Once again, Croydon High School has maintained its local reputation for outstanding academic results with a 100% pass rate at A Level, with 93.3% of students achieving A* - C grades.

Whilst Head, Debbie Leonard, is understandably proud of these results, she is even more delighted by what they represent for individual girls in the Class of 2014.

Debbie said:  “Croydon High is committed to inspiring girls to discover and realise their dreams and ambitions, whatever they are. It is particularly pleasing to see how individual girls have progressed during their time with us. They leave armed not only with impressive academic results on paper, but also with the benefit of a superb all-round education which has encouraged them to have high aspirations in all aspects of their lives. We are very proud of every single one of the girls and wish them continued success and happiness in the future.”

Croydon High prides itself on encouraging a diversity of interest and talent, with girls often opting for unusual A’ Level subject combinations because they are encouraged to believe they should study the subjects for which they have a passion – not just those that ‘go together.’ Head Girls, Molly Harris and Rhea Dillon, are great examples of this, with talented musician Molly heading to Royal Holloway to read Music with an A*in Music and A grades in Maths and Spanish. Artist Rhea, who has already achieved recognition for her talent in the art world and now has Art, English and French A’ Levels under her belt, is deferring university entry for a year, when no doubt she will continue to develop her already outstanding portfolio with a Foundation Course at the prestigious St Martin’s College of Art in London.

Oxford beckons for two of the year’s high fliers, with Leila-Mei Tan heading off to read Chemistry, with A* grades in Maths, Chemistry and Biology. Classmate Katherine Tomsett will also be on the Oxford train, as her A*s in Biology and French and an A in Maths secure her a well-deserved place to read Human Sciences. 

Aspiring medics, Jane Teal and Holly Artis, are also well on their way to realising their personal dreams, with Jane achieving A’s in Biology, Chemistry and French and an A* in Maths to secure her place at Birmingham and Holly heading to St. George’s with her A* in Biology and As in Chemistry and Maths. Mrs Artis was understandably thrilled and thanked the school for their “amazing support” to her daughter since she was in Reception.

Mrs Artis said:  “When she left the Juniors in Year 6, Holly was given the ‘ Determined to Succeed’ Award – and how right that was.  Croydon High is her family and I know she will want to come back and to help the school in any way she can.”

The school maintained its strong reputation for performance in the sciences generally with many girls opting to take one, two or three science subjects. Congratulations to Jennifer Smart who achieved an A* in Chemistry and As in Geography and Physics, securing her place at Sussex where she will read Chemistry.

Jennifer’s offer from Sussex was unconditional and Debbie Leonard was especially delighted that this year a significant number of girls received these unconditional offers from their chosen universities, based on the strength of their applications.

Debbie said: “We work extremely hard with each girl to ensure that the quality of their personal statements is such that it truly reflects their strengths and their suitability for the courses they have chosen. The number of unconditional offers this year is unprecedented and I am proud to say that despite the pressure being off, the girls all continued to work hard and produce results of which they can be justifiably proud.”

Producing strong personal statements is aided by the fact that most of the girls have been in the school for a long time – many of them since they were 3 or 4 years old – and so their teachers know them well and can work closely with them to draw out their individual strengths. However, those that join in the sixth form also seem to benefit hugely from the close personal support and achieve great things as a result. Hilary Wu and Anna D’Arcy, for example, both joined Croydon High just two short years ago; Hilary is going to Durham to read Economics with an outstanding 580 UMS points whilst Anna is on her way to Newcastle to study Politics and Economics with A grades in Government and Politics and History and a B in Economics. Speaking to a delighted Mrs D’Arcy after her daughter opened that important envelope, it was clear that Croydon High had been the perfect choice for Anna.

Mrs D'Arcy said: “Moving to Croydon High was the best thing Anna could have done. It has sparked in her a love of learning for learning’s sake, which meant that she wanted to work hard – she has really blossomed over the last two years and we are delighted.”