Top marks for Yarm School’s A-level students

Yarm School is celebrating an impressive set of A-level results with 22% of grades at A* and over 50% of grades achieving the top A*/A grades.

13 students achieved 3 or more A* grades and 41 students – almost a third of the year group – achieved straight A*/A grades.

Six students achieved 4 A*s: Skye Chen, Abdelrahman Ellidir, Chloe Porter, Robert Qin, Ajay Selvan (5 A* grades) and Patrick Winters.

Two students, Rebecca White and Poppy Bell, have had a stellar year making Yarm School history as the first girls’ rowing crew to progress beyond the first round at Henley Royal Regatta. They have balanced their commitment to rowing with their studies and achieved two A*, four A and one B grades between them. Becca has gained a place to read mechanical engineering at Durham University whilst Poppy will read civil engineering at Bath University.

Yarm students are taking their next steps across a diverse range of top universities, competitive degree apprenticeships, and international opportunities. Indicative of the impressive breadth of talent in this year’s cohort, Paras Chahal has secured a spot to study dentistry at Universidad Catolica de Valencia, Nancy Hartley-Blake is heading to the world-renowned Central Saint Martins to study fashion communications: histories and theories; while Ryan Mills heads to the USA, securing an academic and swimming scholarship at Wingate University in North Carolina.

Direct pathways to industry continue to be a popular choice for Yarm students with Loveday Duncan securing a highly coveted law degree apprenticeship at Mishcon de Reya LLP’s London office, Alex Carter is travelling to Belfast to join the prestigious PwC Flying Start Programme, Cameron Morrison is joining the JP Morgan’s apprenticeship programme, Cameron Covell is heading to Microsoft and a number of other students are currently considering their next steps after receiving competitive apprenticeship offers from a wide range of leading companies alongside their university offers.

Medicine continued to be a popular choice for Yarm students, with three individuals securing highly coveted places to study medicine at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. They join a wider group of Yarm students heading to Oxbridge this year to read a broad range of subjects, reinforcing the school’s strong track record of academic excellence across the sciences, humanities, and arts.
Engineering and FAME subjects (finance, accountancy, management, and economics) also proved particularly popular, with nearly a quarter of Yarm students securing places on these sought after university programmes.

Results across all the subjects were strong with 73% of grades in mathematics achieving to top A*/A marks. Almost, 60% of the students studying economics achieved an A*/A grade. Yarm’s flourishing languages department which offers French, German and Spanish at A-level saw over two-thirds of students studying these languages achieve a A*/A grade. 100% of students studying Art gained an A* or A grade.

Dr Huw Williams, Headmaster, said: “We are delighted with the School’s overall results and are extremely proud of all of our students and grateful to all the staff who have supported them throughout their time at Yarm. Soundbites are easy on days like today, but we know the determination and commitment these students have put in to achieve these outstanding grades, and the challenges they’ve overcome on the way, and we are so proud of our students and warmly congratulate them.

“Academic success is only one part of their journey at Yarm. It has been a privilege to watch our students grow into confident young people, whether showing incredible determination on the sports field, singing, acting, dancing or debating on stage in the Auditorium, facing challenges on expeditions or demonstrating endeavour and ambition in the classroom. Whatever their grades today, our students leave us as mature, resilient and capable young adults prepared for their next steps, with highly sought-after skills and characteristics that employers are looking for.”