Headteacher praises A Level students at Northampton School for Boys after 'being left at the mercy of a cold and statistically driven standardisation model'

The headteacher of Northampton School for Boys has praised his "exceptional" students while criticising the controversial standardisation of A Level results.

Richard Bernard said he was tinged with both pride and sadness saying goodbye to "one of the most exceptional year groups to have graced the school in recent history".

In a statement issued to the Chronicle & Echo, Mr Bernard said it had been a difficult year for everyone.

"After a year of great turmoil it has been difficult for the school to accept that such a strong set of students have been unable to prove their outstanding academic ability in the Examination Hall and instead have ended up somewhat at the mercy of a cold and statistically driven national standardisation model which was never going to do full justice to their talents," he said.

"The school is working hard to support any student whose results and university or employment routes have been detrimentally affected by this process. The fact that many students are moving on to aspirational career pathways is testament to the students’ resolve, discipline and achievement prior to the turbulence of the last six months since the national school closure.

"The cohort consistently backed up their excellent academic attainment with incredible achievements outside of the classroom in sport, music, dance and drama," he added.

Mr Bernard said this was a year group that had reached the Semi-Finals of the National U18 Rugby cup and who graced the Royal Albert Hall for an invitational dance performance in front of both royalty and A list celebrity.

He added: "This was the year group who won numerous Platinum awards as pinnacle attainments in national music competitions and who packed out the Cripps Theatre nightly for school shows, productions and concerts. This was the year group from whom eight of their number will be studying within the walls of Oxford and Cambridge Universities and eight at prestigious music conservatoires / institutions and Drama schools including LAMDA from October. They were a group of students who had a hugely positive influence on the school, embracing the vast range of opportunities that the school had to offer as well as operating as fantastic role models for our younger students and through their volunteer work in the local community.

"I am hesitant to highlight individual academic performances given the lack of public examinations this year, however Ivan Revenga-Riesco and Devin Thomas both deserve enormous credit for achieving straight A* grades in four subjects in both their final Examination Board calculated grades and in all of their school based trial examinations. Devin has the additional accolade of achieving the clean sweep of grade 9s / A*s in every GCSE and A Level he has been entered for at NSB which is an inspirational accomplishment.

"We wish all of our students the very best of luck in their future and we look forward to learning about their undoubtedly rich successes in the years ahead," he said.