The Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA) highlighted some impressive GCSE successes among its pupils today (Thursday 20 August).
The school said that among the students celebrating significant achievements were
- Kishwar Nawsheen, who achieved 11 A* to C grades including seven grades at A* and three at A.
- Khadija Begum, who achieved 10 grades at A* to C including four grades at A* or A. Khadija plans to study English literature, biology and child development at BACA’s sixth form next year.
- Tamara Douglas, who achieved nine grades at A* to C including two A* or A. Tamara is pursuing her passion for media as she joins the Brighton Digital Media Academy at BACA’s sixth form next year along with studying English literature and art.
- Louis Graham, who achieved nine grades at A* to C including two grades at A* or A. He will also be joining BACA’s sixth form to be part of the Brighton Digital Media Academy along with studying English literature and history.
- Lauren Barnard, who achieved 11 grades at A* to C.
- Kaid Reigan, who achieved 10 grades at A* to C.
Overall 30 per cent of pupils earned achieved good GCSEs – five passes at A* to C including English and maths.
The school said: “Since the big changes to the GCSE exams and performance measures last year BACA has seen an increase in the headline measure of five GCSEs at A* to C including English and maths (first entry) over 2014.
“BACA’s English department saw remarkable success as 73 per cent of students secured A* to C, with 87 per cent of students making expected progress and 43 per cent making good progress.
“This year a record number of BACA’s year 11 students are staying on to BACA’s sixth form, and on the basis of BACA’s 100 per cent success rate at A level last week, these students are expected to leave in two years’ time with the qualifications they need to secure their places at university, further education or employment.”
Principal Dylan Davies said: “Since opening, the academy has made good progress and this is reflected in the achievements of the students mentioned here.
“It is also a measure of our progress that the number of students joining the academy in year 7 next month is significantly increasing.
“The work we do with the Aldridge Foundation, the citywide Secondary School Partnership (SSP) and challenge partners continues to be a positive force in helping us raise standards at BACA.
“The Brighton Digital Media Academy at BACA, the superb sports facilities and coaching, such as the Aldridge Cricket Academy, and participation in the United Kingdom Mathematical Trust’s maths challenges demonstrate the progress and great opportunities attracting students to BACA.”
The school’s chair of governors, Peter Kyle, said: “While being proud of the progress students make from joining us out of primary school, we fully recognise that we still have some way to go to get to the position where our students, irrespective of the start that they have had, consistently achieve GCSE results comparable with students from schools at the top of the league tables in the city.
“We believe that our students and community deserve the same chances as every other in the city and are committed to continuing to improve wherever we can to ensure that translates into the league table performance parents look at and schools are judged by as soon as possible.
“That means continuing to improve learning at the academy and extending our work even further into our community and primary schools, helping local children to get the most from their secondary education and beyond.”