Senior Department

2019-06-21 Senior Department Newsletter

The Senior Department school day begins with registration at 08.35 in tutor groups.

On Mondays this is followed by assembly, on Tuesday and Friday tutorials, on Wednesday House meetings and on Thursday Chapel. Lessons begin at 09.00. We have a ten period day with a majority of the lessons being taught in double periods and some single lessons. Each lesson is 35 minutes with period 8 and 9 being 30 minutes. Pupils are given a 15 minute break at 10.10 and lunch is from 12.45. Pupils who attend clubs and activities at lunchtime do so before a 13.20 lunch. Afternoon registration is at 13.45 with lessons beginning at 13.50. A five minute break marks the end of the formal timetable and between 16.05 and 16.50 pupils will be in prep, activities or intervention/revision sessions.

GCSE:
With almost a third of all grades awarded at grades 7 – 9, equivalent to the old A**-A, Saint Felix is delighted with strong performances across the board in this year’s GCSE results.

This year’s GCSE students have worked in challenging circumstances with uncertainty around course content and exam formats, as well as further moves towards the new grading system. Encouragingly, this year’s overall pass rate represents an increase to 81.5%, 2.5% up on last year, with consistent improvement in all subjects. While the core subjects of Maths, English and Science are always strong, this year has seen widespread success in the arts, humanities and languages too.

Headmaster James Harrison said: “Today’s GCSE results have been once again encouraging, with credit due to all pupils and their teachers. In a sense this cohort of students have been treated like guinea pigs regarding the reformed qualifications with great uncertainty throughout their two years about the nature of the assessments and their grading. The resilience of our pupils is demonstrated by an increase in the overall pass rate from last year, and a number of fantastic individual successes.”

Smriti Gokarn, who is also part of the hugely successful Saint Felix swimming squad, achieved 1 grade 9, 6 grade 8s and 3 Grade 7s. Fellow student Lily Talbot was awarded 2 9s, 4 8s and 4 7s. Both girls will be continuing their studies at the school with A Levels in the Sixth Form.

TOTAL NUMBER OF PUPILS – 27

PASS RATE % 9-4 (A**- C) – 82%

PASS RATE % 9-7 (A**- A) – 27%

% of pupils achieving at least grade 4 in English and Maths – 70%

Total number of students – 27

Total number of exam entries – 222

A LEVEL:
We are celebrating another strong set of A Level results, with a pass rate of 94.4% and an impressive 73.3% of grades at A* – C. With 4 pupils achieving grade A in Mathematics, this continues to be one of our leading subjects.  

Of those pupils that have opted to continue studying at university, the vast majority have secured places at their first choice. Four students have received offers from prestigious music school BIMM (British Institute of Modern Music) Birmingham: Timothy Vixseboxse and Tony Liu, both international students, to study music production, alongside fellow international Ellen Li who plans to take vocal studies. Chloe Hillier, from Reydon, who took the lead role in the Senior Department’s summer production of Mary Poppins Jr, also has a place to further her vocal studies at the Institute.

We congratulate all pupils for their hard work and commitment over the past two years. Rosie Kinsella deserves special recognition having achieved A* in Ancient History, including 100% scores in two of her four final papers, after studying the full course in just one year. Other notable successes for the school include Jake Thomas-Mansfield who achieved 3 As in Mathematics, Physics and Biology and is now heading to Birmingham University. Honor Whyte will be reading Anthropology at Exeter University based on her AAB grades.

Headmaster James Harrison said: “I have the highest praise for all of our Sixth Formers today. Strong results across the Classics, Music, Sciences and the Arts demonstrate that the Saint Felix approach works: offering a broad curriculum, in small tutorial-style classes, tailored to each individual student and supported by a committed and inspirational teaching team.”