South Downs pupils among record Oxbridge offers at Brighton College

Some 29 pupils have received offers from Oxford and Cambridge – the best in the 170-year history of the school.

Among those includes Emma Harris, from Storrington, who has been offered a place at Magdalene College, Cambridge, to read English; Lucinda Jones of Ashington who also heads to Cambridge, to Girton College, where she will read Psychological and Behavioural Sciences; and Katherine Macfarlane, of Steyning, who has been offered a place at Oriel College, Oxford, to read Chemistry.

Another West Sussex student, Olivia Garry from Cuckfield, has been offered a place to read Chemistry at Oxford, at New College.

This is despite the fact that it is harder than ever to win a place at the two universities, with 18,000 applicants at each university for only 3,000 places.

So far, 16 pupils have received offers from Cambridge, with a further 13 offered places at Oxford.

The college said pupils throughout the Upper Sixth are receiving offers from their chosen universities at a ‘superb ‘rate.

Headmaster Richard Cairns said: “It is wonderful to see such delighted smiles on our sixth formers’ faces! I am thrilled, of course, that so many have been offered places at Oxford and Cambridge.

“It really is a superb achievement, and we offer them our warmest congratulations. I am just as thrilled by news of the many offers coming in from other Russell Group universities and medical schools.”

The Oxbridge success rate follows closely behind record results at GCSE and A-Level for the school’s pupils.

In August, last year’s Upper Sixth pupils achieved record A-Level results, with 101 boys and girls achieving AAA or better and 21 gaining A*A*A*. 96.3% attained A*-B – the grades demanded by top universities.

At GCSE, 95.6% of all grades were A* or A - the best result achieved by a co-educational school in England, ever.

On the back of these results, Brighton was named the UK’s top co-educational school in The Sunday Times’ annual survey of schools’ academic performances, ranking 12th, ahead of much more selective schools.

No other Sussex school featured in the UK Top 100. The school was named UK School of the Year 2011 and UK School of the Year 2013 while Richard Cairns was named UK Headmaster of the Year 2012.