Richard Huish College students gain places at Oxbridge

Seven students from the local Sixth Form College have secured places at the elite Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. The state-funded college, which was graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted earlier this year, aims to support all students to achieve beyond what is expected, by providing a wide and broad-ranging curriculum.

Amongst this year’s successes, there are five students headed to Oxford and two students headed to Cambridge.

Former The Castle School pupils, Louisa Wall and Astrid Kiernan, are both off to Oxford after getting A* grades across the board. Louisa studied Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and completed an EPQ, and will read Biochemistry at Christ Church College. Astrid studied English Literature, Psychology and Philosophy, Religion & Ethics, and will study English Language and Literature at Mansfield College.

Huish Musicians James Morrell and Johannah Mathew will continue their Music studies at Oxford. James (ex-Wellington School) is celebrating triple A* grades in Music, English Literature, and Sociology, and Johannah (ex-Kings of Wessex Academy) A* grades in Music and English Literature and an A grade in Chemistry. Both students were heavily involved with EnRICH activities at the College, collectively performing in Choir, Orchestra, String Group, Jazz Ensemble and Big Band, and both were shortlisted in the College’s creative writing competition, the Ross Paterson Award, with James awarded the prize.

Joining Johannah at Worcester College is Luke Lifton (ex-Holyrood Academy). He achieved A* grades in Mathematics and Physics, and A grades in Chemistry, Further Maths and his EPQ, and will now read Physics.

Heading to the University of Cambridge are Grace Howard (ex-Uffculme School) and Will Painter (ex-Heathfield Community School). Grace was a Student Governor at Huish and achieved A* grades in Mathematics, Further Maths, Biology and Chemistry. She is joining Pembroke College to read Natural Sciences. Will is set to continue his studies in Law at Magdalen College after achieving an A* in Law, A* in Sociology, A in Politics, and an A* for his EPQ.

Richard Jones, Progression and Learning Centre Manager at Huish shared: “Navigating an Oxbridge application in a pandemic was certainly an added challenge for this group of students. They have also faced even more competition for places as many students have deferred their places from previous years making the achievements of this group particularly impressive”.