Massive congratulations to the first cohort of students to complete their A Levels at Dene Magna and to the staff who supported them during these unprecedented times. These results are incredibly important for the aspirations and hopes of many people in the Forest of Dean and they fully justify the opening of our Sixth Form in 2019.

The overall pass mark at A Level is 100%, with 87% of students achieving a grade of C or above and a fantastic 70% achieving grade B or above. 48% of students achieved at least 1 A grade and 26% of students achieved two or more grade A/A* which is a brilliant achievement. Our average grade this year is a B-, which is phenomenal. For many, securing their A Levels is all about getting into their chosen University and 61% of those applying got into their first choice institution, with 100% of those who applied to a Russell group Uni getting in. As an institution, our ALPs score, which measures progress from GCSE, is a 2 - which places us in the top 10% of schools nationally.

Of course, these are just statistics, the real stories are those of the students themselves. Many of the young people who stayed with us to study their A levels may once not have believed that going to Uni was ‘for them’ - but they have proved otherwise. This year, we are sending students off to study competitive courses such as Engineering, Law, Politics, Medical Science and Veterinary Medicine. We also have students heading off to become nurses, teachers, financial advisors and fashion designers. Degree apprenticeships are also an increasingly attractive option and we have two students who have secured places with national companies.

Particular congratulations go to James Bailey who achieved two A* and two A grades and is off to study Aeronautics and Astronautics at Southampton University; to Jess Hardy who will be study Fashion at Bath with A*, A, A, B; Lara Foot who achieved A*, A*, A and is studying Maths at Leeds; Macey Potter who will study Modern Languages at Swansea with A*, A*, A. We are so proud of every student who has been with us and they should rightly be proud of their achievements!

As a new institution it was vital that we undertook a rigorous process to ensure that our grades are secure and so, despite national headlines about grade inflation, we know that our students thoroughly deserve their qualifications. They and their teachers worked extremely hard and should be proud of their achievements. They set a great precedent for students in the Forest of Dean and beyond and prove that there is no need to travel outside of the area in order to get a first class education.