Headmaster at Ellesmere College, Mr Brendan Wignall, commented on the hard work of all the students "I am delighted for our pupils who have done so well in the International Baccalaureate and BTEC Diploma programmes. They have certainly worked very hard. All of our IB and BTEC students will be exceptionally well prepared for university following the rigorous demands of these courses. We look forward now to the publication of the A Level and GCSE results in August."