Forty-seven pupils have been offered places at Oxford and Cambridge this year, easily exceeding the previous QE record of 40.
Thirty-two offers have come from Cambridge and 15 from Oxford, spanning a huge range of subjects, from Engineering to Medicine and from Languages to Law.
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This figure of 47 represents a magnificent achievement both for the boys themselves and for our dedicated team of staff, including those who teach them and those who have used their considerable experience to guide them through the application process. My heartfelt congratulations go to them all.
“To secure their offers, these pupils have demonstrated not just their mastery of their curriculum subjects, but the breadth of knowledge and the free-thinking scholarship that we seek to nurture in all our pupils.
“In March this year, we celebrate the 450th anniversary of the School’s foundation by royal charter: what better way to mark our anniversary year than with this outstanding performance!”
The Oxford total of 15 offers is itself a QE record, as is the total of 32 at Cambridge. QE’s Oxbridge offers come from some of the oldest colleges – such as Oxford’s Balliol, founded in 1263 – and by some of the newest, including Lucy Cavendish at Cambridge, which was established in 1965 and achieved recognition as a constituent college in 1977.
Subjects to be studied include some of the ancient universities’ most famous courses: two students will take Oxford’s Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) degree, while four will read Natural Sciences at Cambridge.
There are offers across the arts, humanities and sciences, with the subjects gaining the highest number of offers as follows:
- Medicine (eight places)
- Mathematics (seven, plus one in combination with Computer Science)
- Engineering (seven, plus two more for Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology)
- Natural Sciences (four)
- Economics (two, plus two in combination with Management).
The 2022 School Captain, Theo Mama-Kahn, currently in Year 13, is among the 47, securing an offer to read French and German at Wadham College, Oxford.
Mr Enright added: “I am tremendously proud that, as a state school welcoming very able boys of all backgrounds, we have been able to secure such a high number of offers.
“As ever, there are some strong and highly capable candidates who nevertheless missed out on places at Oxford and Cambridge, but they, like so many of their Year 13 peers are being offered places at other leading universities in the UK and elsewhere.
“I look forward to all these Elizabethans going on to great success in their careers and lives, making a worthwhile and significant contribution to society.”
Headmaster Neil Enright said: “This confirmation of our record-breaking A-level performance caps a fantastic year for QE. The achievement is all the more remarkable since this year’s leavers were disrupted throughout their time in the Sixth Form by the pandemic: my congratulations once again go to them – and to our staff – for showing such flexibility, hard work and fortitude in the face of repeated national lockdowns.
“2022 has also seen: the opening of our fantastic new Music building (The Friends’ Recital Hall and Music Rooms); the securing of 35 places at Oxford and Cambridge; the publication of an Ofsted report which found QE to be ‘outstanding’ across all areas, and this month’s royal visit by HRH The Duke of Gloucester. It has truly been Queen Elizabeth’s School’s annus mirabilis!
The upper reaches of this year’s Parent Power state school table are dominated by grammar schools, with the top 28 schools all fully selective – a fact expounded by the Parent Power editor, Helen Davies.
In fact, the results at the highest grades are not only stronger than for the last pre-pandemic GCSEs in 2019, but also surpass last year, when the Government brought in a system of Teacher Assessed Grades.
“These pupils had to cope with home-learning, close-contact isolation, stringent health & safety measures and frequently changing routines. Yet their results indicate that while the methods used by them and their teachers were somewhat different from normal years, they have delivered on their potential. They worked diligently and with dedication, were always mature about the challenges, and were enthusiastic about embracing all the opportunities available to them, both within and beyond the classroom.
Among the key highlights of today’s GCSE results at QE are:
Mr Enright added: “Looking back, necessary though the lockdowns and pandemic restrictions were, we can now see that they gave staff, pupils and parents alike a fresh appreciation of the benefits of on-site learning. Happily, things here have since rebounded as strongly as ever, with these pupils, and the School as a whole, able to look forward with optimism to what comes next.”
Not only are the results better than in the past two years, when no examinations were taken and figures were based on assessments, but they are also up on the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.
“The return of public exams has given the boys the opportunity to clearly demonstrate the fruits of their continued hard work and focus during the challenges of the pandemic, and their strong motivation to push forwards.
A* grades amount to 69.9% of all results – up 10.4% on 2021 (when there were Teacher Assessed Grades or TAGs), and up from 45.3% in 2019; *
Mr Enright said: “As the Ofsted report helpfully pointed out, at QE, we are resolutely determined to keep up the momentum with further improvements. It’s not just about academic results – important though these are – but about achieving our mission to develop fully-rounded young men ready to make a positive impact in a fast-changing world.
The ceremony saw pupils from Years 7–9 awarded around 75 prizes for academic subjects and extra-curricular activities such as chess, drama and public speaking & debating, as well as other endowed prizes and special awards.
In his speech during the ceremony, Mr Enright alluded to the heatwave and to the legend of Icarus, who flew too close to the sun and paid the price. “Boys, you have kept your cool in the academic heat of QE – in its own way a record-breaking environment; one which absorbs and re-radiates aspiration, intellectual curiosity and positive energy.
He has served in various voluntary capacities, including as a mentor to pupils at under-performing London schools and as an intern in Mumbai, fundraising and raising awareness in support of poor cancer patients. He previously returned to QE to lead a Sixth Form discussion on Economic Geography.
“It takes a single moment to change everything that we take for granted…we are all blessed in one way or another, so live life and leave no regrets.”
With their A-level examinations now behind them, all of Year 13 gathered in the Shearly Hall together with parents, teachers and guests for the inaugural event, which brought a mix of fun and the formal to their QE farewell.
In his speech, Headmaster Neil Enright told the sixth-formers: “Today, we thank you for your fantastic contribution to the life of the School; congratulate you on the completion of your A-levels; wish you the very best for your bright futures; but also repeat our hope that this is not the end of your relationship with QE – merely the beginning of a different phase.
“I hope in the years to come that you will come back and see us; tell us about your adventures and careers; and, more importantly, tell those following in your footsteps through the School. That you will show them and their families the great variety of things that an OE can do and an Elizabethan can be.”
“One thing that never changed, however, is the fact that all of us stood together the whole time and always looked out for each other,” said Siddhant.
The ceremony was accompanied by music performed by some of the School’s leading musicians. After vocalist and guitarist Aadarsh Khimasia entertained the audience before the ceremony started, the Trumpet Ensemble then performed the processional, Henry Purcell’s Trumpet Tune. Music award-winner saxophonist Conor Parker-Delves enjoyed his swansong as a QE musician, leading a quintet as they played a piece of his own composition, Cherry Fizz, during a musical interlude. The recessional music, played by the Saxophone Ensemble, was Karen Street’s All in Good Time, followed by Coldplay’s Paradise. The Jazz Band played while tea was served.