Year 11 students celebrate an impressive 417 9-7 or A*-A grades (43%) across 27 subjects.
In the year where very nearly all subjects have switched to the new number grades (just ICT has letters), we saw more top grade 9’s than in 2018 (78 up from 67), 150 grade 8’s (old A*) and 189 grade 7’s (or old A).
94% of students gained at least five pass grades 9-4 (old A*-C) and 90% of students gained at least 5 pass grades 9-4 (old A*-C) including Maths and English. Overall pass rate is 97%. All three of these stats are better than last year at Taunton School, and considerably higher than the national average of 67.3%. Taunton School is completely non-selective which means that the breadth of courses on offer and quality of teaching and learning ensures all students are capable of achieving their very best wherever they sit on the academic spectrum.
Kate Foster achieved 3 9s and 7 8s. She has been at Taunton School since Nursery and is thrilled with her sweep of top marks. She said “I am so pleased with my results today. They are a big improvement on my mock results and I am delighted that I did better than I expected. The exams, and revision were really stressful but school and my friends offered lots of support which really helped me get through it”. She will continue her studies in Taunton School Sixth Form with A-Levels in Art, Spanish and Latin.
Jesper Jay-Harrington is one of the top performing boys in Year 11 with 8 9s and 2 7s. As a boarding student he is grateful to the support received from his teachers and boarding staff at Taunton School “Whilst I was motivated to work really hard to get the best results possible, I knew that I would need support and guidance in making the best of my time to study and prepare myself for the exams. The help I received has really paid off and I am so happy with the results”. Jesper is staying on as an Academic Scholar in the Sixth Form at Taunton School to study the International Baccalaureate.
Kai Hall-Nunn 1 8, 1 7, 4 6s, 2 5s.
Kai came in with his mum to collect his results and both were dreading the worst. Kai’s mocks did not go well; in fact he had considered dropping a couple of subjects. Thanks to the support from school, and his own strong will, he found a number of ways to turn it around. “I knew that I needed to take some drastic action and school were amazing in supporting me. I needed extra learning support and am so grateful to my tutor for working so hard to help. It made a big difference. School constantly told me what I was capable of, and eventually I believed them. I’m really proud to have ‘pulled it out of the bag’”. Kai took a number of key decisions to give himself the best chance and decided to put his phone away throughout his studies, including deleting all social media apps. He said “I knew that if I had my phone with me I would be tempted to look at it, particularly with social media, therefore by taking this away I was able to properly concentrate. It made a big difference and created a lot less stress for me”. Kai is now considering his Sixth Form courses in order to pursue a career in Zoology.
Lee Glaser, Headmaster, is very happy with the 2019 results. He said “Our Year 11s have, as always, worked really hard. The majority of the work is now exam based and we are very aware of the additional stress this can put upon young people during the second half of their year 11 studies. We have committed to ensure that we do all that we can pastorally throughout the process to support them. Some of our initiatives have included one to one clinics between staff and students, group revision sessions led by teaching staff, on-going access to the health centre and the counselling team and, perhaps most popular, the introduction on a weekly basis of Larry the therapy dog” he concludes “By taking the time throughout the whole year to work on mental health, we are seeing our students face a tough time in their lives with great resilience and, importantly, the ability to ask for help and support when it is needed.”
