GCSE students at Benenden School are celebrating another set of impressive results.
Headmistress Rachel Bailey congratulated the girls for their “outstanding” results after 79 per cent of all grades were awarded Levels 9-7.
Three students are today celebrating clean sweeps of Level 9 grades – the highest available – while 11 per cent of the year group achieved at least nine Level 9 grades.
In fact, Level 9 was the most common grade at Benenden, with 40 per cent of all results earning the top grade. Some 62 per cent were Levels 9-8.
Benenden Headmistress Rachel Bailey said: “Many congratulations to this year’s Upper Fifth who should be very proud of their outstanding results.
“The girls have worked incredibly hard over the past few years and this is reflected in today’s results. As ever, they have been wonderfully supported by our superb teachers and the pastoral team who collectively work to ensure each student achieves her very best.”
Today’s results follow the success last week of Benenden’s Sixth Formers, when the top A Level grade rose year-on-year to 31 per cent.
Another pleasing aspect of today’s results is the Value-Added score – the measure of how much a school has improved its students’ grades. Benenden’s GCSE Value-Added score is 0.7, meaning on average students achieve almost a grade higher than they were on track to achieve at the start of Year 10.
Ms Bailey added: “Every student at Benenden – whether a boarder or day student – benefits from our boarding school approach, in which we get to know the girls really well as individuals and we work with them on a one-to-one basis to support them in whatever way they need. Today’s Value-Added score demonstrates the success of this supportive academic approach.
“At Benenden we are committed to fully preparing our students for the workplace and life, and while exam results are of course very important, we look forward to the vast majority of these students moving into Benenden’s Sixth Form where they will embrace our renowned Professional Skills Programme and the opportunity to fulfil leadership positions in School.
“I know that this year group will continue to flourish and we look forward to working with them for the next two years, during which time they will be great role models for the younger girls.”
Importantly for a school which is renowned for shaping future generations of successful, visionary women, Benenden’s Upper Fifth are breaking the gender norms with their A Level choices. The most popular subject choices at Benenden for next year are Maths, Economics, the Sciences and Business.
Benenden’s innovative curriculum adopts an enquiry-led approach and also features the Electives Programme, offering short courses in professional areas such as sign language, meteorology and journalism, and Inclusive Leadership which focuses on the behaviours and creative problem-solving required by modern workplaces.
In the Sixth Form – which has just won the Muddy’s Awesome Sixth Form Award – all students complete the Professional Skills Programme, a two-year course teaching the skills needed to thrive in the workplace and beyond, including modules such as financial literacy, psychometric testing and the Enterprise Challenge in which teams launch their own businesses.
Benenden School is regarded as one of the leading girls’ schools in the UK and for the past three years has been included in the Spear’s Global Index of the world’s 100 best schools.
Join us for our Sixth Form Open Event on Thursday 11 September. Book here.