Putney Sixth Formers Celebrate Exam Success

Record breaking year saw some inspiring individual performances

Ark Putney’s Elnaz gained a place at King’s College London while in the care system

August 15, 2025

Students across Putney and the wider Wandsworth area are celebrating a remarkable year of A Level, BTEC, and other Level 3 results, with local schools reporting record-breaking achievements, prestigious university placements, and inspiring individual stories of resilience and ambition.

Ark Putney Academy students have achieved strong outcomes across both A Levels and BTECs, with 52% securing grades A* to C and 64% of BTEC Business and Sport students attaining Distinction or higher. This year, 24% of students are heading to Top 20 universities, including Imperial, UCL, Kings, Cardiff, Bath, Exeter and Loughborough.

Principal Alison Downey praised the cohort’s achievements saying, “I’m so proud of our year 13 students who have achieved such brilliant A-level and BTEC results today. All their hard work has certainly paid off!”

Among the standout stories is that of Hana Ayache who will join QBE Insurance Group as an apprentice Underwriter. She credits Ark Putney’s career support for helping her discover the right path saying, “I’m really excited for the opportunity to grow and develop new skills and find my specialism within insurance.” Elnaz Bahardoost, who studied while in the care system, earned ABB and a place at Kings College London to study Psychology. She said after opening her results envelope, “I’m really proud of my grades and looking forward to the next chapter. My course offers a study abroad year and I can’t wait to explore the world!”

Inshal Muzaffar, awarded an Ark bursary to study Psychology, hopes to improve mental health access for underserved communities and Themis Grimault, with AAAB in STEM subjects, will study Biochemistry at Imperial and aspires to a PhD in Genetics.

Trija Maharjan, who joined from Nepal, achieved triple Distinction* in BTEC Business while mastering English and GCSE content. She will study Accounting and Finance at the University of Exeter and said, “I take the attitude of never giving up even when adjusting to a new life was difficult.”

Ark Putney's Trija Maharjan with her results

Ark Putney Academy will host its next open evening on Monday 22 September. Details available at arkputney.org.

Putney High School’s Year 13 cohort of 2025 has delivered its best-ever A Level results with 78% of grades at A*A, 38% at A* and 93% at A*–B. Nearly 1 in 5 students achieved three A*s or more.

Students are heading to top universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, and prestigious institutions in the US and Europe. Popular courses range from Ancient History to Neuroscience, with UCL, Edinburgh, Bristol and Imperial among the most chosen destinations.

Ysaline Pauwels, who achieved four A* grades, goes on to study Economics and Management at the University of Warwick. Picture: PHS

Top performers include Amelia Painting and Flora Johnson, awarded sports scholarships to Bryant University (lacrosse) and Ohio State (tennis) respectively, Izzy Middleton, who captained England U20 lacrosse, and will study Politics and International Relations at Exeter, Georgia and Oyin Smith, twins celebrating dual success—Georgia heads to Durham for Chemistry, while Oyin will study Theological Studies at St Andrews.

Twins Georgia (left) and Oyin Smith. Picture: PHS

In addition, Ann Claire Herr, a music scholar and multi-instrumentalist, will study Biology at Bath with a professional placement and Imogen Whelan will read Modern and Medieval Languages at Cambridge.

Ann Claire Herr (left) and Imogen Whelan (right). Picture: PHS

Several subjects saw all candidates get either A* or A including Further Maths, Art, DT Product Design, German, Greek, Italian, Drama and History of Art.

Head Jo Sharrock said “Their community-spirit, entrepreneurial thinking and zest for life will provide firm foundations for whatever they choose next.”

Across Wandsworth, 25% of A Level grades were at least an A in 2025, up from 22.1% in 2024. BTEC entries achieving all Distinctions and above also increased

Judi Gasser, Wandsworth’s Cabinet Member for Children, praised students’ efforts, “Congratulations to every student who received their results. Whatever your next step, we recognise the effort it’s taken to get here and the commitment you’ve shown along the way.”

“Whether you’re moving on to work, further study or taking time to decide, you should be proud of what you’ve achieved.”

Students across London have outperformed their peers nationally with 32.1% of entries awarded grades A or A*—the highest proportion in England. The capital’s results continue a trend of strong academic performance, with London maintaining its lead over other regions for the second consecutive year.

Nationally, 28.3% of entries received an A or A*, up from 27.8% in 2024 and well above the pre-pandemic figure of 25.4% in 2019. The overall pass rate (grades A* to E) rose slightly to 97.5%, while 77.9% of entries achieved a grade C or above.

The gap between London and the lowest-performing region, the North East, has widened to 9.2 percentage points—its largest since the current grading system was introduced in 2010. In the North East, just 22.9% of entries achieved A or A*, down from 23.9% last year.

This year also saw boys overtake girls in top-grade attainment for the first time since 2018. Boys secured 28.4% of A or A* grades, compared to 28.2% for girls. At the highest level, 9.9% of boys’ entries received an A*, compared to 9.1% for girls.

Maths remained the most popular A-Level subject for the twelfth consecutive year, followed by psychology and biology. More than 814,000 A-Level results were issued across England, alongside over 250,000 vocational and technical qualifications.

For students who did not receive their expected grades, UCAS Clearing offers over 22,000 courses with vacancies, including at Russell Group universities. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson described this year as “a return to normal” following pandemic-related disruptions.