Roedean students have bucked the predicted national trend for lower A level grades this year, with almost a third of the entire Year 13 achieving all As and A*s.

Despite national predictions that a return to pre-Covid 2019-style marking would mean lower grades for the 2023 cohort, the Brighton independent school has achieved 55.5 per cent grades at A*/A.

Some 28.2 per cent of all grades were an A*, with over half of the year group awarded at least one A* grade. Nine students achieved straight A* grades.

In 2019, 22.4 per cent of grades were A*s and 55.9 per cent were A*A.

This year 13 is the largest year 13 at Roedean for more than a decade yet ten per cent of those students scored nothing but A*s.

The results have delighted new headteacher Niamh Green who congratulated her students on beating the odds.

“I am incredibly proud of what this year group has achieved, particularly taking the educational context of their A Levels into account,” she said.

“These are the first public examinations they have taken, and I am thrilled that all their hard work resulted in fantastic grades. 

“Not only have they been successful academically, but they have also thrown themselves into so many other areas of school life and made a difference both within our community and beyond. 

“I am delighted for them, and extremely grateful to all my colleagues for supporting them so well.”

Roedean students have again been highly successful in STEM subjects, with 55 per cent of Year 13 taking mathematics, and over 20 per cent taking biology, chemistry, or psychology. 

The art department pioneered a highly unusual approach in schools, which allowed students to complete an A Level in the subject in just one year in Year 12, and then to undertake a BTEC Level 3 Foundation course in Year 13.

Two students achieved a distinction and a merit in this qualification which is usually only taught at universities, Roedean said.

Four students holding offers for Oxford and Cambridge achieved the required grades to take up their places to read engineering, Jewish studies, history and politics, and human social and political sciences. 

“The Roedean community is incredibly proud of what the Year 13s have achieved – whilst being hugely supportive of each other, they have shown the determination, independence, and resilience required to be highly successful academically, and this will stand them in excellent stead as they move forward to the next stages of their lives,” said Ms Green.