On Monday 17th August 2020, the IBO updated IB schools and colleges with the following statement:

'Following the decision to cancel the examinations, our assessment specialists in collaboration with independent education experts worked to develop a reliable and valid assessment model to award grades. The awarding model used student coursework, school predicted grades and school context for final grade award. The school context was not based on previous cohorts’ performance, but instead the relationship between predicted grade accuracy, performance in coursework versus examination components and final outcomes.

Following the release of results on 5 July we listened carefully to the concerns raised by some schools, students and their families and on 14 July ... we designed and launched our additional results review service whereby schools could provide further evidence that either student, subject or cohort results were not in line with student performance.... Our review and analysis of the detailed information from schools offered invaluable insights, leading the IB to evaluate and recommend grade adjustments, where applicable, that we believe are fair to all students in the May 2020 session.'

The impact of this here at Varndean College means that 60% of our May 2020 students were awarded one or more points than their original 5th July Diploma score. As more final university decisions are also confirmed, we are are thrilled to provide a handful of those updates:

Russell Group Destination Updates:

• Francesca Fairhead secured her place to read English at University of Cambridge
• Euan Dewar is off to study Marine Biology with Oceanography at the University of Southampton
• Zoe Garrard secured a place studying Global Law at Queen Mary, University of London
• Elliot Henning will study Computer Science at the University of Liverpool
• Charlotte Hutton is off to study Zoology at the University of Bristol
• Tom Wright secured a place at the University of Birmingham to read Mathematics
• Ailsa Fraser has secured her place to study History & Politics at the University of Edinburgh

Other updates

• Aaron Goff scores 41 points post IB review. Aaron is taking a gap during which he will be supporting Year 1 and 2 IB students here at Varndean, before pursuing a Biomedical Sciences application at Oxford University.
• Kate Cornwall Scoones scores 40 points post IB review and has accepted a place studying International History and Politics at the University of Leeds for September 2021.
• Zac Murgatroyd scores 42 points post IB review and has secured a place reading history at University of Sheffield.
• Scarlet Smith-Edmonds scored 40 post IB review and is off to study midwifery at the University of Nottingham.
• Tiegan Handley achieves 38 points post IB review and begins her Fine Art degree at the University of Leeds.

Among those IB students celebrating back in July was Fiyinfoluwa Oladipo who achieved a stunning 43 points placing him in the top 2% of students worldwide, and who will now read Medicine at Imperial College, London; Eben Roddis (42 points), who after a gap year has a place secured at Leeds to read Maths and Philosophy; Ines Aranguena Aniceto (42 points) who will read Politics and International Relations at Warwick and Nancy Farris, (42 points) who is off to Leeds to study Classics and History.

This year, Varndean College IB students have averaged a total score of 36.24, the equivalent of three A grades at A Level, with sixteen gaining an impressive 38 points or more - equivalent to A*A*A*A. Our proportion of students achieving over 40 points was 31%.