The four boxes of tissues which Lady Margaret School staff had thoughtfully placed on the tables containing the A level envelopes were barely needed as this year’s crop of hard-working sixth-form students romped to success.
Overall, 68% of results were A*-B grades (one per cent up on last year), 34% either A* or A, and 100% were A*-E; a dazzling set of stats and a real feather in the cap of new head teacher Elisabeth Stevenson, exactly a year into her job at the school in Parsons Green.
“They’re a great group of girls, and they help each other,” she said. “They work as a team, and they’re supportive in their friendships. There is a real togetherness among the girls who have been here since Year 7 and those who joined in the sixth form.
“The 68% figure is phenomenal, but today is really about the people and the emotions. It’s all about the individuals, and this is a great springboard for them.”
A small knot of students was already outside the door at 8am on results day, waiting to rush to the hall to tear open the envelopes.
They learnt their results against a backdrop of drilling and banging, as the usually tranquil, leafy quad was being drained, relaid and reconstructed with more seating, thanks to PTA funding. It will be ready in plenty of time for the school’s centenary celebrations in 2017.
If synchronised envelope opening ever becomes an Olympic sport, Lady Margaret’s girls will be up there on the podium.
Loudest among the squeals of glee and hoots of delight was Nada Darbani, 18, of Westbourne Park, whose B, C, C grades in English, history and economics will transport her to Royal Holloway to study economics. “I just fell in love with the look of the place,” she explained.
India Parker, 18, heads to Oxford to study English and linguistics, settling into rooms in Somerville college with 500 fellow students in October.
The Barnes student achieved straight As in French, Spanish and English literature, although she was relieved about the English mark. “I wasn’t really sure what I’d get,” she admitted. “The grade boundaries for English were quite mean this year.”
Of the linguistics subject, she said: “It’s mostly done in English, but it’s the study of the science of language.”
Initially she thought she might work towards a job in medicine, but her latest feelings are that “I’ll maybe end up doing law, or being a diplomat”.
Fatin Abdall, 18, of Chelsea, just kept rubbing her eyes and rechecking her results. “I’ve got an A*, an A and a C in English, history and psychology; and I honestly don’t know how I did that!”
She was busy on the phone confirming the provisional offer of a place at Soas, the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University, to study history and international relations.
“History is just my all-time favourite subject,” she said, adding that she might eventually look for work in journalism. “It’s so interesting, and Middle Eastern studies at Soas really interests me.”
Jemima Clifford, 18, who lives just a 10-minute stroll from Lady Margaret, chose not to jump for joy when she opened her envelope.
Not that there was anything wrong with an A* in maths, A in physics and A in further maths… it’s just that she is only now recovering from a broken leg, which meant she did the exams in plaster!
“I broke my leg after I was tripped while running on the day before the exams,” she said. “It meant it was very uncomfortable during the exams.”
Her grades – made all the more impressive by the injury – mean she will start her degree in civil engineering at Bristol in September.
Thanks to her best friend Hepzi Rattray, 18, she was able to enjoy a summer holiday in Barcelona… being pushed everywhere in a wheelchair.
The more unusual A level subject combination of religious studies, psychology and sociology mean Julia Stammers, 18, of Fulham, will be heading to Nottingham Trent to study psychology.
Her A, B and B grades have paved the way for a career in a subject which truly inspires her. “I love psychology; it’s fascinating and I want to use it to help people,” she said. “But to help them, you have to understand them.”
Julia, who has been at Lady Margaret since Year 7, said she had made some great friends during her time at school.
Among the other high achievers at the Parsons Green school were Cinnamon Mading Morggenegg, who is off to study medicine at Glasgow University; Eliza Waskett, whose three A* grades guarantee her a place studying biological sciences at Edinburgh; and Sophie McElderry, who will be studying modern and medieval languages at Cambridge.
“Our Year 13 students worked incredibly hard last year, and these results are a testament to their commitment to their studies, and to the hard work of our staff,” added the head. “We wish everyone well as they begin a new stage of their education.”
