A COMBINED love of sciences and animals will see teenager Ben Arundel head to Cambridge University in the autumn to study veterinary medicine.
The 18-year-old Teesdale School student, from Staindrop, secured his place by achieving three A* A level grades in maths, biology and chemistry.
“I love my sciences and I love animals – you can apply science in the care of animals,” he said.
“I have always had cats and dogs and I have always been exposed to sheep and cattle from my mum’s farming side of the family.”
Ben’s results were among some spectacular successes recorded by A level students at Teesdale School.
Lewis Porter was delighted with A* grades in maths and art and design along with As in physics and further maths. He will now go on to study physics at Loughborough University.
“I initially wanted to go to Warwick, but Loughborough has just had a new Stem laboratory built. I went to look at both universities and Lougborough felt more my sort of place.”
After missing out on sitting GCSE exams, Lewis said Teesdale School’s decision to stage two sets of mocks for A levels had stood him in good stead.
“It was good experience of what the exam room would be like,” he said.
Clive Whetstone, from Lartington, and Thomas Cuthbert, from Hunderthwaite, were among other students celebrating good grades.
Clive achieved A*s in maths and further maths and As in physics and design technology (DT) and will now study maths, operational research, statistics and economics at Lancaster University.
He said he was particularly pleased with his DT grade. “I did better than I thought – I messed up the exam,” he said.
Thomas joked he was “prepared for the worst so everything is a bonus” when he celebrated an A* in maths, an A in physics and a B in further maths.
He will now head to Sheffield to study physics.
Amelia Dupuy said her A* in geography had come as something of a surprise. Together with an A in biology and B in psychology, she is off to Manchester University to study psychology.
“I chose psychology at A level and really enjoyed it. I was nervous today, but got my offer letter this morning so I knew I had done okay.”
It will come as no surprise to those who know Kirsty McLachlan, from Boldron, that she will study music at university after gaining A*s art and English literature and As in music and history.
“I felt relieved. We did not get to do the exams for GCSE, so it felt unfinished. Sitting the A levels, you get finality and thinking ‘wow, we have done it’ after putting two years’ work into it,” she said.
In all, 50 per cent of all grades were awarded at B or above, with a quarter of grades at A and above including 11 per cent at A*.
The A level pass rate was 100 per cent. Some 59 per cent of all BTEC grades were awarded as distinctions or distinction*, the top two grades possible.
Dr Simon Henderson, head of sixth form, said: “Despite the turbulence of the last two years, it is a further set of grades that highlight a determination to succeed and an unwillingness to be beaten by obstacles.”
