Sixth form students with dyslexia, developmental language difficulties and associated special educational needs have defied assumptions and proved their academic potential, celebrating exceptional outcomes in their A level and equivalent Level 3 BTEC qualifications.

Upper sixth leavers at More House School in Frensham have overcome their personal learning challenges to achieve excellent results.

Leavers are now preparing to take up university degree places and start aspirational future pathways, despite the majority having Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) as a result of their complex learning needs.

Their success comes with the backdrop of unparalleled challenges to teaching and learning caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Celebrating their achievements, More House School’s headmaster Jonathan Hetherington, said: “For so many of More House’s sixth form leavers, such achievements seemed a ridiculous impossibility when they first joined our school, years ago.

“Lacking in self-belief and feeling inadequate in the face of their diagnosed special educational needs, their journey has been one of growing confidence and aspiration.

“These results prove to them their intelligence and value.”

With a 99 per cent pass rate for A level and equivalent Level 3 BTEC certificates, More House School’s leavers achieved 72% A* to C grades at A level.

Impressively, 34 per cent of A level and equivalent Level 3 BTEC certificates have been awarded at the highest grades of A* to A, or distinction* to distinction; exceptional for a cohort of students who have each faced significant special educational needs, making learning especially difficult.

Mr Hetherington added: “We are thrilled by our upper sixth leavers’ successes.

“They have faced adversity throughout their lives and these outcomes, for many meaning progression to university, are the results of sustained determination and perseverance.

“But the specialist, aspirational and encouraging environment of More House School has supported them to recognise their intelligence and to be aspirational, and to achieve incredible outcomes which empower them for their futures.”

Mr Hetherington also praised the “expert and dedicated” commitment of the school’s specialist staff, and recognised the pressures on teachers and therapists in teaching through a pandemic have placed unprecedented burdens on them.