Students and staff at Bede Sixth Form College in Billingham are celebrating a 99% A level pass rate.

The result comes in a year that saw the recently expanded college enter more students for A levels than ever before.

Today’s results included a 100% pass rate in 15 A level subjects at the college, plus a further 18 vocational courses.

“I am incredibly proud of our students and staff,” said Bede principal, Patrick Jordan. “This is testament to all their hard work and determination over the last two years. 

“Indeed, it should not be forgotten that these are still among those students whose education faced significant disruption, during their time at school, due to the pandemic.

“To have achieved so highly with that as their educational backdrop is a significant achievement.”

This academic year Bede saw the opening of a £2.4m annexe, created in response to an expected demographic increase in 16 to 19-year-olds and funded in part by the Department for Education’s Post-16 Capacity Fund, making room for an additional 200 students.

Part of the Education Training Collective (Etc.), the whole college group was named among the highest performing FE colleges in the country for its achievement rates last year.

Patrick said: “Following on from that success, we are proud to say our students and staff here at Bede have achieved even better results this year.  These are results that sit alongside some of the best sixth forms in the country.”

Born and bred in Billingham and a former Bede student himself, the dad-of-three added: “To see results like this means a massive amount to me. The young people that we are seeing through the doors are the children that my own children went to school with, and their parents are friends that I grew up with. Being a part of these students’ progression is a huge responsibility and something I feel incredibly proud of.”