Best ever results at Frome College

FROME can be immensely proud of its college, says Frome Community College headteacher Gavin Ball, following the release of this year’s GCSE and A-level results. 

The college improved once again at A-level and  equalled its best ever results at GCSE, and Gavin Ball has set the targets even higher for next year.

Students destined for top universities

In the A-levels, students recorded another great year for the college as over 50% of the grades ranged from A* to B. This represents a three-year improving trend for a school that has tasted increasing success since the school appointed headteacher Gavin Ball following an ‘inadequate’ rating by Ofsted officials in 2012.

Some of the top performing students include Matthew Steele who earned four A* grades and will now pursue his life-long ambition to become a vet, studying at Girton College, Cambridge.  Laura Didymus is also heading to Cambridge as she achieved three A* grades and will read life sciences in September. Other top A-level results were achieved by Harrison Butler-Stroud, Kate Fox and Jack Nicholls who have all achieved A*, A*, A and have secured their places in higher education, starting in September.

There were also some outstanding BTEC results achieved by many students, with 69% getting a distinction or higher.

For year 12s they exceeded the national average with 53% grades A to C and 89% A* to E in their AS Levels. Ross Windell and Joel Gil Cobo with four A grades; Jessica Williams with three A grades; Molly Parry, Magnus Jorgensen and Toby Kay each with A, A, A, B grades were also among the top performers.

Headteacher Gavin Ball said, “It has been another great year for Frome students.

“These are phenomenal achievements and we are immensely proud of all our students and grateful to their teachers for supporting and challenging them.  We also wish to thank students’ parents who work so closely with us to ensure the students succeed.

“This year, we have the largest proportion of students going on to higher education in the college’s history.  This is largely due to the outstanding achievements of the students and the work of their teachers and support staff in preparing them. A crucial part in increasing uptake to higher education, apprenticeships and training is the guidance to both UCAS and alternative routes for our year 13 students.

“We wish all Frome Future Students the very best of luck in their chosen paths and congratulate them all for their hard work, courage and high aspirations.”

Results at GCSE

Frome College has maintained its improvement in GCSE results again this year with some excellent individual success stories for students, equalling its best ever results from last year.

70% of students achieved 5 GCSE passes at A*-C, which is above the national average.

Frome College stated, “The focus for the college has been on literacy, with a firm belief that if students have higher literacy skills they will be better prepared for all of their subjects.  This has been born out with a 17% improvement change this year in our overall English grades at GCSE, with the C grade pass rate breaking 70% for the first time ever with 71% A*-C.   This is particularly pleasing following the initiatives put in place to promote reading, creative writing, spelling and grammar.  This places the college way above national average for English which is 61.7%.

“The college has also performed well on the English Baccalaureate, which measures the more traditional subjects the government favours, with the school exceeding the national average figure from last year.

“Science results show improvement, with a 42% change increase in A* and A grades in chemistry and 54% change increase in physics.  Core science and additional science show a doubling of their grades from last year.

“Add to this some really outstanding subjects results including French 80%, art 93%, photography 85%, 3D art 100%, sport 100%, drama 93%; the picture looks very bright for Frome College.

“The average GCSE point score, which indicates how many GCSEs a student takes and how good the grades are, has also increased by 6% from last year and is higher than the national average.

“With the government downgrading the value of BTEC courses, removing modular courses and not allowing schools to count re-takes in league tables, the college has maintained its high headline results from last year despite these changes, equalling its best from last year.”

Gavin Ball added, “We are really proud of all of our students who have worked exceptionally hard over the two years.  This year we have had a very high number of students gaining the top grades;  Bertie Harrison-Broninski  and Fynn McLennan both achieved  7A* and 2As and Fynn is well on his way to his dream of going to study medicine. Ailsa Williams gained 6 A* and 3As,  Sophia Burlison has 5A*s and 4As and Emma Whitely 5A* and 2As.  All of Dan Smaje’s results were at A* or A.  Jake Malley and Gabriel Barnes, who have already won the national Raspberry PI award for Computing gained 5A*s and 3As and 1A* plus 5As respectively.   Of special note  is Molly Birch who achieved 5A* and 3As even after a significant period of illness in Year 10.

“Other students with a whole batch of grades at the highest level  are: Asher Flanagan (2A*5A), Callum John (4A*3A ), Ryan Gilroy (4A*3A), Rebecca Hinde (2A*4A), Lollie Melton (2A*3A). Oliver Mosler (2A*6A), Zoe Oswin (3A*6A), Poppy Reilly-Stitt (3A*6A),  Adrianna Seviour (2A*7A), Robbie Slater (3A*6A), Oliver Snelgrove (2A*7A), Yen Yan Soh (3A*4A), Finlay Thomas (3A*3A).

“Overall we are thrilled and congratulate the students on their success.”