Headmaster's View on Latest Exam Results

As regards yesterday’s GCSE results it is certainly remarkable that across the 5th Year cohort of 128 students nearly 60% of all exams were marked A*/A, the best in five years. There are a combination of factors that have contributed to this happy outcome; the first is simply down to the hard work and commitment of the students – there was great work ethic in evidence and they set the bar high for each other. Also, the dedication of our teachers in tracking, monitoring and intervening with individual students is a distinctive feature of Truro School life. Finally, we took a progressive decision a couple of years ago in light of the imminent curriculum and examination changes to increase teaching time in GCSE subjects and prioritise quality over quantity. This has paid real dividends.

With a week since A level results, our university acceptance picture is very impressive indeed. Of the 100 students who applied to university through UCAS, 79 have accepted places at their first choice university and a further 17 at their insurance choice university. The small remainder have either accepted or are waiting on offers through Clearing with guidance and support from our sixth form team. These are certainly the best stats in my time as Headmaster and we are lucky to have such a strong team in place to provide first rate careers and university guidance. 60% of this year’s university places are confirmed at universities in the Sutton Trust 30 – the 30 most selective UK universities according to the Times University Guide. It’s rather tempting to offer my services as a bag carrier to the rest of the year group who have exciting gap year plans in store.

I must comment on the feedback I’ve had from the cast and teachers who have recently returned from a fabulous week at the Edinburgh Fringe receiving super audience reviews on the EdFringe website, Twitter and Facebook. The cast of 18 rehearsed and performed ‘Boy in a Bottle’ – a new play, especially commissioned for them and written by cube essential theatre’s Benjamin Symes. The show was an enormous success with audience numbers far exceeding the Fringe average. On the final day they performed to a sellout audience of over 100. Once again, our students did us proud and came home buzzing about the whole experience. Grace, one of the cast, wrote that “Taking part in “Boy in a Bottle” was truly an amazing experience and I loved every minute of it. Not only was it great to be a part of a unique show at a professional level, but all of the time we spent together as a company drew us all even closer to each other. This meant that by the time we left for Edinburgh we’d bonded through our shared love of the film “Fantastic Mr Fox” (which quickly became a cast favourite) as well as belting out songs from “Prince of Egypt” and many, many rounds of card games.” To quote Ms Egar “They’ve also learnt so much – not just about performing, but about the importance and rewards of hard work, the value of living and working together as a community, how to market and publicise a product and how to use imagination and creativity to problem-solve, develop and grow in both a personal and professional sense.” Mr Oldfield, our Director of Drama tells me they were an absolute pleasure to work with.