Highlight of the Week

Cathedral School reports top GCSE results

The Cathedral School Llandaff, Cardiff's leading co-educational independent school, has reported an outstanding 78% of all GCSE entries graded A* or A, with 99% of examinations graded A*-C. By quite a considerable margin, the most common grade throughout was A*.

At the top end, there were particularly strong performances from six pupils, who achieved A* grades in all their examinations, including Pollyanna Furness from Llandaff with 11 A*s.  She said: "I'm so shocked!  It's definitely been worth all of the hard work and I'm very thankful to the teachers who have helped me.  I'm really happy and looking forward to the next chapter." Pollyanna will study A-levels in Music, English, Art and Religious Studies at Charterhouse.

One third of the pupils achieved A*/A grades in every subject, many more (81%) had at least 5 A*/A grades.

William Drew, from Cowbridge achieved 12 A*s and one A, he said: "I'm over the moon!  You can't describe the feeling of relief to have finally got the results and more than anything I'm really happy." 

Headmaster Stephen Morris expressed his satisfaction at these high achievements: "At a time when there has been much hand wringing about the state of education in Wales at large, the traditional approach of the Cathedral School - solid academic teaching in traditional subjects, along with a wide co-curricular programme and an emphasis upon pupils' leadership skills and confidence - has been vindicated as a first class investment for parents. Huge congratulations to our pupils for their hard work."

The Cathedral School has a largely mixed ability intake but has been, for the last eight years since it began teaching to age 16, one of the highest achieving schools in the UK at GCSE. It is expanding to sixth form soon.

The Year 11 cohort consisted of 63 boys and girls from Cardiff and the surrounding area.