In The Press
Alternative Course Proves Success
From The Bath Chronicle Thu 8 Jul, 2010
Students at a Bath secondary school are among the first in the South West to pick up their results for an alternative qualification to the traditional A levels. A group of sixth form pupils at the Royal High School have completed their two year Internatioanl Baccalaureate (IB) course. The maximum score was 45 and half of the cohort achieved at least 37, with two girls Sarah Mercer and Victoria Price dropping only one mark. IB co-ordinator Angharad Holloway said she was proud of her students for the hard work they had put into the course. She said: "We are absolutely delighted by the achievements of these pioneering students. Their commitment to the programme has been outstanding and I am so pleased to see so many of them now heading off to leading universities." Among their destainations are Cambridge, The London School of Economics and Durham. Ms Holloway added: "It has given everybody such confidence to see that our students are capable fo achieving the very highest grades when being measured against students from across the globe." IB is traditionally a qualification which is studed by 17 and 18 years olds on the continent, but more and more schools in the UK are starting to offer it as an alternative to A levels. Royal High Head Teacher Rebecca Dougall said: "These terriific results say a great deal about the hard work and ambition of both staff and students. Inevitably it has been a nerve-wracking wait for our first set of results and it is now very pleasing to reflect on such high levels of achievement. We look forward to further IB success next year."
Artists at the Royal High have also put on an exhibition of their best work and a number of them have confirmed places at colleges across the country to go on and study for an art foundation course. The show, held at the school, included drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture, as well as moving images and film and video art. Prizes have been given out to recognise the best work. The school's Director of Art, Graeme Preedy said: "We are delighted to be showing such a broad range of work again this year and for the first time in the Art School Studios. "All the students have worked incredibly hard through each of the art courses and the prizes go some way to recognising this."
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