Success in adversity for RAAC-affected school

Thursday 14 August 2025 – Durham 

St. Leonard’s Catholic School is delighted to announce an outstanding set of A-Level results, reflecting the dedication, ambition and talent of its students and staff. 

This year, an impressive 34% of all grades were A*/A and 83% of all grades were awarded at A*-C, with 99.4% of students passing all subjects. 17% of students achieved entirely grades A*/A — securing places at top universities and on competitive apprenticeship programmes such as accounting and pharmacy.  

A remarkable 60% of students are moving on to a Russell Group University, including eight to Durham, the world class university on St. Leonard’s doorstep.

In addition, five pupils have earned Oxbridge places (Cambridge, 3 and Oxford, 2), and the school is celebrating success in both academic and vocational subjects.

The outstanding results were achieved against the backdrop of the school’s buildings being affected by unsafe concrete. The discovery of RAAC in August 2023 led to pupils being moved into temporary teaching spaces and St. Leonard’s is now undergoing a comprehensive rebuild.

Marcell Berger is heading to Cambridge’s Gonville and Caius College to study Computer Science after achieving a perfect set of four A* grades in Maths, Further Maths, Computer Science and Physics. “Thanks to the school and the staff we feel like we’ve had a fantastic sixth form experience in spite of the challenges we faced,” said Marcell, who moved to Durham from Hungary 11 years ago. “The teachers have been very supportive and helped us to do whatever we aspired to do.”

Singer songwriter Jonathan Woods is following brother Matthew to Leeds Conservatoire after achieving an A* is Music, A in Maths and C in Further Maths. The 18-year-old said: “During lockdown me and my brother started writing a bunch of songs and we ended up recording two albums’ worth of music. I knew I wanted to study music beyond school and visited a few places before settling on Leeds. The course is exciting and flexible — plus I liked the vibe of the city. I’ve got the chance to explore different genres of music in a place that feels like home.”

Anna O’Carroll is set to study History and French at Oxford’s Merton College after gaining three A* grades and she explained: “I didn’t consider Oxford to begin with but I had a really supportive English teacher, Mrs Grehan-Bradley, who really pushed me to apply. I’ve had an amazing springboard to approach the future thanks to everyone at St Leonard’s — the teachers were amazing during all of the disruption and I realise it was much harder for them than I realised at the time. The school was really fast to adapt to a challenge nobody could prepare for.”

Dominic Johnson (French A*, German A, Politics A) is heading to Cambridge’s Sidney Sussex College to study French and Spanish and he echoed Anna’s view. “I have to give credit to the staff at St Leonard’s,” he said. “They coped so well with all of the challenges associated with RAAC. To start with we were studying in a hotel and the Trust HQ and there were a lot of moving parts. But the teachers got us into a routine as soon as possible and supported us every step of the way.”

Would-be doctor Rafaella Charilaou secured A grades in Chemistry and Maths and an A* in Biology — with a place studying Medicine at Newcastle University the reward. “I really liked the course structure when I visited Newcastle,” she said. “I wanted to stay quite local and it’s an excellent university. It’s been a hectic couple of years studying for A Levels while the main school has been off limits and we’ve had to juggle some online lessons and changes to where we study. But looking back the school adapted well and they always managed to find us a strong study space.”

Sisters Rachel and Charlotte Cowley combined vocational and academic studies at St. Leonard’s — both gaining distinctions in Health and Social Care (BTEC) alongside impressive A Level results. Rachel is heading to Sunderland University to train as a paramedic and Charlotte, who is en route to York St John University where she’ll begin a course in Psychology and Childhood Development, said: “Doing a vocational subject as part of our studies was positive for many reasons. It took the pressure off when it came to sitting exams in the other subjects because we’d already done what we needed to do for the Health and Social Care course. We knew our grades for that one well in advance.”

Fellow student Ruaridh McEwen is another Oxbridge success story. A full house of three A* grades confirm his place to study History at Wadham College and he said: “We were the school that was the worst affected by RAAC in the country but as students we got our heads down and did the best we could. After a while a very unusual situation just became the norm and that’s thanks to the teachers — they were brilliant in terms of the measures they put in place.”

Head of School, Mr. David Simmons, said: “These results are a reflection of the hard work, resilience, and excellence we see in our students every day. We are immensely proud of what they have achieved and confident they will go on to thrive in whatever path they choose next.” 

Head of Sixth Form,  Miss Jane Bird, added: “It has been a pleasure to support such a focused and aspirational group of young people. They leave us not only with fantastic results but with the values and confidence to succeed beyond school.  We appreciate the collaboration of our supportive parents as well, these grades are a product of the team behind each student.”

For further information, please contact: 

St. Leonard’s Catholic School Office 

info@stl.bwcet.com| 0191 384 8575