GCSE results 2019: Top-scoring Michaela Community School opens A-level enrolments but pupils need seven grade 7s to get in
Pupils with their GCSE results at Michaela Community School. Picture: @mike-taylor11 - Credit: Archant
A top-scoring free school in Wembley Park is accepting enrolments into its new sixth form – but pupils need seven grade 7s to get in.
Berlyn Jensen-Wallace achieved three 9s, three 8s and 7s in her GCSEs at Michaela Community School. Picture: Nathalie Raffray - Credit: Archant
Michaela Community School, in North End Road, saw its first cohort of 115 GCSE pupils smash national targets on results day on Thursday.
While 18 per cent of pupils scored a grade 9 against a national average of 4.5pc, 91pc scored at least a grade 4 "standard pass" in maths and 90pc in English, way above national figures in the high 50s.
Head Katherine Birbalsingh played down the results saying: "Wembley High in Brent will be having similar results.
"They do the same form of education, high expectations, consistency of staff. We have really dedicated staff. So many staff were in to celebrate children. They absolutely love them - they were crying for them."
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The inclusive secondary school opened its doors to its first pupils in 2014, meaning they students can progress to the new sixth form - if they get the grades. Berlyn Jensen Wallace achieved three 9s, three 8s and a clutch of sevens. "I'm very proud of the result," she told this paper. "They made us work."
Dreaming of becoming a lawyer, she is thinking of taking her A-levels at nearby Ark Academy, despite qualifying for her own school's sixth form.
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"I went to an open evening and really liked it," she said.
Ms Birbalsingh said students thinking of coming to Michaela would be able to make a more informed choice using the school's first set of GCSE results as "hardcore proof".
Half of pupils are staying on post-16.
"We'll be growing the sixth form over the next few years and our emphasis will be Russell Group and Oxbridge entries," she said. "It's a highly academic sixth form so you need seven grade 7s to get in, it is very high but we are keeping the bar high deliberately. Other schools offer something else. Our offering is highly academic at the sixth form level."
She denied the school was "selective", saying that "all schools are selective". "We are only offering academic A-levels so if we took on someone who got less they would just fail the A-level."
Those interested in a sixth form place can email michaela6th@mcsbrent.co.uk with their results and the subjects they wish to study.
