Adaptability, Creativity, Courage... and a smattering of Hope.

This year, following the cancellation of exams, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 qualification grades were awarded through a robust and rigorous process, overseen by Trust and School Senior Leaders, against a national standard and approved and awarded by the exam boards.

At the end of what has been an extraordinary week, we are delighted to congratulate all our students on the resilience and character they have shown throughout a difficult and disrupted academic year. Notable achievements have been seen as students from our Danes Educational Trust secondary schools received their GCSE, A Level and Vocational qualification results and we very much trust that they may look forward to exciting opportunities in the future to come. We are immensely proud of them all.

Fantastic results include 13 A Level students who each achieved a minimum of 3 A*s. At St Clement Danes School, Oleg Tretieu attained 5 A* grades, Louis Ertl 4 A*s and an A* in his EPQ and Francesca Dann and James Moran 4 A*s each. Meanwhile at Chancellor’s School, Max Lee attained 4 A* grades and Harvey Buhagiar and Sophie Lucas 3 A* grades and an A grade each. Louise Newman from OSA attained Distinction*, Distinction* and A* and will now go on to read Physiotherapy at Leeds Beckett. From Elstree Screen Arts, Iona Godfrey attained Distinction* in Specialist Production Make up, Distinction* in Forensic Science and an A grade in Mathematics A Level, while Sophie Sanderson and Sadie Smith both attained a Distinction* in Music Performance and Distinction* in Music Technology and a Distinction in Level 3 Art and Media UAL respectively.

Exceptional progress was also seen including, from Chancellor’s School, Ellie Richards who will read Mathematics at Exeter and from OSA, Luke Hobbs who will read Biology at Nottingham.

Students from across our secondary schools will, as ever, be reading the full range of subjects at some of the country’s most prestigious universities including Bristol, Durham, Imperial College, UCL, LSE, Manchester and Edinburgh. From St Clement Danes School, Louis Ertl will study medicine at Sheffield, Katie Bugler will read Law at Cambridge and Ellie Moriuchi English Literature at Oxford. We are equally delighted that at Elstree Screen Arts, a specialist educator in the Creative Arts, Communication and Technology, 100% of Key Stage 5 students are progressing to meaningful destinations as diverse as the Centre of Screen Excellence, Elstree; Eden Project, Cornwall; The Institute of Contemporary Music Performance; Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and Escape Studios to study a range of subjects including Marine and Natural History Photography, Game Design and Development and Costume Construction.

Our GCSE and Level 2 students are no less to be congratulated. For their achievement, underpinned by sustained endeavour, the following students should be recognised. Eight Grade 9s and one Grade 8 were attained by Ahmed Hamid at OSA while the results of Janelle Obcena, Ethan Pledge, Georgie Elmer-Roads and Luke Brockwell displayed exceptional Value-Added as a result of their 5 years of education at our Hatfield school. At Chancellor’s School, Joseph Kleiner-Mann attained 11 Grade 9s while 5 students achieved, on average, two and a half grades higher than their target grades: Daniel Wootton, Raina Ramadhin, Liam Hummell, Stanley Young and Keira Hearn. Also deserving of special congratulations are Loren Sloan and Lucca Ndefo from Elstree Screen Arts who each surpassed their target grades, attaining, between them, 18 Grades at 7 to 9. At St Clement Danes School, four students - Isla Smith, Magarishi Chandra, Rishi Patel and Maya Chudasama - each achieved a clean sweep of Grade 9s and Lucy Fairhurst and Cora Pearce each achieved eight Grade 9s and one Grade 8.

The grades our students have achieved are a tribute to their own hard work, sustained energy and conscientious approach throughout two years of academic study and the exceptional, intelligent and compassionate support provided by their schools and teachers throughout the pandemic.

No less laudable is what our students have shown themselves to be: adaptable, creative and courageous. May their futures be bright always.