Yarm celebrates a year of A level Success – Congratulations to the class of 2024

Yarm School is celebrating a year of outstanding A level achievements and personal success stories. With strong results across the board, 30% of students achieved three or more A*-A grades with nine students securing three or more of the very highest A* grades.

The extraordinary nine students accumulated 31 A* grades and one A grade between them: Sara Banerjee (4 A*s), Kitty Brown (3 A*s), Reuben Peat (4 A*s). Ankith Rangan (4 A*s), Kayla Roberts (4 A*s), Keya Shah (4 A*s), Ammar Soni (3 A*s), James Waine (4A*s) and Harry Wildridge (3 A*s). These students have not only excelled academically but have also fully embraced the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities on offer at Yarm.

Students secured places at a wide range of highly competitive courses and destinations, with six students achieving places at Oxford or Cambridge Universities this year and one heading to the USA to study at Brigham Young University.

Alongside the traditional A level subjects, students can also complete an Extended Project Qualification which is highly regarded by universities. At Yarm, the majority of students choose to carry out an independent project to obtain the qualification and in 2024 61% achieved A*/A grades. Three students achieved full marks: Kayla Roberts, Simone Sharma and James Waine.

Kayla Roberts, who achieved a clean sweep of Grade 9s at GCSE and A*s at A level, has deferred her offer to read Medicine at Cambridge to embark on a gap year. Kayla has chosen to volunteer with Think Pacific in Fiji. To fund the project, Kayla successfully applied to the Bulkeley Evans HMC Scholarship and raised money offering tutoring sessions to younger pupils. Whilst at Yarm, Kayla has been heavily involved in school music, represented the school in netball and hockey, and completed her Gold Duke of Edinburgh award, amongst many other remarkable achievements during her time at Yarm.

Another student who has also excelled in and out of the classroom, Harry Wildridge, is off to read Chemistry at Durham University after gaining 3 A* grades in Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. Harry has also balanced high-level sport with his studies, playing for Newcastle Falcons U18 rugby team and participated in trials for GB Rowing, whilst co-captaining the School’s rugby team and being a key member of the Quad Sculls boat which qualified to compete at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta this year.

Dr Huw Williams, Headmaster, said “We are delighted with these results and proud of our students who set off to start the next phase of their lives. The excellence of our students’ academic results sits impressively alongside the breadth of their successes in a wide range of extracurricular endeavours such as those in music, drama and sport. The opportunities at Yarm are expansive and running through them is a strong sense of service to the community. This wonderful group of young people embody the school’s ethos of ‘Educating for Life’ and I am confident that they leave us having developed the qualities needed to succeed in life after school.

“I am grateful to our dedicated teachers, staff and parents who have enabled these students to thrive – we collectively celebrate their successes and wish them the very best for their bright futures.”