Congratulations to all our Upper Sixth students receiving their results today. The past few months have been extraordinarily difficult and challenging for everyone, and we’d like to pay tribute to Reigate College students for the enormous resilience and maturity they have displayed in these unprecedented circumstances.

As in previous years, there are numerous success stories this year with most students receiving the grades they needed to take up their first-choice university place, and even more headed for Russell Group universities than last year.

To name just a few, Ben Bradley (Chemistry A*, Maths A*, Further Maths A*, Physics A*) has secured his place to study Physics at Keble College, Oxford; Joel Aston (Biology A*, Chemistry A, French A, Maths A) is on his way to St Hilda’s College, Oxford to read Biochemistry; Deborah Elenge (Maths A*, Spanish A*, Chemistry B, Physics B,) will progress to Loughborough to study Chemical Engineering; and Oliver Frampton (Maths B, Economics B, Physics C), also going to Loughborough, will be doing Electronic and Electrical Engineering (Deborah and Oliver both pictured below).

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Deborah summed up the feelings of many students, saying, “Getting my results feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders,” adding that she can now look forward to starting her degree and being in a new city and meeting new people. Ben agreed, saying, “It’s good to be able to draw a line under my courses and move on to my degree. I’m grateful for all the support and preparation I’ve received at College – it’s given me a lot of skills I’ll be able to take with me to university.”

The College’s MVD (Medicine, Veterinary Science and Dentistry) Society has had another successful year. Among the students now taking up places at Medical School are Jacob Foulsham (Maths A*, Biology A, Chemistry A) who is going to Newcastle, Mukunth Kowsik (Maths A*, Biology A*, Chemistry A*) to Birmingham, and Cameron Fowler (Maths A*, Biology A, Chemistry A) who has a place at Leeds. Beth Aldridge (Biology A*, Chemistry A, Maths A) will be studying Veterinary Science at Nottingham.

Jacob today thanked the College for supporting him in his ambition to study Medicine, saying, “The support provided by the College was invaluable during the application process, particularly the advice and guidance given by Liz [Sanders] in our MVD sessions.”

The College’s Mix and Match programme enables students to take a combination of A Levels and BTEC subjects, and with a consistent pass rate of 100% at BTEC Level 3, there was again much celebration and relief from Mix and Match students this year.

For example, Maddie Bloomfield’s results (A Level Geography B, Maths C, BTEC Applied Science Distinction*) enable her to go to Leicester to do Geography, China-Marie Kill (A Level Sociology B, Politics B, BTEC Public Services Distinction*) is taking up her place to study Criminology at Bath and Poppy McAllister (A Level Film Studies B, English Language & Literature C, BTEC Music (Performance) Distinction*) is going to Chichester to do Acting for Film.

Maddie said, “I was over the moon when I got my results as I got into my first-choice university. I loved my time at College and I’m excited to move onto the next step.”

The more adult environment and teaching style at the College are excellent preparation for students choosing to progress to university. Indeed, studies from HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) show that Reigate College students are more likely to graduate with a 1st or 2:1, including from Russell Group universities, than students from any other sixth form provider. We were delighted to hear this week from Lizzie Coyle who left College in 2016 and has this summer achieved a 1st in Classics from Oxford and been awarded the university’s Ancient History prize following her finals results.

We wish all our students well, whatever their next steps may be.