Students compare A level results at London Oratory
There were floods of tears under the robinia tree in the courtyard at London Oratory School after Niamh Lyons opened her results envelope… but they were tears of delight and relief.
“I’m not normally like this; it’s extraordinary… I don’t usually cry!” the 18-year-old insisted.
Her A* in art was a pleasant shock, but gaining an A in French was even more of a surprise. “I wasn’t expecting any A*s at all, and I thought I’d get a C in French,” she said.
With a B in English added to the mix, she’s got a place on an art foundation course at Camberwell starting in September, which will hopefully pave the way to a degree course after that.
Niamh’s mother Sharon was almost as tearful as her daughter as the two of them sat on the steps to let it all sink in.
The teenager from Esher, Surrey, joined the Roman Catholic school in Seagrave Road, Fulham, in the sixth form, having done her main schooling closer to her home.
“My parents are quite religious, and this is a state school,” she explained. “It was hard to settle at first, and it took a while, but it was worth it.”
She spent her summer holidaying with friends in Tenerife, Zante and Budapest, and managed to put the results out of her mind until the emotional envelope-opening moment.
Patrick Dunne, 18, is off to Cambridge to study history after gaining A* in economics, A in history and A in English.
“I suppose I was fairly confident, but the last few days were nervy. It was still a relief,” he said. “I’m going to do history, so it was a bit of a surprise to get that high grade in economics.”
Patrick, from Putney, is going to St John’s – a 500-student college steeped in its own history as it was founded in 1511.
“It’s certainly different to this place; it’s very grand and beautiful. Why St John’s? I picked it by accident really!”
Patrick spent the summer in Barcelona with friends, in Corfu with family, and watching cricket.
“History is my favourite subject; the one I enjoy most,” he said, adding that he had thoroughly enjoyed his seven years at Oratory. “I’d recommend it; it’s served me well. The religious side of things is more image than actuality, and I haven’t felt any real pressure to be religious!” His first task, until coming up to Cambridge, is to get a job and earn some cash.
Tom Liddy, 18, proved camera-shy after opening his envelope on results day. “I don’t really want pictures; I just want to be normal!” he said, reluctantly admitting he’d achieved A*, A and A in English, history and economics.
It’s more than enough to secure his place to study history at Manchester – a uni he chose because “it was the most similar city to London that wasn’t London”.
Tom, who lives in Wimbledon, chose history as it’s the subject he most enjoys.
Two other ‘A*, A and A’ pupils were good friends Louis Treneman and Jeremy Ansbro, who will now both go to Durham – though studying in different colleges there.
Louis gained his A levels in economics, history and maths, while Jeremy (“my best mate since the first year”) got the same grades in economics, maths and Spanish.
Louis, who lives in Balham, will focus on a three-year BA degree in economics at Durham. “After that, who knows? You can really do anything from there. I might possibly do a masters, maybe abroad, then I could try for a job in the city,” he said.
Fellow 18-year-old Jeremy, from Barnes, was only predicted to get A, A, B – so the results were a great boost. He is following in his older brother’s footsteps as Rupert, who also studied at Oratory, is currently doing a maths degree at Durham.
He will study Spanish and economics, which includes an Erasmus year in Spain. “I was in Seville until yesterday,” he said on results morning, after returning from a family holiday where he had a chance to look around one possible destination for his year of continental studies.
There may just be time to squeeze in another holiday with his girlfriend before uni starts. “It’s been really good here,” he said, reflecting on his time at London Oratory School. “I’ve been here seven years, and a lot of the subject teachers have made my time here really special.”
Overcoming challenges is something Pierre-Thomas Eckert, 18, has proved good at as he discovered he had also attained A*, A and A grades (in French, maths and Spanish) when he tore open his envelope.
He has only been in the UK for four years, having studied at schools in Paris, Bordeaux, Lille and Lyons as his father’s job in insurance took the family from place to place.
“I was expecting three As when I left the exam room,” he admitted… although the A* in his native language can hardly have been a shock!
His English was halting and patchy when he arrived, but total immersion in the language means he is now fluent, and greatly looking forward to going to Exeter University to study maths and Spanish.
Pierre-Thomas, who lived for his Oratory years in South Kensington, but recently moved to Victoria, fell in love with Exeter when he visited the city for an open day.
“I really liked the place intensely, and the teachers. I liked the look of it, and friends also said it was the perfect place for a good level of education and social life.”
His initial lack of English made his early weeks in London “complicated”, but he persevered. “I didn’t really speak the language, so it was hard to make friends,” he said. “But it was alright in the end. I’ve probably learnt English 1,000 times more quickly than if I’d stayed in France.”
Yet another A*, A and A combination was achieved by Michael Burrows, 18, of Camden, whose high grades in geography, chemistry and biology respectively now pave the way for a degree in medicine at St George’s.
“I know geography isn’t a usual subject if you want to do medicine, and most people do maths, but I’ve always preferred geography and it involved studying China and India and a lot of economics too.”
He spent a happy few days during the summer at a music festival in Budapest, and had a break in Barcelona. “I’ve enjoyed my time at school here,” he added.
Katie Michaels, 18, joined Oratory in the sixth form, having studied at Sacred Heart School. The Chiswick student said that it was a very different atmosphere in the sixth form. “It was a new school for me, and there were a lot of boys here, but it’s been alright. To be honest, they made me feel welcome. Everyone was soon talking to everyone else.”
She gained As in biology and product design, and a C in chemistry, and will now start a degree at Loughborough in product design.
Of her C grade, she said: “I’m really gutted about chemistry, but the grade boundaries for the subject really shot up this year.”
As part of her product design A level she designed a storage unit for use in the photographic studio of her snapper father, Michael Michaels. “I went to his studio and interviewed him and worked there, doing the measuring,” she said of the five-month project, which represented a quarter of her A level marks.
"We are absolutely delighted with the A level results," said Dr Gary Howells, senior master at London Oratory. "The results are a great reflection on the hard work of the sixth formers and their teachers. This year group has been a real pleasure to work with.
"They've made full use of our enhanced study facilities and we are delighted that our sixth formers have secured university places with many embarking on highly competitive courses at leading universities."
