Selby College celebrates Class of 2020 results success

Selby College celebrates another year of success for its A Level students.

Outstanding grades were achieved across the College’s A Level subject areas, including Art, Design & Media, Business and Law, Geography, History, ICT and Computing, Languages, Mathematics, Psychology, Science, Sociology and Sport.

Many of the College’s students are looking forward to moving on to Higher Education courses at a range of Russell Group universities, including Durham University, University of Manchester, University of Nottingham and the University of Oxford.

Some students also plan to study locally and enrol onto Selby College’s Higher Education programmes. Jessica Smith, Student Governor at Selby College, has chosen to carry out a Higher National Certificate in Computing before progressing on to BsC Hons in Applied Computing, at the College.

Taking the spotlight as the College’s overall top A Level performers, were Rachel Kane and Thomas Grant.

Rachel Kane, formerly of Selby High, achieved three A* grades in Maths, Further Maths and Physics and an A grade in Chemistry. Rachel is going on to carry out a four-year Masters programme in Physics at the University of Bristol.

Rachel, who would like to pursue a career in Physics after university, said: ‘I’ve really enjoyed my time here, it’s a really good College. Everyone has been so helpful and supportive, and there was always someone to go to if I ever had a problem or needed extra help. All my tutors were great, but my Physics teacher Liam has helped so much! He is the best tutor!’

Former Brayton High School student Thomas Grant, also secured three A* grades in Maths, Further Maths and Physics. Thomas is progressing on to study Economics at the University of Nottingham in September and would like to pursue a career in the economics sector following this.

“I would like to say thank you to all of my tutors for their support, particularly my Math’s teachers Sam Hunter and Ian King and my Guidance and Support Tutor, Debbie Godwin, who has been extremely supportive in helping me with my university application. I’m really happy with my results and I’m looking forward to starting at the University of Nottingham in September,” said Thomas.

Fergus Sandham also secured his dream place studying Law (BA in Jurisprudence) at St. Peters College at the University of Oxford. Fergus, who previously attended Howden High School, achieved two A* grades in English Literature and Psychology and an A in History. His ultimate ambition is to work at a solicitors firm in London, which he hopes to go on to do following the completion of his course at Oxford University.

“I’ve had a great time at College – I play Rugby in Selby so it’s been good to spend more time with my teammates here. History has been my favourite subject – it’s been really interesting learning about so many different periods of time. My History tutor, Alan Brown, stands out for me as somebody I’d really like to thank!” said Fergus.

Other top performing students include:

• Charlotte Ross – Mathematics (A*), Chemistry (A) and English Literature and Language (A)
• Olivia Sharp – Phycology (A*), Maths (A) and Chemistry (A)
• Molly Noot – English Language (A*), English Literature (A) and History (A)
• Samuel Allison – Mathematics (A*), Physics (A*), Further Maths (A) and French (B)
• Caitlin Walters – Mathematics (A), Computing (A) and English Language (A)

Students were able to collect their results on campus from 8am this morning, with a queuing system and social distancing in place to limit the number of students entering at one time.

These excellent results come following what has been a difficult academic year, after the cancellation of all exams to help fight the spread of Covid-19. As a result of this, The Department for Education implemented a grading process to ensure students’ hard work was fairly recognised.

Phil Sayles, Principal and Chief Executive of Selby College, said: “We had evidence before lockdown that our students were progressing slightly better than the previous year, and this has been borne out overall in the exam board-moderated results our students have received. We are delighted at the many great success stories and are extremely proud of all our students and their achievements, in what has been a particularly difficult year. We wish them the best of luck on their journeys, whether that be attending university, going on to an apprenticeship route, employment or even carrying out degree-level study here at Selby College.

“We will also support any students who feel disappointed with their exam-board calculated grades, ensuring that they will emerge from lockdown to pursue the opportunities they want to,” he added.

Selby College offers a range of Higher Education courses such as HND Art & Design (Arts Practice), HNC Business, HNC Computing, Foundation Degree (FdEd in Early Childhood Studies) and BSc (Hons) Sport Coaching and Exercise Science.