Exmouth Community College - Post-16 results 2020

Students and staff at Exmouth Community College are once again celebrating results which have improved on last year’s great figures despite the extraordinarily challenging conditions under which they were produced.

At least 74  of our students have confirmed their places at university of which nearly a quarter are going to a Russell group University! 

Two of our students have achieved places at Oxford University.

During the year we have also supported students moving on to employment and we have actively promoted apprenticeship routes which we have also seen students move into.

Whatever the qualifications achieved we are enormously proud of the individual outcomes achieved by staff and students working together.  It is the ambition of the College to inspire everyone to achieve more than they ever thought possible. The students receiving their results have certainly shown what is possible through their pursuit of excellence, hard work and resilience.  Congratulations to all of them!!

At A level our results are strong, reflecting our relentless pursuit of high-quality teaching, individualised support for each student and an outstanding commitment on behalf of every member of staff to help every student, no matter what their starting point to make the best progress possible. As a result, students have improved the quality of grades achieved. 

Students and staff have achieved 40% A* to B grades, with 68% of all grades being A*-C.

Simon Tanner, Assistant Principal and Head of Post 16 said:

We are really proud of the results which have been achieved by our students and staff this year. We are deeply committed to creating opportunities for all young people in Exmouth and the surrounding communities if we possibly can, even if they haven’t done so well in Year 11, and the way grades have been awarded do not favour such institutions, so to do so well in such circumstances is a great tribute to the ECC community of staff and students.

The test of a Post 16 is that it gets people where they want to be when they leave, and by that measure it has been another successful year. This will undoubtedly give our students improved life chances. They will take their next step into an amazing range of futures, from Biomedical Sciences to Computer Games Programming, from Sports Journalism to Astrophysics.  So, while I share the disappointment at how individuals have been treated by the awarding process, it’s important that we recognise that the overall picture is positive.                                                            

College Principal, Andrew Davis said:

Normally at this point of the year we would be talking about how we have seen large increases in our results across the board, with the numbers of A level students achieving A*/A grades increasing, A*-B grades achieved increasing, A*-C grades increasing and the number of students achieving A* - E increasing on our results from last year. This is undoubtedly great news for many students across many subjects and we are very proud of all the work that went in from students and staff to achieve these results.

Despite these fantastic results though it feels different this year. Recognising those great results is only part of the story.

We know there is a Government backed process in place for calculating the grades that students have eventually received. What such an important process can’t do is recognise individuals; their contexts, their history, their attitudes to learning, their motivation, the barriers and obstacles some students and staff have battled to overcome together and in some cases the outstanding commitment to learning that students, and our staff, have made over the past months and years no matter what their starting points.

Unlike a national system, we know our students really well and knew what they, and our staff were capable of, on an individual basis. So, while the overall results are great and something, we are very proud of, we know, even if the national system doesn’t recognise it, that without Covid and lock-down this year outcomes might have been different for some individual students.

Our ethos is to put individual students at the heart of everything we do.

While the overall set of results looks great, we know there are individual students and departments whose efforts, due to the national grade awarding process, have been overlooked. We feel as disappointed about this as you do and our hopes for the results we would achieve together have not been totally realised for some individual students in specific circumstances, despite everyone’s best endeavours. I want students to know that we will do absolutely everything we can to make this right for them in order to get the outcome that their efforts, dedication and determination deserves and which the process has overlooked in some cases.

Whether or not the national process recognises your attitude, commitment, hard work, history or background I want you to know that we do.

As a team of staff we are immensely proud of what each and every one of you has achieved. Not just in terms of a calculated final grade, but because of you and your attitude as a young person with huge potential to move on from these difficult global circumstances to lead a happy and successful life and make an outstanding contribution to your community.

We wish you all the best in those endeavours.

On behalf of the Governing Board at Exmouth Community College, Chair of Governors, Margaret Turgoose said:

“Overall, these results are excellent news and I am absolutely delighted for our students that they have achieved such great results this year, which enable them to go on to the next stage of their life, whatever that might be. The way in which the College and all the staff there have dealt with what has happened over the past six months has been exemplary. They have all worked incredibly hard to support each of their students through a very difficult situation and the Board know that Exmouth has a Community College of which it can be very proud.

The Board of Governors, along with the Principal and staff, would also like to publicly thank Assistant Principals Simon Tanner and Loraine Bowles, who both retire this year, for all their leadership over the years to ensure that the College benefits from a hugely successful and inclusive Post-16 provision, which offers a great range of curriculum options alongside fantastic support for individual students. Additionally, we would also like to thank Kim Dearsly, who is retiring as Director of Resources, and who has done so much to bid for grants to the College which have funded all of the improved buildings on the site, including the replacement of a large part of the Green Close site which is due to start in the next twelve months. We wish them all the very best for the future.”