Whilst the majority of British School in Tokyo (BST) students were enjoying their summer holidays, for some students there was a nervous wait for their examination results.
GCSEs are taken by all students aged 16 studying the English National Curriculum at the end of Year 11. AS levels, which are the first half of A levels, are taken by Year 12 students aged 17. There was great anticipation, especially for AS results as this is the first Y12 cohort to sit the exams. The results are a good indication of the A level grades that students can expect to gain.
This year, 100% of BST GCSE students achieved at least 5 A* to C grades, with over 92% of subjects being graded A* to C. Best of all, 45% of exams were awarded the top grade of A* compared to 24% in UK independent schools and 22% in UK grammar schools. 67% were graded either A* or A compared to 52% in UK independent schools and 55% in UK grammar schools.
AS level students had great success with 81% of subjects graded A or B. Students are now starting the second half of the course and are focused on applying to some of the best universities in the world.
In the Primary department, the Year 2 and Year 6 students excelled again in the Statutory Assessment Tests (SATs) taken in May. As usual, the Year 6 SATs were marked in the UK and the results were made available to students in August.
All students attained the UK National expected level of attainment, with many performing a whole level above that expected for the year group. In Year 2, this included 55% of the students in reading, 27% in writing, and 49% in maths. In Year 6, this included 84% of the students in reading, 29% in writing, and 74% in maths.
After such a turbulent year, the school community is glad to be able to celebrate this success and return to normality. Heartfelt congratulations are extended to all students and staff who worked so tirelessly in the last few months to ensure these results would be the best in the history of BST.
The British School in Tokyo is an independent, co-educational, two-site school. The majority of students have a British passport, but students of all nationalities are welcome, depending on English fluency. See http://bst.ac.jp for more information. — NANCY JENKINS
