News

Students and staff at the Sir Robert Woodard Academy come together proudly today in celebration of another excellent set of GCSE results.

With a second year of cancelled exams, students faced a round of rigorous internal assessments to be awarded Centre Assessed Grades. Due to their hard work and commitment, Year 11 students were able to demonstrate excellence across the range of subjects, preparing them for progression on to sixth form study at W6, the sixth form centre at SRWA. During two lockdowns, students attended live online lessons from day one of the pandemic, and they also showed their further dedication by continuing to study at SRWA, participating in voluntary ‘bridging’ courses to keep their skills up.

A spokesperson for the Academy commented “There has been so much talk of grade inflation, but our assessment and curriculum processes are so tightly planned that we are confident our students have performed as they would have under usual exam circumstances. Our teachers had access to a wide range of academic data to support their grading decisions, resulting in students awarded the right grades they have worked hard to achieve.”

There is much to be proud of. This year the number of students entered for the academic Ebacc suite of qualifications continued to rise, with almost 80% of students following this academic pathway, which is over double the national average. The progress and attainment of students continue to grow. Continuing our trend in recent years, students’ grades in Maths improved once again. Many subject areas saw over 70% and 80% of students achieve at or above the “good pass” grade of a 5. 

A record number of students achieved a grade 9, with 11 students reaching the highest grade possible.  

Earlier in the week, the Academy announced further Oxford and university successes in its sixth form, and it is the great work at GCSE and earlier that is preparing students for sixth form study and progression onto top universities and careers.

Celebrating with students today, Principal Mr Scanlon, commented: 

“I’m pleased today to be focusing on all of our students who have excelled through hard work, persistence and resilience…It has, without doubt, been a challenging two years, but colleagues and students really came together with purpose and these results are a reflection of that. I‘m particularly pleased to see our students showing real ambition in terms of their next steps and they should do so confident in the knowledge that they are well prepared. I look forward to welcoming many of them into our sixth form in September, where I’m confident they will continue to go from strength to strength."

Among the many examples of outstanding personal effort and achievement were more examples than ever of exceptional individual performance, among them:

Oliver Stanley: 7 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s

Jody Brigden: 7 grade 9s, 1 grade 8 and 1 Distinction*

Sean Whitehouse: 6 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s

Bethan Newell: 5 grade 9s, 1 grade 7

Raphaella Badua: 4 grade 9s, 4 grade 8s

George Brigden: 4 grade 9s, 1 grade 8 and 1 grade 7

Harry Southam: 2 grade 9s, 3 grade 8s, 1 grade 7

Emily Cook: 2 grade 9s, 2 grade 8s, and 1 grade 7

Oliver said: "I thought I would probably get 7s, I was really happy. I was glad my hard work paid off. I am going to study sciences and then go to study Medicine." 

Bethan said: "I wasn’t expecting it at all. English was the biggest surprise, I just think over the last few months, being at home, it was a hard experience, but I think it has definitely paid off. It feels amazing to be joining W6."