Students from the SMB Group have been celebrating after achieving a fantastic set of GCSE results in Maths and English.
The exams, which took place in November 2020, saw 38% of GCSE English students and 42% of GCSE Maths students achieve a grade 4-9, placing them both above the national average - the latter by a fantastic 7%!*
These results, which were released last month, have proven to students from across the college that they are able to achieve great results and exceed their own expectations.
One example is Liam, a GCSE Maths student who studied at the Stephenson Campus. When reflecting on his time at the college, Liam said ‘For four years I had failed my GCSE maths exams, on every occasion missing the passing grade by literally one or two questions. The first one was while I was doing my GCSEs at school, the next two at Loughborough College, and the final at Leicester College. The reason I had failed by such a small margin is that, despite being very good at maths, my autism, anxiety, and perfectionism would make me give up and rip in half whatever I was doing if was not feeling comfortable, and therefore calm.
When re-attempting it at Stephenson college, I felt so welcome that I enjoyed being in the room I took my exams in, and finished with over 160 marks - which was just shy of a grade five… the main reason is that I was so much more comfortable here than at the previous colleges. I have had 1-1 support for eight years and have never had anyone as kind and caring as this year’s support, Kate Oldham. She helped me pass the exam by giving me strategies for staying calm or getting questions right without becoming stressed and giving up… I felt so relaxed that I somewhat enjoyed doing the exam.’
George McCracken, a Sport student at the College’s Brooksby Campus, also achieved a fantastic result in his GCSE English, coming away with a Grade 6. George said ‘I am so pleased with the result I got for my English – this will help me to secure a place at university and get the job I hope to have at the end of it all.’
Another GCSE Maths student, Concilla, who studied at the Stephenson Campus, said: ‘I’m ever so grateful for passing my GCSE Maths, as maths was never my strongest subject and I was so worried that I wouldn’t pass my exam. However, with the help of my lecturers, Ceri and Jane, I achieved a better grade than I expected. They are the best maths teachers I’ve ever had with all the lessons, advice and extra help they gave me. Without them, I would never have been able to get the grade I got in November, and I am very thankful that they were my teachers.’
Some students, such Melton Campus student Antwone Baker, took both their Maths and English GCSEs with the college. Lecturer, Jo Johnson, said of Antwone: ‘By his own admission, Antwone was not a very engaged student at school. Realising that this had to change, he put all his effort into both his English and Maths lessons at the Melton Campus and achieved a well-deserved grade 4 in both.’ Antwone added ‘I am extremely happy with the end result of my GCSE results’.
Debbie Fisk, Head of English and Maths at the SMB Group, said ‘We are incredibly proud of the hard work and dedication demonstrated by both our students and lecturers, particularly with the unprecedented impact of the global coronavirus pandemic, which has necessitated new teaching strategies and learning methods. I cannot underestimate how well everyone has worked in order to achieve these fantastic results.’
The SMB Group offers a wide range of courses across its three campuses; covering full-time and part-time Further Education, apprenticeships, Higher Education, short courses and distance learning. Currently, the Group has approximately 10,000 students based across Brooksby Campus, Melton Campus and Stephenson Campus, which are all located in Leicestershire.
*Data taken from the National Achievement Rate Tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/national-achievement-rates-tables-2018-to-2019 when reviewing the ‘Headline GCSE Pass Rates’ sheet from 2018 to 2019 education and training NART overall GCSE pass rate and achievement rate. This dataset was produced using the following filters: ‘Hybrid End Year’, filtering on the relevant ‘Institution type’, Age ‘16-18’ and either GCSE Type ‘GCSE English’ or ‘GCSE Maths’.
