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St Swithun’s celebrates the school’s highest ever top GCSE grades |
Students at St Swithun’s school in Winchester have surpassed previous top GCSE grades, with the exception of pandemic years. 35% of grades were Grade 9, an uplift of 5% on the previous year and 59% of grades were 9/8/A* with 76% being 7/A and above.
This year saw St Swithun’s students take an average of 9.7 GCSEs each. 56% of the cohort earned six or more 9/8/A* grades and over a quarter of the year group gained nine or more 9/8/A* grades. 11 students achieved straight 9/8/A* grades, three of whom gained all 9s.
The all-girls’ school saw students excel in chemistry, with 78% of students achieving 9/8 and 90% attaining grades of 7 and above. Biology results were similarly high, with 75% of grades being 9/8 and 86% being 7 and above.
100% of design and technology students received grades entirely within the 9-8 range and 94% of Latin grades were 9/8 with the remainder being 7s. Other standout grades were achieved in French, German, history, music and religious studies, amongst others. A quarter of the year group took IGCSE further mathematics, with 82% of grades being 7 and above.
A large number of students achieved outstanding results including Julia C, a boarder at St Swithun’s, who obtained 12 grade 9s including Chinese and Spanish which she took in year 9 and year 10 respectively. She plays both the cello and piano and is a key member of the String and Symphony Orchestras at school. A keen scientist, she won the 2024 Oxford Scientist School Science Writing Competition. Day student Freya W also recieved 12 grade 9's and Ankara P received 11 grade 9s.
Music scholar Emma P received 10 grade 9s at GCSE. An accomplished pianist, flautist and violinist, she is currently studying piano and flute in the junior department at Royal College of Music in London. Emma also received a gold award in the Junior Chemistry Challenge as well as achieving the gold/kangaroo award in the Intermediate Maths Challenge.
Boarder Ingrid L obtained straight 9 and 8 grades in the 11 GCSEs that she completed. Alongside her academic commitments Ingrid has played lead roles in a variety of drama productions and represented Hong Kong in the U20s Lacrosse World Championships as well as being in the school’s U15A National Lacrosse Championship winning team.
Jane Gandee, headmistress at St Swithun’s said, “These strong results reflect our purposeful yet light-hearted approach, and the girls’ own high levels of self-motivation.”
The news follows the announcement that St Swithun’s surpassed their best-ever year for A* grades at A level last week with 10% of students heading to Oxford and Cambridge alongside other prestigious destinations.
St Swithun’s has a reputation for academic excellence whilst seeing pupils flourish in extra-curricular activities such as sport, music, drama, academic enrichment, volunteering and the Duke of Edinburgh Award. Accredited as a High Performance Learning World Class School, St Swithun’s holds the belief that high achievement is an attainable target for everyone; high performers are not born, they work for it.