For Bayside and Westside, maximising students’ potential trumps focus on grades

The first fully coeducational cohort from Bayside and Westside received their A Level results by email but came into the school to share their results and the plans for the future with each other and their teachers.

Head teacher of Bayside, Gaynor Lester, said the morning was spent checking on students’ first and second choice placements and offering support to those who might need it. She said that the reaction from students has been positive, with many achieving their first choice universities.

“Most of them have got into their first choice uni, which is what's important to them,” she said.

“Many of them have done better than they thought they were going to do, whatever the grade they've got, whether it's an A*, or whether it's a D, which is what we want, for them to maximise their potential.

As on numerous occasions previously, Ms Lester said was not a fan of exam statistics, which can offer an incomplete view as to what actually has been achieved.

In Bayside’s case for example, grades aside, only five out of all students aiming to go to university had not obtained places.

“Every year I say it, I think we need to start shifting that focus on percentage of this grade, percentage of that grade,” she said.

“Because we are a comprehensive school, we accept all children, and we encourage all children.”

“So if a child's potential is an E, and they get that E, that's what we want, and in fact, if they get a D, that's even better.”

“And I think as a community, we need to be looking at maximising people's potential, and not statistics.”

“And today, I feel that many, many students have maximised their potential, which is what we look at.”

“And many, many success stories of people going to uni despite all odds, which again, is what we look at.”

One of the Gibraltar scholars, of whom there are 13, is Bayside student Quentin McGlashan who said that “today has been a great day to be honest. I got the results I wanted, and I got into the firm choice, which is University of Exeter.”

He will study sports and exercise science.

He described the A Level course as a ”very stressful, long duration” period that he had to go through.

“It wasn't the best time, but we got through it, and did what we had to do,” he said.

Fellow student Theo Dalmedo earned the grades he needed to get into his firm choice of sports therapy at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

“I'm feeling good,” he said. The course will allow him to pursue his career of choice, physiotherapy, and the ability to “branch off into those types of areas in the sporting world, and helping different people in ways that I can.”

He agreed that the A levels have been a very stressful time. The way he dealt with it was to put his mind to studying rather than dwelling on the length of the course and this made it “feel much easier.”

“And I'm just glad everything I did worked out in the end.”

Megan Edmonds is also a Gibraltar Scholar and got two A*s and an A, securing her a place at her firm choice, Cardiff University, to study Human and Social Sciences as she likes the combination of psychology and sociology, her favourite subjects.

She too echoed the sentiment of her fellow students about the stress of such exams, but added “all the hard work you put in definitely pays off.”

Students at Westside were also celebrating their results, among them Amelia Fairweather who was “feeling very good, very proud of myself”.

“I just feel like I achieved the grades that I worked really hard for,” she told the Chronicle.

She will now leave the Rock and head to Lancaster University to study fine art with hopefully a year abroad too, potentially in Canada or Australia.

Leaving in September she will kick off her university experience with fresher’s week before the first class on October 5.

The news meant a lot to her family she said.

“If you would see my mum, she'd probably be tearing up still, because we're just very proud,” she said.
“Because I wasn't actually planning on carrying on with my A levels after the first year. So just to even get to this point, like they're just so proud.”

Also heading to university is her friend Sienna Sene who will study architecture in Sheffield.

She picked that degree course as she appreciates the balance between creativity and technical skills that architecture offers.

“I've always loved architecture. I'm quite an artistic person as well and I like problem solving and stuff. So think it's a good balance between the both,” she said.

“I've always looked at buildings and always thought in mind, like I could do this and change it this way, shape the cities that we live in.”

“And there's a lot of buildings in Gib that I think could have been done differently.”

Off to study law in University of Warwick, a four year course with a year abroad – hopefully in Italy - is Tianne Payas.

Law has “always been a passion of mine. At a very early age I got an exposure into it when we did a visit to the courts, and since then it's always been a passion of mine,” she said.

“And to give everyone the right to express their view.”

Dr Sonia Lopez the head of Westside said she was proud of the students, not just with their grades but with their growth and dedication.

“It is a wonderful day for our pupils and for our whole school community, and I'm really proud of what our students have achieved,” she said.

“Obviously, we've been watching our young people grow over the years, and seeing them reach this milestone is a big privilege in itself, and none of this happens without the dedication of the staff and the supportive families.”

“So today is a celebration for everybody involved.”

She noted that grades fluctuate depending on each year, but the school’s priority has always been help students achieve their goals, whatever they may be.

“We want them to have those life skills, and we've placed a lot of emphasis on building their resilience and building their leadership skills and really making them think about what they want to achieve in the wider life, beyond the academic,” she said.

“We also have a growing number of people going into apprenticeships, which I think is a really positive step forward as well.”

“It's something that I think is a growing avenue for our pupils, and I think it's something that is really of benefit, because not everybody takes that academic route.”

“An apprenticeship gives you a really good, practical avenue into some of the more specialist areas.”

Melissa Bosano the coordinator for the apprenticeships, explained that some students will take on courses in foundation insurance training, skills for care, PSV driver, construction, engineering, carpentry, plumbing, maintenance, accounting, and nail technology, to name a few.