Pride as Lancing students overcome challenges to win top university offers

A Lancing school has seen two of its students receive offers to study at Oxford university for the first time.
Sarah James Short and Shaun Miskelly from SRWA have received offers to study at Oxford UniversitySarah James Short and Shaun Miskelly from SRWA have received offers to study at Oxford University
Sarah James Short and Shaun Miskelly from SRWA have received offers to study at Oxford University

Sarah James Short and Shaun Miskelly, sixth form students at the Sir Robert Woodard Academy in Upper Boundstone Lane, will study at the prestigious university this Autumn – provided that they gain the three A grades required.

Sarah, who will study History, and Shaun, who will study Art History, described the pressure as ‘very motivating’.

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They said the interview process had been intense, with Sarah being presented with an excerpt two minutes prior to being asked to give her opinion on what she had read.

Shaun said he spent a lot of time on his personal statement but thought his interview had gone ‘really badly’.

Mark Monahan, assistant principal and headteacher at the sixth form, said the school was ‘overwhelmingly proud’ of their ‘amazing achievement’.

“Both Shaun and Sarah have been on a journey and have faced many challenges en route which makes this achievement even more impressive,” he said.

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“They have both worked tirelessly through their GCSEs and A-levels to get them to this point.”

Their success was also a testament to the ‘endless dedication and hard work’ of their teachers, he said.

“So many people have preconceptions about what students of Lancing and Sompting can achieve, and Shaun and Sarah have definitely had their own doubts that ‘it doesn’t happen to people like us’,” he said.

“But this is evidence that it really does.

“Sarah and Shaun are the first students from the academy to successfully apply and be accepted to a course at Oxford or Cambridge.

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“It is confirmation that the Academy can deliver the academic excellence required for such highly competitive universities.

“We have no doubt that they are the first of many of our students to walk in the shoes of the world’s finest scholars.”

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