St Leonards students excel with outstanding IB exam results
Students at St Leonards School in St Andrews, have had reason to celebrate this week following an outstanding set of International Baccalaureate Diploma results.
Recognised for strong academic achievement, and for being one of just two IB continuum schools in the UK, St Leonards is proud to announce an average points score of 35, out of a possible 45 points, which is the equivalent of five A* grades at A Level and five grade A Scottish Highers plus two grade A Scottish Advanced Highers.
The top result was secured by Duncan Bouchard, from St Andrews, who was joint head boy of St Leonards for the 2020-21 academic year. Duncan achieved a perfect score of 45 points, placing him amongst the top 350 candidates in the world, out of 170,660 students who sat the May assessments. Duncan has secured a place to study Civil Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
Also from St Andrews, Lara Bell achieved an impressive 44 points in the Diploma, and will go on to study English at University College London. Lara is one of approximately 600 students worldwide to have achieved 44 points, making this another incredible achievement.
With the IB results released in July, students are now making plans for starting courses at top UK and international universities in the autumn. The most popular destinations chosen this year by St Leonards students include the University of Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow.
With a score of 41 points, Zina Gharakhani, a boarder at St Leonards from Slovakia, accepted an offer to read History at the University of Oxford; Guoheng Zhang, from Guangdong, China, will go on to study Mathematics at the University of St Andrews, and outgoing joint head boy, Julian Shenoy, from Germany, will join Guoheng at St Andrews, studying Psychology. Tamaki Sasagawa, from Japan, secured a place to study Medical Biosciences at Imperial College London, with 38 points.
Duncan Bouchard and Lara Bell have both had outstanding results
Local student Catherine Fleming, who is the third in her family to complete their studies at St Leonards, having been a pupil at the school since Year 1, will study chemistry at Glasgow, whilst Head Girl Lauren Hastie, from Crail, will study Latin at the University of Edinburgh.
Dawn Pemberton-Hislop, acting head of St Leonards, said: ‘I am so incredibly proud of this year’s excellent IB results, which are a testament to the hard work and determination of our students, who have achieved fantastic scores and secured places at top UK and international universities. All of this has been achieved despite the many challenges presented by the pandemic. My thanks go to all the parents, staff and friends, who have supported them on this journey.
‘These results are proof of the perseverance of these students, who have learned online via St Leonards Connected, weathered lockdowns, and coped incredibly well with a turbulent final two years to their time at school. We aim to prepare our students “Ad Vitam’, for life”, and the 2021 IB results, combining academic excellence with creativity, activity, service, and more, certainly demonstrate the success of that mission. My warmest congratulations to each and every one of our Year 13 pupils – I know that you will go on to achieve even more great things.’
In 2019, St Leonards was named Scotland’s Independent School of the Year by The Sunday Times. The IB is offered exclusively in the Sixth Form at St Leonards, and is the equivalent of Scottish Highers/Advanced Highers or A Levels. The school’s average of 34 points places St Leonards above the global average of 33, with an impressive 81% of candidates achieving 7/6/5 at Higher Level.
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