Exam Results

Mark guidance for BTEC and Cambridge Nationals:

Students who have been awarded grades in the above qualifications may find the information below helpful:

Exam slip code	Code meaning
*2	Distinction* at Level 2
D2	Distinction at Level 2
M2	Merit at Level 2
P2	Pass at Level 2
D1	Distinction at Level 1
M1	Merit at Level 1
P1	Pass at Level 1

Post-16 Results 2022

Year 13 students at Backwell School received their A Level and vocational subject results on Thursday 18 August 2022. They are the first cohort of pupils, post-pandemic, to sit formal examinations. However the pandemic caused serious disruption to their education over the past few years, including the cancellation of their GCSE examinations and having to adapt to online learning during stages in their Sixth Form studies. Despite these challenges, Backwell students received fantastic results – with 14% of grades at A*, 33% of grades at either A or A* and 60% of grades between A* and B.

Headteacher Jon Nunes stated: “I am extremely proud of all of our students who have met the huge challenges they have faced over the last two years with great determination. They are a group of well rounded, positive young people with bright futures ahead of them. I would also like to thank parents/carers for their support and, of course, the staff at Backwell School for all their resilience and expertise”.

The vast majority of students who applied have already successfully had university places confirmed, many of which are at their first choice universities including a small number of students going to study medicine and veterinary science. Others have secured highly-prized apprenticeships (including one at the BBC) and other training offers.

Head Student Grace Pontin is heading off to study English Literature and History of Art after receiving 3 A*s. She said “I am feeling excited about the future; it has been a long build up to today with a lot of hard work – but it has all paid off. However I am going to miss Backwell School a lot – it is somewhere I feel at home, full of friendly and supportive faces.”

Head of Sixth Form, Rose Haywood said: “The Sixth Form Team are delighted to celebrate the achievements of our students. Support and guidance for future plans will be available on an ongoing basis for those who want some help or advice. We wish them all the very best of luck for their next steps”

GCSE Results 2022

Backwell Year 11 students were celebrating on Thursday 25 August after receiving a brilliant set of GCSE results.

The school quad was full of smiles, hugs and words of congratulations as students, staff and parents gathered to celebrate.

As with all other students across the country, the pandemic had a huge effect on their learning over the past few years. However this year group showed great resilience and applied themselves making the most of the support from their teachers, and these results reward them for all their efforts.

The results show that overall 80% of students achieved five 9-4 grades including English and Maths.

Bobby B confirmed that he had found the GCSE period hard work but after collecting his results he felt “great! The revision in particular was challenging but it made me feel prepared each time I sat an exam. You just have to go for it and try your best. I’m really happy as I have the grades I need to study my chosen courses at Sixth Form.”

It was extremely pleasing to see that the vast majority of Backwell students had secured a place at the institution and course of their choice for the next stages of their education.

Headteacher Jon Nunes said “Congratulations to our Year 11 students; they should be very proud of what they have achieved. They are a wonderful group of young people and we are thrilled that so many of these students have applied to stay at Backwell School for their Sixth Form studies. We wish all of Year 11 the very best of luck with the next stages of their lives.”

Results 2021

Post-16 Results 2021

Year 13 students at Backwell School received their A Level and vocational subject results following the second year of disruption to public examinations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Grades have been awarded based on assessment systems established by schools following guidance set out by the Government. These procedures took into account the impact of the pandemic on pupils’ learning and were carefully calibrated to ensure that students were not adversely affected. These were then reviewed, moderated and confirmed by Exam Boards.

Headteacher Jon Nunes stated: “I am extremely proud of all of our students who have met the huge challenges they have faced over the last 18 months with great determination. Not only have they studied incredibly hard, they have also grown into well rounded, thoughtful young people: we wish them every success in the future. I would also like to thank parents, carers and the staff at Backwell School for all their hard work and for the incredible support they have given.”

The vast majority of students who applied have already successfully had university places confirmed, many of which are at their first choice universities. Others have secured highly-prized apprenticeships and other training offers.

Head of Sixth Form, Rose Haywood said: “The Sixth Form Team are delighted to celebrate the achievements of our students. As we do every year, we will work with each of them to ensure that they achieve their desired next steps, be that university, an apprenticeship, other training or employment. Support and guidance for future plans will be available on an ongoing basis, including next year and beyond. We wish them all the very best of luck for their next steps”

GCSE Results 2021

This year group has, of course, faced huge upheaval and challenge during the last two years, so it was wonderful to see their delight in learning that their hard work and resilience had been rewarded. Amid all the media focus on exam results this year, it was great to hear the students reflecting that their results were a fair recognition of the hard work they had put in at such a difficult time.

It was extremely pleasing to see that the vast majority of Backwell students had secured a place at the institution and course of their choice and it was typical of these students that they were most focused on congratulating their friends and classmates on what they had achieved.

Headteacher Jon Nunes said “I am incredibly proud of what our Year 11 students have achieved and of the way they have handled the additional challenges they have faced over the last 18 months. We are thrilled that so many of these students have applied to stay at Backwell School for their Sixth Form studies and look forward to welcoming them back in September”.

Results 2020

Post-16 Results 2020

Year 13 students at Backwell have been receiving their A Level and Vocational subject results on Thursday 13 August, in very different circumstances to usual following the cancellation of the summer examination series. Even now, there is still some uncertainty as we await details from government on the latest announcement to allow students to use their mock/trial exam results in place of a lower final grade.

COVID-19 meant a significantly reduced number of students on site and many students receiving their results by email.

Grades have been awarded based on the recommendation of schools and partly on the Exam Boards’ own statistical processes to try to ensure fairness and consistency between schools and between this year’s cohort and other year groups.

The final results are comparable with the last few years’ results in terms of attainment and higher than last year’s results.

Headteacher Jon Nunes stated “I am very proud of all of our students who have studied incredibly hard – they have not only achieved academic success, but also grown into well rounded, thoughtful and good humoured young people. These results contain many stories of individual students succeeding against adversity and they should all be very proud of what they have achieved - the unique circumstances this year should take nothing away from the enormous commitment they have made to their studies in the last two years. We wish them all the very best for the future. Once the government decided to cancel exams there was never going to be a perfect way of ensuring that all young people gain the grades that they deserve. What matters most is that we now support our students on to their next steps so that no individual student’s pathway is affected by circumstances entirely out of their control.”

We already have over 100 students with a confirmed place in further education. This includes the following notable achievements:

5 students going to Oxford. Subjects include; French, History and Economics and Music
1 student going to Cambridge to study Music
2 students studying Medicine
1 student training to become a Norland Nanny

Head of Sixth Form, Rose Haywood said: “The Sixth Form Team are delighted to celebrate the achievements of our students. As we do every year, we will work with each of them to ensure that they achieve their desired next steps, be that university, an apprenticeship, other training or employment. We will do all that we can to advocate on their behalf, particularly in light of the unique situation they find themselves in. Support and guidance for future plans will be available on an ongoing basis, including next year and beyond.”

GCSE Results 2020

In some ways, GCSE results day at Backwell School on Thursday 20 August was unlike any other. Many students chose to receive their results at home via email; while those came to school to receive their results did so against a backdrop of anxiety created by a week’s news full of confusion and change to examination results.

However, the essence of results day was unchanged. Our two priorities were as they are every year: to support students on to the next stage of their education or training, and to celebrate the hard work and achievement of our Year 11 students. It was extremely rewarding to see that the vast majority of Backwell students had secured a place at the institution and course of their choice. It was also a relief to hear that our students, while appropriately cynical about the way the exams process had been managed nationally, were very happy with their results – and felt that the grades they received did reflect their effort and accomplishment.

Headteacher Jon Nunes said “I am incredibly proud of what our Year 11 students have achieved and of the way they have handled the additional challenges that the last five months have given them. We are thrilled that a record number of these students have applied to stay at Backwell for Sixth Form study and look forward to welcoming them back.

Today also marks the end of a very long process for our staff as well. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their dedication over this period of time, especially our Exams Team for their resilience and hard work over the past few weeks”.

Results 2019

Post-16 Results 2019

Backwell School sixth formers have been celebrating another amazing set of exam results. Over a quarter of exam entries were graded A* or A and 74% of results were at grade C or above with an overall pass rate of 97%.

Head student Jemma Mayler achieved 3 A* grades (Chemistry, Maths, Sociology) and is off to Lincoln College, Oxford to study Law. “I am so happy, I had a plan in place in case I didn’t achieve my required grades, however I do not need it! I am very thankful to the school and my family for all the support. I am looking forward to the next chapter.”

James Harris, who joined Backwell School to undertake his A level studies, was amazed with his 4 A* grades (Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry) “I have worked very hard over the past two years. The support and friendly competition, especially in my Maths group, certainly supported me to achieve these results.” He is now heading to Warwick University to study Maths and considering a future carer in either finance or astronomy!

Subjects such as Maths and Computer Science were popular university choices this year, with students heading off to Exeter, Southampton and Warwick Universities to study these subjects including Eddie Jones (2 A*s and 2As) studying Maths at Durham and Ed Turner (3A*s) studying Maths at Mansfield College, Oxford. Lizzie Knowles (2A*s and an A) is also heading to Oxford to study Geography at Jesus College “I can’t quite believe it, I am excited to move onto the next chapter”.

Students are looking forward to their future plans with others undertaking apprenticeships with companies such as Airbus and in sectors including recruitment, finance and business administration. In fact student Emilia Osborne will be staying on at Backwell School to undertake an apprenticeship in Business Administration.

Headteacher Jon Nunes said “I am very proud of all of our students who have worked incredibly hard towards their successes today; They have grown into well rounded young people in addition to achieving academic success. We wish them all the very best for the future”.

Key statistics

12% of results at A*
27% of results A* or A
48% of results A*-B
74% of results A*-C
97% Pass Rate

GCSE RESULTS 2019

Backwell School is celebrating another year of very strong GCSE results reflecting the hard work of students over the past two years.

75% of students achieved a standard pass (Grade 4 or above) in both English and Maths, while 55% received a Grade 5 or higher in both subjects. Overall 70% of students achieved 5 A*-C grades including English and Maths and 41% of students achieved the very challenging combination of higher passes which earns them the ‘English Baccalaureate’.

George Taylor achieved eight Grade 9s in his GCSEs results as well as one Grade 8 and one Grade 7. George was speechless with his results; “I am feeling overwhelmed. I worked really hard but did not expect these results.” Argentine Person (4 Grade 9s, 4 Grade 8s, 1 Grade 7 and 1 Grade 6) made the most progress in the year group. “I got my dad to look at the results first as I was too nervous! The teachers were great at supporting me and I am really happy today.” She is excited to continue at Backwell in the Sixth Form next year studying A levels in Physics, Maths, Chemistry and Further Maths.

Oisin McGilloway was really proud of his results, especially his Grade 9 in English Literature “I was not expecting such a high grade in Literature. I am hoping to become a writer for film and TV so these grades are a great start.” Siblings Marta Aleksinska and Wojciech Aleksinski achieved 16 GCSEs all graded 5 or above including two Grade 9s and 4 Grade 8s between them. Their mum confirmed that a lot of hard work and revision has gone into their results and “these results will give them many opportunities in the future”.

Headteacher Jon Nunes said “Our Year 11 students have worked very hard over the past two years, and they should be very proud of what they have achieved. I would also like to thank the dedication and skills of the teachers who have been teaching them. GCSE results are the start of these young people’s futures and I wish them the very best in whichever path they choose to take.”