College Challenges for Top Place in IB Table
Story by Shirley Slater (Media Relations Officer)
11 September 2006
Newly appointed IB Co-ordinator
Jim Morrissey
This summer’s results show that the College is challenging independent schools for the top spot in International Baccalaureate league tables.
Fifty four students completed the IB Diploma programme this year with an average point score of 34, or 512 points under the new A level equivalent UCAS tariff. This places student achievement on a par with Kings College School, Wimbledon recently placed second in IB tables for fee paying schools and 16 points above the average score of 496 realised by pupils at Hockerill Anglo European College in Hertfordshire ranked top of The Independent newspaper’s exam tables on August 18.
Fourteen students gained point scores of 40 or above including a very rare maximum mark of 45. Bryn Watkins from Ipswich is one of only 72 students worldwide who gained top marks in eight components including subjects from humanities and science areas, completing a 4000 word essay in French and helping to develop links with a school in Sri Lanka damaged in the tsunami as part of the Community Service requirement of the programme.
A further three students each gained an outstanding 43 points equivalent to five grade As at A level. The results are significantly above both national and international levels and show a 10% improvement in the college’s own results from last year.
Colchester Sixth Form is the first state funded college in the United Kingdom to become an IB World School. It was accredited in April 2003 and began delivering the diploma programme to 35 students in September that year. 33 of the first cohort completed the programme in May 2005 with a 91% pass rate, well above the international pass rate of 82%. The popularity of the Diploma as an alternative to traditional A levels continues and a further 78 applicants have been accepted to begin the course next week.
The growth in popularity of IB is reflected nationally with 87 centres offering this qualification but of this total 23 are state funded institutions who have gained accreditation since April 2003.