Brampton Manor state school secures Oxbridge spots for 47 students... but will appeal ALL results over 'flawed' A Level grading system

A London state sixth form that saw 51 pupils receive Oxbridge offers has criticised the government's new "triple lock" A-level grading system as "flawed" and said its students have received "nothing like what they deserve" today.

Brampton Manor Academy in East Ham opened its sixth form in 2012 with the specific aim of transforming progression rates to Oxbridge and Russell Group universities in the east London area.

Mr Sam Dobin, director of the sixth form, told the Standard he has seen more than 100 pupils achieve straight A*-A grades today, with 47 of the 51 students holding Oxbridge offers confirming their places.

But some Brampton Manor students have missed their first choice university due to their results being downgraded from teachers' predictions submitted to regulators. The school leadership is planning to appeal the results of the "entire cohort".

Mr Dobin said: "It's record Oxbridge progression. But our view is that these grades are nothing like what our students deserve.

"They have awarded the school the same results as the last few years, but this years's cohort is more able. That's the data... their GCSE results were better than pervious cohorts, but their A-level results now are not.

"That is not what we were promised, we were told prior attainment would be taken into account [by the Department for Education] and our view is that, from what we have seen, prior attainment has not been taken into account.

"On the one hand we are really happy for our students, lots of them have got fantastic grades and are progressing to great universities, but the system has fallen short."These students deserved even more. We are not satisfied with the process that has been undertaken and we will be appealing for the whole cohort. We will fight for those students."

It came amid new that thousands of pupils' results have been downgraded around the country after summer exams were cancelled because of Covid-19.

Exam boards downgraded nearly two in five (39.1 per cent) of pupils' grades in England, according to data from Ofqual - which amounts to around 280,000 entries being adjusted down after moderation.

Teachers were told to submit the grades they thought each student would have received if they had sat the papers, alongside a rank order of students, after exams were cancelled amid the pandemic.

For "standardisation", exam boards then moderated these grades to ensure this year's results were not significantly higher than previously, and the value of students' grades were not undermined. Education minister, Nick Gibb, had warned that there could have been grade inflation of 12 per cent if standardisation had not been implemented.

In England, a total of 35.6 per cent of grades were adjusted down by one grade, 3.3 per cent were brought down by two grades and 0.2 per cent came down by three grades, figures from Ofqual show.

The Government announced late on Tuesday that students in England will have the "safety net" of being able to use mock exam results as the basis for an appeal if they are higher than the calculated grade.

Mr Dobin added: "It will be pretty interesting to see how they [moderating bodies] respond. We have a pretty solid evidence base, so we are pretty confident."

The school, which saw just one student go to Oxbridge in 2014, made headlines around the country earlier this year after scores of students received offers.

The majority of offer-holders are from ethnic minority backgrounds, are the first in their family to attend university, or qualify for the pupil premium for disadvantaged children - meaning their parents earn below £16,000.

Despite standardisation measures, figures released by the Joint Council for Qualifications - which cover A-level entries from students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland where around 300,000 students are receiving their results - revealed the number of A-level entries awarded an A grade or higher has risen to an all-time high, with 27.9 per cent securing the top grades this year.

Ucas data released shows that overall university acceptances have risen this year. A breakdown shows a 15.2 per cent fall in the number of EU students accepted, with 22,430 confirmed so far.

Nearly a third of British 18-year-olds have taken up places - a record high for results day. This rise comes despite a 1.5 per cent drop in the population of this age group in the UK.

So far, 4 per cent of placed UK students are currently planning to defer starting their course, which is the same proportion as at this point last year.

The data also shows a record number of poorer teenagers securing degree places.

Read more

UCAS opens as students across UK find out A-level grades- LIVE