Gibraltar’s resilient students deliver 95% A-Level pass rate despite Covid-19 disruption

Gibraltar students in government schools achieved an overall 95% pass rates in this year’s A-Level results as they shrugged off the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The students were the first to sit exams since before the pandemic, with grades over the past two years awarded using feedback from teachers as lockdowns and Covid-19 restrictions prevented schools from hosting traditional in-person examinations.

UK education officials had warned grades might be lower than over the past two years, but Gibraltar’s students did themselves proud despite never having sat or experienced formal summer examination sessions.

Despite the changes in grade boundaries and the anticipated impact that these might have, the examination results at the three Government institutions who deliver A-Level/Level 3 courses registered an overall pass rate of 95% across the three institutions.

This is an improvement in relation to the pre-pandemic years of 2017, 2018, and 2019, where the overall pass rates were 92%, 94% and 94% respectively.

It also represents an improvement in relation to the 2020 cohort’s results, who achieved an overall pass rate of 91%, and just a 2% drop in comparison to the 2021 cohort, who achieved an overall pass rate of 97% across the three institutions.

Students in Gibraltar’s three secondary institutions secured 736 pass grades this year, each one representing an individual story and learning journey.

Of note was the large number of students, 19 in total, who attained three grade As or above, giving them opportunity to apply for the status of Gibraltar Scholar.

This year sees an unprecedented number of students attaining this status.

The Director of Education, Keri Scott said: “I extend my congratulations to all the young people who have sat their exams this year and recognise, in particular, their resilience and perseverance during these challenging covid-impacted years.”

“Although we hope all students have been awarded the grades they have worked hard for and require, really, today is a celebration about much more than the results themselves.”

“These students’ achievements are evidence of resilience in action, particularly given the circumstances that society has endured in recent years.”

“Moreover, we hope that the skills developed and the experiences shared by the students throughout their years in school, from Nursery to Year 13, surpass the impact of each young person’s end grades.”

“As a Department of Education, we hope that their learning journey through our schools will continue to help inform and shape these young people’s lives long after the immediate response to their exam results dissipates.”

“Whatever their results are, we hope they celebrate the completion of this journey and look forward to the next stage, whatever that may be.”

“On behalf of all our hard-working colleagues in Education, we wish them the very best of luck in their future endeavours.”

The Minister for Education, Dr John Cortes, congratulated both students and teachers on their hard work and efforts.

“I am, as you can imagine, extremely pleased at our results,” he said.

“They are a reflection of the hard work put in by students and teachers in these difficult and highly disrupted last two years.”

“So my congratulations to those who achieved what they wanted and encouragement to those who did not.”

“The future is ahead for all of them.”

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