STUDENTS and teachers at Tavistock College were celebrating last week after a record pass rate was achieved in A-level examinations. The college saw 96% of the 120 candidates pass their exams ? up on last year?s success rate of just over 95%. And in 24 of the 34 subjects a 100% pass rate was recorded. In addition, all the students taking the Advanced BTEC National Diploma successfully completed their course. New college principal Colin Eves said: ?It is a real pleasure to see the hard work of staff and students rewarded with these results. I am particularly pleased to see students, who have taken advantage of the open access policy the college adopts to post-16 studies, achieving A-level qualifications. ?Alongside the outstanding performances at top grades, the results genuinely show the benefits for students continuing full time education and aspiring to achieve qualifications that will lead to career opportunities and a bright future.? And Mr Eves paid tribute to the leadership of his predecessor, John Simes, and acting principal Chris Powell, plus the support of parents, which also contributed to the college?s excellent results this year. Geoff Orton, head of sixth form, congratulated all the students and teachers for their hard work throughout the last two years. Mr Orton said the range of subjects on offer at the college had increased in the last couple of years. ?This year?s students were the first to be able to take photography to A-level, where all students passed, two thirds of them achieving the higher A-C grades,? he said. There were special celebrations for Joe Boswell, Luke Boyce, Lauren Cooke, Lesley Greenway and Rebecca Leithall, who all achieved three or more grade A passes. These students will now be heading off to colleges and universities at Falmouth, Lancaster, Edinburgh and Southampton. Mr Orton also paid tribute to Wayne Downham, Nicola Macrae and Kerrie Meredith, who successfully passed intermediate exams, enabling them to take A-level courses next year. And international students Sadaf Mozaffarian and Marcel Ghani achieved the A-levels they needed to go on to study at British universities. He said the majority of students would now be going on to higher education, studying a vast range of subjects from archaeology and Arabic cultural studies, to marine composites techology and zoology.

students at Kelly College have notched up a superb 100% pass rate at A-level for the third year in succession, with a record 39% of passes at A-grade. The college?s most outstanding result came from student Christoph Lakner, who achieved an astonishing six A-grades at A-level. Christoph is to take up a place at St Hugh?s College, Oxford, where he will read economics and management. Mark Steed, Kelly College headmaster, said: ?I am absolutely thrilled for all our students ? they have worked tremendously hard and they have earned these results. ?Our outstanding team of teachers will be so pleased all their hard work and commitment to the students have been rewarded with these fantastic grades.? Mr Steed said Kelly was a small school which prided itself on tailoring education to individual needs ? besides its good results, it was committed to providing all-round education through a wide range of extra curricular activities. Mr Steed said this year?s leavers would be going on to study a wide variety of subjects at college and university, including aerospace manufacturing engineering, fashion studies, theology and veterinary science.