Category: Sixth Form News

Parliament Week at the Bodleian Libraries, Thursday 17th November

In 1646, as the chaos of the Civil War raged across the land, the Royalist Parliament gathered in a series of chambers in Oxford, owned by the University. It was in one of these rooms, Convocation House, that we gathered over 300 years later. However, our chaos, our monumental event, and, as we were told, the defining political moment of our generation, is not a war. It is, of course, Brexit.

It was part of "Parliament Week" and we, as students of the Government and Politics variety, had been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to attend a session on post-war Britain's relationship with continental Europe and, by extension, the EU. This began with a series of lectures by academics from the University's Department of Politics and International Relations. These spoke of the history of the relationship and the significance of the referendum result. We were also asked to consider Britain's future outside the EU.

However this was a prelude to the grand event wherein, after having been given a rather up-market buffet lunch, we were ferried away from the modern library complex to the stone pillars and wooden benches of Convocation House. Here we were to participate in a discussion about the referendum, with a panel that was a picture of the British Political Landscape: Labour's Will Straw who served as executive director of Britain Stronger in Europe, Ken Clarke MP who is regarded as a "Big Beast" within the Conservative Party and the House of Commons, Caroline Lees of Reuters, and BBC journalist Chris Bowlby.

They spoke of the failures of the remain side to gain momentum, the passing of the 1972 European Communities Act and how the Commons has changed since then, and the idea that we are living in a "Post-Truth" world. After this we were given the opportunity to bombard the panel with questions and, as the event began to end and the other schools filter out, we stayed behind and started many dialogues with the panellists.

- Jody, Year 12

Category: Sixth Form News

Our performance in the key measure has improved this year by 2%, which is better than the national trend. This year 53% of A levels sat were at A* to B grades. Every student who wanted a university place had achieved one on the day the results were published, which is a remarkable achievement.

Families and teachers take pride in their support of young people through A Level study but, more than elsewhere, the young people themselves deserve the credit for success. There is no way of escaping the need to do a lot of independent study and take responsibility for your own learning. Not everyone will get what they hoped for; that is an unpleasant fact of life. Those who have been successful will have done a lot of work over a sustained period. We are very proud of them.

We might also note the success of students on vocational courses. We have had a considerable number take fairly challenging BTEC courses in this cohort. A large number of these have been very successful indeed, and used this as a route into work, apprenticeships or university. This group have helped turn this into a valid route to rival that of A Levels for many young people.

If we can single one person out it would be Ed Church. This time last year he had such a challenging day because his AS results had not been what he wanted. In fact they were some way short. Where others might have lowered expectations or looked for excuses, Ed took responsibility, rolled his sleeves up and worked incredibly hard. He has been rewarded with 3 A* grades at A Level. It is not his success and brains that we are particularly proud of as much as his determination to keep aiming high, and working even harder when things did not go well. He deserves to feel as proud of himself as he probably is right now.