Claremont Senior School in Bodiam is celebrating an impressive set of A-Level and BTEC results, which will enable 88% of this year’s cohort to access their first-choice destination.
The School in Bodiam has built up a significant reputation as a centre for academic success in recent years and this high level of performance has been maintained this year, despite the national picture seeing a post-Covid drop in grades. 44% of the results were graded at A*/A (or equivalent) and there was a 100% pass rate across all A-Levels. Students are heading to a wide range of further education institutions including Oxford, Durham, King’s College, UCL, Exeter, BIMM and Leeds, with Russell Group members accounting for a third of all university destinations.
Notable individual successes include Andy Wong who achieved A*/A*/A in Maths, Chemistry and Physics and will study Biomedical Sciences; Natalia Ramus who will study Law at Exeter following a string of Distinction*s; and Fenton Sinclair who will study Electronic Music Production following outstanding grades in Music Technology and Sports Science. Rebecca King also achieved a string of A grades in History, Biology and Maths and will be studying History at Durham next year.
Some of the most impressive results came in the Creative Faculty reflecting the school’s award-winning Performing Arts programme. In both Acting and Dance, students achieved spectacular outcomes with more than 95% of results graded as Distinction or Distinction*. These come on the back of equally stunning results in LAMDA exams and 100% pass rate for Rambert Grades, a pioneering contemporary dance syllabus introduced to the programme this year. Lucy Butterworth clocked up an extraordinary 256 UCAS points having achieved full marks in her LAMDA Gold Medal, Acting and Dance BTEC awards to complement A and B grades in History and Politics.
Ed Dickie, Head of Senior School at Claremont, said: “This has been a time of real anxiety for these students. The media is full of reports of grades being ‘managed down’ and university places being cut back, yet our students have demonstrated that, at the end of the day, hard work and ambition will deliver success. Once again we are incredibly proud that students have achieved in such a wide range of different academic disciplines. Their achievements are all the more significant given that this cohort have never taken public exams previously. Claremont continues to provide the opportunity for our young people to achieve beyond what they thought was possible.”
The success and growth of Claremont since its founding in 2011 indicates the changing nature of education. Offering a dynamic and varied curriculum, students are encouraged to place as much value on the development of skills and life competencies as they are on grades. The Claremont student has been genuinely prepared for a life outside of school, whether in the workplace or at university. It has been an impressive and exciting journey for a school that is focusing relentlessly on helping young people become their best, regardless of their interests or areas of expertise.
