City college retains its crown as best in the UK
A CARDIFF college has retained its place as the UK’s top private school for A-levels this year.
Cardiff Sixth Form College, which charges about £26,000 a year in fees, achieved a 91.36% A to A* grade level and was the only independent school to surpass 90%.
The college was ranked number one in Wales and the UK by the Daily Telegraph using data from the Independent Schools Council.
This data also took into consideration A-level equivalent grades for other post-16 qualifications including the International Baccalaureate and the Cambridge Pre-U post-16 taken at some schools.
The college, which attracts applications from across the globe, beat wellknown schools including Roedean, Clifton College and Badminton School in Bristol and London’s Westminster School.
Some independent schools, including Eton, do not appear in the table because they did not supply data.
Cardiff Sixth Form College is one of two Cardiff colleges in the top 10 best -performing independent schools at A-level.
St John’s College, Cardiff, was ranked in 10th place, with 82.86% achieving an A to A* grade or equivalent.
So far this summer, 19 Cardiff Sixth Form students have been accepted at Oxford or Cambridge, with all students gaining places at leading Russell Group universities.
Among the top performers were Emma Davies, from Newbridge, who is off to read natural sciences at Cambridge University, and Tyler Jones, from Cardiff, who will study medicine at Cardiff University.
Both came to the college on full scholarships from local comprehensive schools after excelling in their GCSEs.
It is the fifth year in a row that the college has been ranked top in the UK by the Telegraph and the eighth year in a row by education advisors.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be the top school in the UK for the eighth year running,” said college principal Gareth Collier.
“What we aim to do at Cardiff is to really stretch bright young people through inspirational academic teaching with lots of one-to-one support, a super-curricular programme of academic lectures, tutorials and extension, as well as giving them really excellent careers guidance so that they can reach their potential.
“Our staff are extremely dedicated, many of them leading examiners in their own right, and the school has gained a tremendous reputation not just in the UK but all around the world.”
The Perse School in Cambridge came second in the table with 86.5% A-A* or equivalent, while London’s Westminster School came third with 86.4%.
Across all maintained schools in Wales this year, 8.3% of grades were A*, the best ever, while 25% of grades were A* or A – 2.7% higher than last year, according to figures from exam board the WJEC.