Sixth Form

A-level Results

Sheffield High School is celebrating another record year with even better grades, including almost a quarter of all results at the new highest A* grade and with an unrivalled 61% of results at A*/A. The A*/A figure nationally is 27%.

The breakdown of grades shows that, in the school’s ninth year of a 100% pass rate, 95% of students achieved grades A* to C, including ten students who have gained at least 3 or 4 A* grades.

Once again, the girls at Sheffield High continue to buck the national trend, with over 50% of the exam entries from the 102 candidates in the year group being in Maths, Further Maths and the Sciences. All the record twelve students in the year group to receive offers from Oxford and Cambridge have met them and will be taking up their places in the autumn.

“I would like to congratulate the girls on these outstanding results and university placements” said Valerie Dunsford, Headmistress at Sheffield High School. “particularly in a year where competition for places has been the most fierce, due to the increase in University fees from 2012.”

Girls with four A stars apiece are –

Muna Ahmed who gained hers in Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Maths with another A-level grade A in Arabic. She also has a grade B AS-level in Critical Thinking and a distinction in the AQA Baccalaureate. She was one of 22 in this first cohort of students at Sheffield High School who tackled this new initiative. Not only does it challenge their academic skills, but it also includes an extended project and an extensive enrichment programme throughout a two-year period. This is just one example where we continually seek to extend the opportunities offered to our students. Not only is the Baccalaureate now firmly established within the Sixth Form curriculum but the school is also offering a new accredited leadership course for this age group. Muna is moving on to study Medicine
Caroline Appleby gained her four A stars in Physics, Russian, Maths and Further Maths with an A-level grade A in German. She is off to read Medieval and Modern Languages at Cambridge
Catherine Bi from Rotherham passed all four of her A-level subjects Biology, Chemistry, Maths and Further Maths at grade A*, with additional AS-levels in Critical Thinking and History – again both at the highest AS mark of grade A Catherine also has a distinction in the AQA Baccalaureate and will read Medicine at Cambridge University in October

Bethan Ellwood is moving on to read Veterinary Science at Cambridge with her four A* grades in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Maths. Bethan also has a distinction in her AQA Baccalaureate

.... and girls with three A stars plus are –

Naomi Andrews passed Physics, Maths and Further Maths all at A* and Chemistry at grade A with an additional AS level in IT, again at the highest AS mark of grade A. Naomi also passed the higher level STEP in maths and has a distinction in the AQA Baccalaureate. Naomi will now study maths at Warwick University

Georgina Blakey gained her three A stars in Biology, Chemistry and Physics with a grade A (again the top grade available) in AS Maths. Georgina also gained a distinction in the AQA Baccalaureate and is moving on to Leeds University to read medicine.
Alexandra Duesbury has A stars in History, German and Government & Politics with AS-level Economics, again at the top grade of A. Alexandra will now study law at the University of Leeds.
Rachel Hounslow gained her three A* grades in Chemistry, Physics and Maths with a grade A in A-level in Further Maths and an AS-level grade A in French. Rachel is going to Imperial College to read chemical engineering.
Natalie Watts passed all her three A levels at A* too! Hers were in History, French and English Literature. She also has a grade A in AS-level Maths and will read Modern Languages at UCL in the autumn.
Katherine Wensley, Deputy Head Girl, gained her three A stars in Biology, Chemistry and Physics with another A-level grade A in Maths. She also has AS-levels in Critical Thinking and History plus a distinction in the AQA Baccalaureate. Katherine is moving on to Oxford to read medicine

Henrietta Hill gained A* grades in Biology, Chemistry and Music, the last of which she studied at the Sheffield Music Academy. Henrietta also gained an A grade in Maths and a grade A in AS-level Geography. She has recently been commissioned to record with a professional piano trio in Manchester in September and will be moving on to Robinson College, Cambridge in October to read Natural Sciences

Straight A Twins

Identical twins Isobel and Thea Dickens have achieved straight As in their A-levels after their twenty straight A grade results at GCSE between them!

Isobel and Thea (talented sporting starts and musicians) are both celebrating their straight A results. They both passed at grade A in their common subjects of Biology and Chemistry, Thea achieved another grade A in Geography whereas Isobel achieved an A* in Physical Education. Both already have a grade A at AS-level in Physics and Thea also passed Critical Thinking.

Isobel has a place to read medicine in Liverpool and Thea is moving on to study dentistry in Leeds.

Netball ‘A’ Team

The Sheffield High School netball team who, as Under 14s, were runner-up in the country in the National Schools Netball Competition and became back-to-back GDST Netball Champions in the Sixth Form, received the amazing news that every single one of them had straight grade As at A-level with a sprinkling of A stars to boot! Twenty-three grade As between them, seven with 7 stars and 16 grade A! They are –

• Jordan Keogh, Captain and Deputy Head Girl
• Katie Wensley, Deputy Head Girl
• Thea Dickens
• Isobel Dickens
• Maria Swann
• Kate Rundle
• Lauren Potter, International U21

Young A-level Language Achievements

Pupils from Sheffield High School who have taken different language A-level papers at an early age have also been celebrating their outstanding achievements –

Sisters 14 year old Mazarine and 16 year old Camelia Yousefour from Millhouses who both passed full A-level French, both with a grade A and Mazarine with an A* at the age of 14!
Year 10 pupils Emily Jia, Wimzie Ma and Anastasia Paschali completed their full A-levels, Emily and Wimzie in Chinese and Anastasia in Greek
Clare Rees-Zimmerman has a grade A in both AS-level French and Maths at the age of fifteen

Year 11 sisters Marah and Reem Ayad both achieved a grade A in AS-level Arabic.

Medical Careers Beckon

Over 14 students from this year group are off to study medicine or medically-related courses – not surprising as the Sixth Formers from Sheffield High School have bucked the trend for female students, with over 50% of the A-levels studied by this cohort being in Maths or the Sciences!

.... and girls in Single Sex Schools Still Lead the A-level Race!

Sheffield High School is one of 26 schools in the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), the UK’s largest educational charity and, while national figures show an improvement in boys’ results this year, exam successes in GDST schools highlight how well girls continue to do in single-sex schools.

A-level results indicate that its network of girls’ schools have significantly outperformed independent schools as a whole. Of the 1,280 A-level students at GDST independent schools, 62.3% of this year’s grades are A* and A, compared with independent schools overall attaining 50.8%. These results are even more impressive given that they are almost entirely in traditional subjects most valued by leading universities.

This difference continues with GDST students achieving 24.3% A* and 85.7% A*-B, compared with the independent schools’ averages of 18.1% for A* and 76.2% for grades A*-B. Nationally, in all schools, 8.2% achieve grade A* and just under 53% grades A* -B.

GDST Chief Executive Helen Fraser CBE said: “This year’s results reinforce our view about the benefits of single-sex education. Girls in single-sex schools find their voices and learn to be leaders; they can take intellectual risks, ask questions and make academic judgements without worrying about what impression they make on boys.”

“The skills, knowledge and confidence built in such a positive environment transfers into the excellent A-level results we see today in our schools. These impressive grades in valuable subjects mean the vast majority of our students achieve their choice of Higher Education.”

Our A-level Results (2006-2010)

Grades	2010	2009	2008	2007	2006
A*	19.7%
A* – A	53.8%	58.3%	57.1%	59.4%	57.1%
A* – B*	76.2%	82.5%	80.3%	82.0%	82.4%
A* – C*	92.6%	93.5%	94.9%	94.7%	95.7%
A* – D*	99.0%	98.0%	98.5%	98.9%	99.6%
A* – E*	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%

For details of our leavers’ destinations in 2011, please click here

For a copy of our 2011 examination results, please click here