Borough's best-ever A-level results

98% overall pass; 100% for Lady Margaret School.

Students in Hammersmith & Fulham are celebrating their best-ever A-level results.

The overall pass rate in the borough's schools at grades A to E was 98.1 per cent - 2.1 percentage points above the national figure of 96 per cent. Last year the overall pass rate in the borough's schools at grades A to E was 97.2 - which was also above the national average of 95.4.

The William Morris Academy (WMA), the London Oratory School and Lady Margaret School proved that they were all top of the class with respective A to E grade pass rates this year of 97.9 per cent, 97.6 per cent and 100 per cent. All three figures were above the national average.

Meanwhile WMA students have excelled in their vocational A-levels - the Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education - achieving a percentage pass rate at grades A to E of 88.6 per cent, compared with the national average of 85.6 per cent. The A to E pass rate for students on the AVCE combined courses, equivalent to two A-levels, was 95.5 per cent at WMA, compared with the national figure of 89.2. It is the third year that students nationally have taken AVCEs.

Cllr David Williams, deputy for education, said: "The excellent A-level and AVCE results at the William Morris Academy show students from a wide range of backgrounds can make massive progress with the right support, while London Oratory and Lady Margaret have maintained or improved their already very high standards. All the students deserve our heartfelt congratulations for their hard work and commitment - particularly those who have struggled against hardship in this country or who have fled persecution or conflict abroad.

The council is committed to making further education accessible for all and we offer fantastic opportunities for young people to progress on to higher education and move into their chosen careers. There has been a significant increase in the number of 16-year-old pupils continuing their studies in the borough since 1995, while the national Education Maintenance Allowance - which we helped to pilot - has boosted the staying-on rate among students from low income families. Hammersmith & Fulham students have among the best chances in post-16 education around - so believe you can do it and we will help make it happen."

Liz Walton, WMA principal, said: "We cater for students from a wide range of abilities and backgrounds so it is very pleasing to see them achieving such outstanding results at A-level, which are our best ever."

Ms Walton continued: "I am also delighted that the students who sat the AVCEs did so well. We have helped to spearhead this new qualification and broaden the curriculum with a really wide choice of vocational and academic courses. We think this gives our students greater opportunities to fulfil their potential."

WMA student Leila Said, 19, from Hammersmith, achieved three A-level passes - including an A grade in Russian - despite having no English and no formal education when she arrived in the UK from Afghanistan five years ago. Leila, who also got a C in chemistry and D in physics will be going to Roehampton University, in south west London, to study psychology and hopes to train as a doctor eventually.

Meanwhile, another WMA student, Daniel Adamoko, 18, a former Phoenix High pupil, is going to King's College, London University to study English and film after achieving four As in his A-levels (English language & literature; fine art; media, film & TV and psychology).

The William Morris Academy was set up as the joint sixth form for five Hammersmith & Fulham secondary schools in 1994. It became England's first 16 to 19 school in January 2002 after a change in the law allowed the council to establish WMA as a free-standing institution. Seventy five per cent of advanced level students go on to higher education.

The five local secondary schools which use the sixth form provision at the academy are Henry Compton, Hurlingham and Chelsea, Fulham Cross, Phoenix High and Burlington Danes.

22/8/04