Harrow College students celebrate A Level and vocational qualification results

Harrow College students were celebrating strong achievements at A Level and in vocational qualifications, after results were released on Thursday August 18^th.

Many students from across the College will be taking up university places, starting other Higher Education qualifications, or going into employment, following their successes on A Level, BTEC, and UAL Level 3 programmes. Apprenticeships can also offer a route into university, or provide work opportunities for Level 3 achievers – some Apprenticeship subjects go up to Level 5 or even degree level, as well as being provided at other Levels.

This is the first year post-pandemic that A Level assessment has returned to an exams system – Harrow College A Level results were very pleasing, and in line with the national picture.

Achievers at Harrow College collecting their results included:

• A Level student Caterina Florescu, who excelled with three As in Biology, Chemistry and Maths and is headed for City, University of London to study Psychology. Originally from Ukraine she has been at Harrow College for four years and studied ESOL and GCSEs before progressing to study A Levels. She said: “The best thing about Harrow College is the support, which is so important for students. The staff help you get on the right path and they encouraged me to do my best. I am so pleased with my results.”

• Rashdin Mohamed Akbar and Maxsimilian Amalathas both studied for a BTEC Extended Diploma in IT and each gained D*D*D* (triple distinction star) – the highest grade available.
• Rashdin, who is planning to study Cyber Security at university, has progressed from Level 1 to study his Level 3 at the college and said: “I was so surprised to get a triple Distinction! The teachers are very helpful and helped to push me and my fellow students. I will miss the College.”
• Maxsimilian, who said “the staff are the best” is heading off to Royal Holloway to study Computer Science and plans to then study a Master’s after university.

• UAL Creative Media student Isabella Waters, who secured a Distinction – the highest grade available – and is progressing to University of Westminster to study TV Production. She said: The best thing about Harrow College is the opportunities that you get. I set up an Anime club and got help from the Student Council to get it running, so students could get involved. When I finish my degree I will hopefully get to work in TV for Sky or ITV studios.”

• BTEC Extended Diploma in IT student Najma Mohamed was awarded DDM (Distinction, Distinction, Merit) and is off to Goldsmiths, University of London to study Computer Science and Cyber Security. She said “the teachers are so generous and welcoming. They really helped me as I didn’t do as well in my first year as I did in my second year and I knew I had to push myself to get the grades I needed to go to a good uni. It’s great to be studying IT and being a woman in STEM”

• Harshita Maru, attained DD (Distinction Distinction) in her BTEC National Diploma in IT and is headed for University of Plymouth to study Computer Science and Cyber Security. Harshita said: “The teachers are really helpful – they make you feel very comfortable. It has been nice being at Harrow College.”

• AS Level student Fazna Farzan achieved three A grades in Biology, Chemistry and Maths and is progressing at the College to continue with her A Levels and then plans to go to university to study Medicine which is her dream. Fazna said: “The teachers are so friendly. I came from Sri Lanka and they really welcomed me. I really want to thank my teachers – they are the best. They also gave me lots of career advice which is really useful and helpful.”

At Harrow College, which offers a package of Science A Levels to a smaller cohort, the overall pass rate was 98%.

Jo Withers, Principal of Harrow College, said: “This is a strong showing at A Level, particularly given the disrupted learning over the last couple of years, and I am really proud of all our students.  It is also great to see so many of our students on vocational and work-based programmes such as BTEC, UAL and Apprenticeship programmes, progressing to university, other Higher Education courses, and permanent jobs, on the strength of their achievements.

“We are also looking forward to seeing our AS achievers back at College for their second A Level year, and in 2023, seeing our first cohort of T Level students collecting their results in Science.

“Our staff have also worked really hard to ensure students have had the best experience possible despite the disruption of the pandemic, and these results are also testament to their commitment and the quality of the teaching and support they offer.”

Harrow College has also historically demonstrated a strong performance for ‘value added’ measures – which show the improvement in performance between when students arrive post-GCSE, and when they complete their qualifications. Students achieve significantly better grades in their A Levels compared to the national picture, often arriving with relatively low GCSE grades.

Whilst some BTEC results had not been finalised, figures were looking similar to last year’s, with many students progressing to university and other Higher Education courses, as well as into employment, including the work-based Apprenticeship programme.