Par­ent home: Lat­est news

King Ethel­bert School is cel­e­brat­ing its first set of Year 13 results with 100% of stu­dents pass­ing their Inter­na­tional Bac­calau­re­ate Careers Related Cer­tifi­cate or IBCC at the high­est grades.

The school started a 6th Form last year and have been a lead pilot school for the IBCC Award receiv­ing global atten­tion and recog­ni­tion for the suc­cess­ful way it has embed­ded and deliv­ered the award and its ethos. The IBCC com­bines a Level 3 BTEC Diploma with a vari­ety of IB sub­jects and a core ele­ment which includes both com­mu­nity action and lan­guage com­po­nents. All stu­dents gained high grades in all ele­ments of the award with 33% achiev­ing the top grades of dou­ble dis­tinc­tion stars in their BTEC Diploma and all achieved level 5s and 4s in their cho­sen IB sub­jects (equiv­a­lent to Bs and Cs at A Level).

King Ethel­bert chose the IBCC as the path all sixth form stu­dents would fol­low because it encom­passes every­thing that is great about edu­ca­tion. It com­bines rig­or­ous aca­d­e­mic study with voca­tional edu­ca­tion and the processes stu­dents need to develop to become inde­pen­dent learn­ers.

Kate Greig, Head­teacher, said “Suc­ces­sive gov­ern­ments and edu­ca­tion­al­ists have argued about which type of study should be more preva­lent in schools and it seems log­i­cal to me that a com­bi­na­tion of both aca­d­e­mic and voca­tional study gives our stu­dents the best pos­si­ble edu­ca­tion and leaves far more doors open for future choices.“

As part of the IBCC the stu­dents have to also study a for­eign lan­guage, write a detailed reflec­tive project on an eth­i­cal issue, explore dif­fer­ent approaches to learn­ing so that they can become life­long learn­ers and devise and deliver a com­mu­nity project. “Our Sixth Form chose to plan and host a major event for King Ethel­bert School’s 75th Anniver­sary which was attended by large num­bers of ex-​students from around the globe. The plan­ning of such an event takes con­sid­er­able exper­tise, the type of learn­ing that can­not be gained from a text book and I have seen our stu­dents grow and develop as learn­ers and adults over the last two years. I am tremen­dously proud of them and they have only got what they thor­oughly deserve.“

Vicky Weath­er­hogg, Deputy Head­teacher, said “The impact these stu­dents have had on our school has been immense and we are thrilled that the stu­dents have been so suc­cess­ful. They are all look­ing for­ward to the next stage of their edu­ca­tion and these stu­dents offer tal­ents that are unique and highly sought after from employ­ers.“

Chantell Wyten is the Head of Sixth Form at King Ethel­bert. She has been the dri­ver behind the hugely suc­cess­ful intro­duc­tion of the IBCC and has received global recog­ni­tion for the work she is doing with the stu­dents. She said, “The word proud does not begin to cap­ture the feel­ings of staff. We have always known our stu­dents to be trail blaz­ers, but these grad­u­ates have flung the doors open to a world of new oppor­tu­ni­ties and are one step closer to real­is­ing their dreams”.

All stu­dents have suc­cess­fully secured places at their cho­sen uni­ver­si­ties or on level 4 Apprenticeships.