Progression at last – Results 2020

Two weeks on from 2020 A level results day, and following the dramatic government U-turn over the A level grading process, most Woodhouse students at last have something to celebrate - much better grades.

 

48% of all our grades went up when Ofqual reverted to CAGs (centre assessed grades). Under the original Ofqual process using an algorithm, Woodhouse grades came out as the lowest in 10 years, a most unfair reflection of our students’ hard work. Now, that situation is reversed and our grades are back where they should be, among the best of all sixth form colleges in the country.

 

37 of our students got three or more A* grades and 167 students got three or more A*/A grades (excluding EPQ). Overall our high grades A*- B came out at 73.9%, higher than our previous three-year average.

 

But sadly, the correction came too late for some of our students: their university places had gone, and courses were full up, especially for highly competitive courses like medicine. Some students have therefore been forced into a gap year despite a set of outstanding grades.

 

Fortunately, some universities were able to make more spaces available, and slowly students have been contacted and a new picture has emerged. Things are still changing even now, but here is the current picture of where the Class of ’20 is going next year.

 

So far…

 

22 students have places at Oxford or Cambridge

30 are going to medical school

355 to Russell Group universities

 

We know that the Russell Group is a self-selected group of universities that does not necessarily correspond to ‘the best’ universities, so we are also pleased to see large numbers going to great universities outside of the Russell Group such as Bath, University of East Anglia, Lancaster and many others.

 

Our top ten universities this year for Woodhouse students are:

 

In addition to UK university progression, three students have managed to get scholarships at prestigious colleges in the USA, and we have a number of students who managed to get apprenticeships at top companies, which is as competitive as entrance to any university.

 

Principal John Rubinstein commented “It has been a very tough few days since A level results came out. There are quite a number of Woodhouse students who feel they could have done better in exams than the CAG they were given, and they feel cheated and disappointed. It is very frustrating that there is nothing we can do about this. I hope that most students can put this aside and move on. They have bright futures ahead of them, and there is more than one way to get where you want to go”