IT WAS a delight to see the faces of St. Julian’s students as they received their General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results last week. However, what should have been a happy moment for the students was saddened by the death of one of their colleagues, whose life had been so tragically taken the week before in a quad bike accident in Ericeira (north of Lisbon).
The Resident’s Bob Hughes spoke to Ms. Ann Hughes, head of the senior school, who said: “We are delighted with this year’s results in the grades A* to C. Our students achieved a 92 per cent pass rate in five or more subjects, which is well above the UK average of 61.2 per cent. The students work exceedingly hard and are to be congratulated.” When asked about the TV report of 97.8 per cent pass rate, she pointed out that this was the pass rate of all pass grades of the 5.73 million papers marked this year.
Student Catarina Correia, from Cascais, was happy with her results, but a little disappointed with two of her subjects. She told us that Drama was by far the hardest, with a long exam, lots to write about and easy to get lost. On the other hand, she loves Mathematics. Pedro Viana, from Murtal, Parede, said he was delighted with his Physical Education A and, on his weaker subjects, he said it was just down to lack of discipline in studying. These students will now go on to their International Baccalaureate Diploma.
