From left to right, Maddie Balado, Maddie Crump and Maddie Sanderson getting their GCSE results at Lady Margaret School
It helps if you’re a Maddie at Lady Margaret. Maddie Crump, Maddie Sanderson and Maddie Balado were locked in a group hug after opening their results – reflecting another dazzling year of achievement at the popular Parsons Green school.
Among Maddie Crump’s 11 GCSEs were A* grades in French, Spanish, Chemistry and History, and an 8 in the new English Lit exam.
The 16-year-old will return to the Lady Margaret sixth form to study Chemistry, Biology and Spanish at A level… and will then make a firm decision about what will follow that.
“I’m interested in medicine, but I also love languages,” she explained.
All three Maddies were wearing their Reading Festival wristbands, having pitched their tents at the site the day before, and dashed back to school for the morning to discover their results!
Maddie Sanderson, 16, achieved a sky-high 9 in the new English Language exam, an 8 in Maths, then straight A*s (but for one A) in her other subjects.
She’ll move to pastures new to study Maths, Chemistry and Biology at A level.
“I’ll probably do something chemistry-related at university,” she said, adding, “I’ve really enjoyed it here, but I felt it was time for a change.”
Maddie Balado, also 16, is also moving college for A Level, so she can take PE alongside Biology and Psychology plus, as a fourth subject, Textiles. Eventually she’d love a career in nutrition.
She, too, swept the board with her results. “I’ll miss the people here,” she said. “It’s quite a small school, very homely, and I’ve really liked it.”
It's all about the girls
And she’ll be missed by headteacher Elizabeth Stevenson, who enjoys a wonderful bond with her students. “It’s all about the girls,” she said when asked about the sweeping changes to this year’s GCSEs.
“In among all these statistics, it’s about the individuals. That’s what matters most. All change is difficult and our English and Maths teachers especially have had to work very hard.”
At Lady Margaret, 88 per cent of girls have achieved the equivalent of A* to C grades at GCSE, with 34 girls out of 115 gaining at least eight subjects at the top two grades.
One of the school’s rare non-Maddies was also cock-a-hoop at her results.
Izzy Marango, 16, achieved 11 passes, including an A* equivalent in English Lit and – to her surprise – an A in Religious Studies.
Izzy admitted the syllabus and exam structure changes had been a bit daunting. “It was quite scary; there were a lot of rumours around that people would get the wrong grades, and I think it was harder this year.
“But it was hard for the teachers too – they had to learn it all as well. I’ve really enjoyed my time at Lady Margaret.”
