There was plenty to celebrate at St Mary’s Calne on Thursday 14 August as Upper Sixth students received their 2025 A-Level results, once again achieving outstanding success.
An impressive 97% of students received an offer from their chosen university, with more than 60% of all grades awarded at A* and A.
Deputy Head Academic, Mr Michael Smyth, praised the achievements of the year group, saying,
“We are delighted to celebrate the achievements of our 2025 Upper Sixth leavers who achieved academic distinction on A-Level results day. As a cohort, the 2025 Leavers have been magnificent role models, and their examination results reflect their resilience and rigour in equal measure.”
Among the many success stories were outgoing Head Girl, Claire D, who achieved straight A grades and will now head to the University of Edinburgh to study social policy and politics, and Mary G, who secured her place at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, with A*A*A to read history.
Four students achieved a clean sweep of three A* grades:
-
Honor B – going on to study classics at Durham
-
Norah C – heading to Durham to read English literature
-
Honor I – studying psychology at Bristol
-
Cheryl L – beginning a mathematics degree at Warwick
Medicine continues to be a popular choice for St Mary’s leavers, with congratulations going to Tara O, who will study Medicine at Plymouth. The school also proudly celebrated 2024 leaver Deborah A, who begins her medical degree at Sheffield this autumn.
Headmistress Mrs Anne Wakefield expressed her pride in the students and staff, saying, “I am so proud of all our Upper Sixth students who worked so hard, supported by my inspirational colleagues, to excel this year and achieve a fantastic set of results. Once again our artists excelled with 100% of our students achieving either an A or A in fine art.
“I would particularly like to recognise the achievements of Hilary L, Edith F, Evie M, Honor I, Skye T and Alex W who all received congratulations from the OCR exam board as top performers in this year’s cohort of A Level fine art candidates.”*
Other subject highlights included:
-
English – 100% A*-A
-
Drama – 90% A*-A
-
Economics – 71% A*-A
-
Geography – 69% A*-A
-
Politics – 67% A*-A
-
Music – 100% top grades
-
Latin – 75% A*-A
Mathematics remains the most popular subject at St Mary’s, with over a third of the year group taking it and 76% achieving A*-A.
Reflecting on the breadth of student destinations, Mr Smyth added, “As is the Calne tradition, the choice of university destinations for our leavers is both impressive and diverse, with this year’s destinations including Exeter, Leeds, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, UAL, UCL, Imperial, as well as Parsons School of Design, Barnard College of Columbia and Syracuse University, all in New York, USA,
“The variety of courses our leavers have chosen to pursue are equally exciting and varied, ranging from law, geography, drama and English literature to chemistry and physics, with courses such as accounting and finance, graphic communication design, music, and many more.”
