Bronze DofE Award – a record achievement!

63 of our Y10 students have now completed their Bronze DofE Awards, and their success has been celebrated in assembly with the presentation of certificates and Bronze badges. This is a record breaking year group for Churston, with more completed awards still to come too – well done everyone, we are very proud of you! 
 
Any Bronze Award holder has applied a lot of effort to become one, and this is very well recognised by employers, universities and in the wider local community. The impact that this has within the school as a whole is immeasurable, through involvement in clubs and activities, giving time to help with events or mentoring younger students and a general positivity within the year group in particular – it is a real community builder, through individual effort and achievement. 
 
Our Bronzes could not have achieved what they have without the time and encouragement of people who have taken on the role of section assessors – either adults in school, or involved in a local community group or organisation. The summer expeditions also rely hugely on school staff giving up their own time to support on checkpoints and in camp overnight, as assessors and supervisors. DofE runs on volunteer power, from the participants and the adults involved in every section and at every level – thankyou! 
 
Julia Lewis
Strategic Lead for Enrichment & DofE Manager

Churston Staff Cause a Racket!

Macmillan Cake Sale at Churston!

Food, Feedback and Discussion for the Future

Thomas’ Sailing Success

Churston GCSE Students achieve great success in their GCSEs!

Year 11 students at Churston Ferrers Grammar School have enjoyed incredible success in their GCSEs despite an exceptionally challenging few years.

Individual stories behind the results were inspiring and, overall, academic standards were outstanding – 65% of grades awarded were at 7 or above.

Head of Year, Gemma Longhurst said, “We are tremendously proud of our young people, and what they have achieved. Over the last few years students have responded with fortitude; their ability to dig deep, take a mature approach and support each other has resulted in them achieving fantastic grades.”

Among those celebrating the results of their hard work, Freya Caskey-Sutton, Ethan Lovell and Awen Pringle achieved grade 9s in 10 or more subjects, including Further Maths. Whilst Leah Brown, Nina Keen, Lauren Lock, Sam Popham and Joe Yates achieved 8 or more grade 9s.

Headteacher, Kieran Earley was buzzing with pride, “Year 11 students deserve heartfelt recognition for their endeavours during their GCSE years. To achieve this level of success and academic excellence is testament to hard work, resilience and the commitment of our staff. I am incredibly proud of our school.”

Churston A Level Students achieve great success!

Sixth Form students at Churston Ferrers Grammar School have enjoyed great success in their A Levels despite an exceptionally challenging year.

Amongst those celebrating the results of their hard work, Dominic Sloper has secured a place to read Medicine at Oxford University, having achieved A*s in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.

Several other students – Edward Brown, Scarlett Howard, Ella Knapman, Max Pritchard, Felice Riley and Caristine Ross – also achieved 3 A*s, whilst another six students achieved 2 A*s and an A.

In total 40% of the grades achieved by Churston students were As or A*s, and nearly 70% were A*-B.

Head of Sixth Form, Adam Killeya said, “We are immensely proud of every single one of our young people and what they have achieved. A Levels are challenging at any time and to have come through two such difficult academic years, and to have achieved this level of success, is testament to both the hard work put in by students and the support given by staff. 

As well as our outstanding performers, we have many other students who achieved well despite particularly challenging personal circumstances. Every single student has something to be proud of.”

Lily’s international essay achievement

A massive congratulations to Year 12’s Lily, who is now set to attend an awards ceremony at Oxford University come September! 

Having entered the John Locke Institute Essay Competition in June, Lily’s response to the question “Why Would God be so Coy?” had her shortlisted from over 500 international entries. 

The response given was cogent, captivating and insightful. 

Well-done Lily!

Cambridge Chemistry Challenge 2022

A group of dedicated students from Year 12 recently formed the Curious Chemists’ Club, with the aim of sharing their enthusiasm for the subject and extending their chemical knowledge.  The team have now been extremely successful in the Cambridge Chemistry Challenge.  This competition is designed to stretch the best Chemistry students in the country and is so difficult that certificates are only awarded to the top two thirds of entrants.  Despite the odds, all of our students were successful.  Copper awards were achieved by Owen, Hannah and Jake.  The top quarter of candidates nationally received a silver certificate and this included Lottie, Sophie, James and Heather.  Special congratulations go to Hannah and Riley who were rewarded with gold certificates for being in the top 8% of students in the UK.  

The questions were particularly tricky this year, requiring our students to understand the structure of some really complex molecules.  These included the deadly poison digitalis (from foxgloves) and a human-like molecule called “Dame Bond 008”.  Many congratulations to all our students for their fantastic performance.  

Dr Hall

Ambra’s scholarship success!

A Sixth Form student at Churston Ferrers Grammar School has been rewarded with a scholarship for her outstanding effort and achievement during her A Levels.

Ambra received the award, granted by The Reading List Foundation, which provides a grant to cover the costs of books for her university studies. 

She was chosen for the award based not only on her outstanding results, but on the challenges that she overcame to achieve those results 

Ambra is awaiting her A Levels results in Geography, French, Sociology and Italian, and has an offer of a place to read Modern Languages at the University of Exeter.

Head of Sixth Form, Adam Killeya, said “We are very proud of what all of our students have achieved this year, but Ambra particularly stood out for this award for her outstanding attitude and achievement. She is an extremely worthy winner, and we are very appreciative to the Reading List Foundation for offering this award