Chiswick School Students Excel at A Levels

Over 40% of cohort gains place at Russell Group University

Chiswick School sixth formers Megan, Alice, Olivia, Betsy, Eloise & Aoife

August 15, 2024

The A Level results released this Thursday (15 August) have confirmed an excellent performance at Chiswick School.

Over 40% of the cohort gained places places at Russell Group universities including at Oxbridge. Among these are a higher than usual number of students studying Medicine. This was a year group which faced some exceptional challenges including disruption to their education during lockdown.

As well as these more traditional successes, Chiswick there have been high grades gained in courses ranging from Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence to Comic & Concept Art.

Particularly strong subjects included history in which 40% of students who studied for A Level achieved an A* or and A which was closely followed by 34% of students who studied Maths A Level being awarded an A*to A grade.

The academic picture as a whole was equally positive with 25% of all grades being above an A and 85% of grades at A*-C, a measure that is significantly above the national average.

Headteacher Laura Ellener said, "as a school community we are incredibly proud of our 2024 leavers and their brilliant results are testament to the hard work they have put in over the years. Of course none of this would have been possible without the exceptional dedication of Chiswick School staff and the support of our pupils' families. We are excited to hear all about these students’ next steps and welcoming them back as part of our alumni network."

From left to right: Finn is going to Oxford to study physics, Dylan is off to Loughborough to do Maths and Stats and Maxim is staying in London to study Biochemistry at Imperial

Head of Sixth Form, Christian Williams added, “we are delighted to see another set of excellent results from Chiswick Sixth Form students. It is especially gratifying for the students to achieve these results having also embraced such a range of extracurricular commitments during their time in the Sixth Form.”

Some of the most exceptional results can be found below:

• Finn A*,A*,A*,A* will be studying Physics at University of Oxford.
• Charles A*,A*,A* will be studying Economics and Management at University of Loughborough.
• Jamie A*,A*,A*A will be studying Theoretical Physics at University of Birmingham.
• Maxim A*,A*,A*,A will be studying Biochemistry at Imperial College London
• Eloise A*,A*,A,A will be studying Geography at University of Oxford.
• Megan, A*A,A,A will be studying Medicine at University of Nottingham.
• Tala A*A*A will be studying Medicine at the University of Manchester.
• Ola A*,A,A will be studying History and Politics at The University of Edinburgh.
• Magnus A*,A,A,A will be studying Physics at The University of Bath.
• Oscar A*,A,A will be studying Law and SOAS University of London.
• Aoife A*,A,A will be studying Psychology at the University of Birmingham.
• Dylan A*,A,A will be studying Mathematics with Statistics at Loughborough University
• Jed A,A,A will be studying Sport and Exercise Psychology at Loughborough University.
• Alice A,A,A will be studying Psychology at the University of Leeds.

Jamie (left) has a place at Birmingham to study theoretical physics and Magnus is going to Bath to study physics

Across the country, the proportion of A-level entries awarded top grades increased compared with 2023 and is now above that seen before the pandemic. This current cohort was in Year 9 when schools were shut due to Covid-19 and was the first to sit GCSEs when they were reintroduced.

27.8% of entries were awarded an A or A* grade, up by 0.6 percentage points on last year and higher that the 25.4% seen in 2019.

The proportion awarded the top A* grade this year has risen by 0.4 percentage points to 9.3% and it is higher than 2019 when it was 7.7%. Excluding the pandemic years this is the highest proportion of the starred grade given out since it was first available in 2010.

Overall, 243,650 18-year-old applicants from the UK have been accepted at a university or college up 6% from last year.

Boys have pulled further ahead of girls at the top grade, with 9.5% scoring an A* compared with 9.1% of girls reversing the position during the pandemic.

Ofqual figures show that, 49.4% of independent school candidates scored grade A or above in all subjects, compared with 22.3% of those at comprehensive schools a wider gap that seen in previous years.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said in an interview on Times Radio, “They’ve been through an awful lot in recent years and they’ve shown tremendous resilience, and they’ve had fantastic support from the staff and teachers within their schools and colleges, and it’s a big and exciting day for them.”