This Is Guernsey

By Emily Burden

Successful student Emily Kimber. (0626332)

A NEW scheme at St Sampson’s Secondary School saw some of its students gain GCSEs a year early.
Year 10 pupils attained A and B grades in English as part of the process.
The top-set class took the exam a year early to keep the language and literature branches of the subject separate.
‘This is the first year we have done it, so it was a bit of a trial run,’ said exam officer and English teacher Liz Dale.
‘We wanted to try it due to the fact that, in Year 11, doing both language and literature can get confusing for the students.
‘So separating them means we can focus on the literature in Year 11 and take a look at some AS language as well.’
Ms Dale felt the initiative had been a great success and one the school would probably continue.
‘Doing it this way has given students confidence and proves their abilities. It also prepares them for sixth form.’
St Sampson’s head teacher Hazel Tetlaw said that this year – which marks the last time GCSEs will be held there before the new school opens in September – was all about students as individuals.
‘All of them have had cracking results,’ she said.
‘But there are certain individuals who have exceeded all expectations.’
Those included 16-year-old Claudia Silva, who gained an A in English even though her first language is Portuguese.
‘I have been speaking English for eight years now, but I didn’t expect an A, so I am really pleased,’ she said.
Mrs Tetlaw said that overall the girls had done better than the boys and there were particularly good grades in English and IT.
‘It varies each year between the boys and girls.
‘Last year the boys did better.
But there has never been a big enough gap to cause concern.
‘There have been different results across all the subjects but we had very good results in English, with 70% gaining A* to C grades.’

Article posted on 22nd August, 2008 - 2.29pm