The awards were made to students who had entered for the new AQA - City & Guilds Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) in November 2008.  The Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) was introduced by the government to develop and enhance independent learning and study skills.

EPQ gives students an opportunity for ‘personalised learning’ as they have to research and write a 5000 word essay on a subject of their choice.  All students were allocated a staff mentor and had workshops to help them with planning and research.

Nineteen second year students worked extremely hard for the EPQ and the results were outstanding, with 95% of the entries achieving a grade B or above.

The four students to gain the coveted A* grade were Christopher Ainscough, Rosamund Lakin, Piers Barber and Joshua Felberg.  The title of Joshua’s essay was ‘The accuracy of the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John’ and after his studies at Esher he is going to spend a Gap Year in Israel and then take up his place at Oxford University reading Theology.  Joshua said “I felt much more confident during my interview at Oxford due to the extra research I had to carry out for the EPQ.”

Keith Blackwell, the College Principal, said “this is a brilliant achievement for the students, their teacher mentors and the College as a whole.  This qualification, which involves in-depth research into a cross-curricular topic, has involved a great deal of hard work and commitment and it is wonderful to see such success being acknowledged”.