Varndean College's International Baccalaureate students have once again displayed an exceptional performance in their Diploma results this summer. The 42 IB Diploma students achieved an average of 36.12 points, which universities regard as equivalent to three A grades at A Level, with 13 students gaining 40 points or above. Seventy-five per cent of those applying to UCAS have acquired places at Russell Group universities, including three at Oxford and Cambridge and six studying Medicine. Varndean College’s International Baccalaureate students have once again displayed an exceptional performance in their Diploma results this summer. The 42 IB Diploma students achieved an average of 36.12 points, which universities regard as equivalent to three A grades at A Level, with 13 students gaining 40 points or above. Seventy-five per cent of those applying to UCAS have acquired places at Russell Group universities, including three at Oxford and Cambridge and six studying Medicine.

An outstanding result was achieved by Samuel Segal (ex Chailey School), who gained the maximum score of 45 points, putting him in the top 0.5% of students worldwide. Samuel is now going on to study Medicine at Sheffield University.

Also celebrating are our three students who have gained places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities: Portia Smith (ex Brighton College) who gained 43 points and will be studying Medicine at Cambridge, Gemma Robson (ex Patcham High) who gained 42 points and will be studying History at Oxford and Bruno Buckley (ex Hove Park) who gained 39 points and will be studying History at Cambridge.

With a staggering 43 points was another of our medics Ruth Goffi (ex Lewes Priory School) who will be going on to study Medicine at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, as well as Samantha Burgess (ex Dorothy Stringer) who will be studying Liberal Arts at Leeds.

With 42 points was Ines Mathieu Garcia de Movellan (ex Millais School), Politics and International Studies at Warwick University and Zoe Alexander (ex Dorothy Stringer), Art Foundation at Brighton Met. Isabelle Standen, with 41 points, will be going to study Politics, Philosophy and Law at King’s College London, with a £20,000 scholarship.

Our other medics, Calvin Liu (ex Seaford Head) will be studying Medicine at Queen Mary College, London and Magdalena Lech (ex Bedes) Medicine at Southampton.

The IB Diploma, which requires students to study six subjects at advanced level as well as completing projects and community work, is an internationally recognised qualification with Varndean College being the only state-run college in the area to provide it.

IB Coordinator, Emily Board, said: “I cannot praise these IB students enough. The International Baccalaureate Diploma is certainly a challenge, but it produces confident and articulate young people who acquire a good knowledge about the world around them and can really think for themselves. I wish them all the success in their future careers, either at university or in employment. They are a real credit to the College.”