CONTROVERSY surrounds the results of the International Baccalaureate (IB) after they were announced last week.
With no final exams to mark, a predicted grade, coursework and a historic performance analysis were instead taken into account to give a final grade.
However, there has been concerns raised over some of the final marks.
Stephen Jones, warden at St Edward’s in Oxford, said: “It’s a difficult one in some respects but I can understand why individuals may be very unhappy with their results.
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“Some of the stats, including the A* to B grades, are pretty much in line with what we expected.
“What’s really odd is that we seem to be short of the top grades.
“Some schools I’ve spoken to have said the same thing so it’s fair to say our top grades are down a bit.
“The IB has had all the coursework to look at and there’s some evidence it’s been marked randomly.
“If they’ve used markers who mark exams, then they’re not used to marking coursework.
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“From my own evidence, there’s definitely some odd decisions with pupils not getting the grades they expected.
“I think the universities will get this right though and accept pupils if they’re a point or two down but there’ll be some students on tenterhooks waiting for the A Level results.”
Despite the disappointment, St Edward’s celebrated 82 per cent of its higher level grades being A*-B, with pupils Gwedny Davenport, Natalia Elezovic and Ella Leeson all receiving 40 points.
Meanwhile, at St Clare’s, the Banbury Road school celebrated an average points score of 36, compared to the world average of 29.9 points. 36 points equates to 3 A grades at A Level.
That meant 93 per cent of St Clare’s students scored above the world average, while 35 per cent of students scored 38 points or over, the normal offer made to candidates by Oxford University.
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All of this year’s Oxbridge offer-holders achieved the grades they required for entry, and all the medics were also successful.
Laura Lock scored 44 points and plans to read Human Social and Political Sciences at the University of Cambridge after her gap year, while Cornelia Chen (41 points) is going on to study Fine Art at Oxford.
A spokesperson for Headington said the school would not be publishing its IB results due to the unusual way in which they were awarded. This is likely to apply to A Level and GCSE results too.
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