Ashville College reports 64% A* to B grades

Ashville College in Harrogate has reported an increase in this year’s grades with the number of A* to B grades going up to 64%.

A further 39% of grades were A* and A, including students studying art and music who all achieved those grades.

Further subjects seeing high grades were English literature, French and Latin. The school has congratulated all of its pupils on their dedication to their studies and work during the lockdown period.

Acting head of the school Elspeth Fisher said:

“We want to pay tribute to our most senior pupils who have lost out on many activities and privileges throughout their final year at school but have continued to actively engage with staff through online lessons until May half-term. Each individual deserves to be proud of their achievements.”

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Fourteen students from the college received A* to A grades across the board.

Among the high achievers were Mia Croft and Simon Floyd, who both gained A*s in all three of their A levels. Mia will now study geography at Durham, while Simon will go to Bath to study economics.

Harrogate Grammar School has 35% of A-level results changed

Harrogate Grammar School A-level students received their grades this morning, with 35% of grades being changed.

It is estimated that 384 grades have been changed at the Harrogate Grammar School, with the majority of those changed achieving a grade lower than the school anticipated.

Due to coronavirus, the 2020 cohort of students have had their exam marks generated by the school, taking into account factors such as teachers’ expectations and mock exam results. This grade was then passed on to government body Ofqual for standardisation.

Neil Renton, headteacher at Harrogate Grammar School, said:

“Our immediate priority today is to support our students to secure suitable progression routes. Our focus over the forthcoming days will be to further analyse and investigate the variation between grades and pursue subsequent appeals. We will pursue change through the appeals process as it is our view that the overall final grading of the cohort does not fully reflect what a typical cohort at our school would achieve.”

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The impact of this year’s grading system reflects a national picture of grade changes for many students.

The Harrogate Grammar School students received their results via an email due to social distancing restricting their ability to go onto school grounds.

Students receive A-level results online

Today was A-level results day for hundreds of young people in the district, most of whom have received their results online this morning.

Amid the pandemic, the students’ exams were cancelled and their grades have been based on teacher expectations, mock exam grades and previous cohorts’ results. All were then standardised by government body Ofqual.

Unlike previous years, students weren’t able to attend their college or sixth form today and instead found out their grades online.

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Apprehension regarding the results was heightened after a U-turn in Scottish exam results. All results that were downgraded through the new system were replaced by the original estimates.

Here you can find out how each centre has performed (more links will be added as results are released):

Harrogate Ladies’ College A-level results exceed previous years

Students at Harrogate Ladies College have achieved over 50% more A* to A’s in their A-level results than previous year groups.

Further success was achieved with 85% of the girls achieving A* to C grades across all subjects.

Unlike other schools in the district, the pupils were invited to a socially distant celebration on the lawn after reading their results online this morning.

Sylvia Brett, principal of Harrogate Ladies’ College, said:

“We are enormously proud of the achievements of all our girls who have worked incredibly hard in these exceptional and challenging circumstances. As an all-girls school we make it our business to encourage the girls to be bold and brave in their subject choices away from fear of judgement or embarrassment.

“I’m delighted to see that so many of them have achieved so highly across such a breadth of subjects. The teaching staff at Harrogate Ladies’ College and I are extremely proud of them all.”

As with all schools, the college students were unable to take their exams this year due to coronavirus. The grades have been calculated using a range of factors and then standardised by government body Ofqual.

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Harrogate shops launch team hampers for Horticap

A group of Harrogate shops on Otley Road has launched a hamper raffle to try and raise £1,000 for Horticap.

Nicola Jones, the owner of Harlow House and Beauty, has organised the raffle along with other shops on the street.

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All money raised will go towards fitting out Horticap’s new cafe. The charity, which helps adults with learning disabilities, hopes to open it in the next few months.

There are six prizes in total which include vouchers, fruits, beauty treatments, hair treatments and cakes in hampers.

Nicola Jones is the owner at Harlow House of Beauty.

People can buy tickets at £2 a strip from the Wharfedale Fruiterers, Harlow House and Beauty, The Kitchen, The Sandwich Deli and Le Salon.

It has been a difficult few months for Nicola Jones from Harlow House and Beauty after she had to cancel treatments. She told the Stray Ferret:

“The first couple of weeks was great because everyone was desperate to get back and we were approaching August 1 when we were expecting to start with face treatments. But we had a day’s notice to tell us that we actually couldn’t start with those treatments again and we still don’t know what’s happening.”

Harrogate personal trainer ends classes after more than 30 years

A personal trainer from Harrogate has decided to end his classes after more than 30 years due to coronavirus restrictions.

Ray Thomson started Pulse Beats circuit training in 1989. He has taught thousands over the years and has done most of his classes in recent years at Harrogate Grammar School.

But with tough requirements on indoor exercise Mr Thomson does not believe that his classes are viable anymore. He will still continue with his sports and posture massages.

When Ray Thomson made the announcement he was inundated with messages of support and memories from his former students.

A fancy dress picture from the archives in the 1990s.

Mr Thomson said:

“I wanted to leave a legacy where people fondly remember the classes as a place where they had fun.

“Exercise should never be a chore, it should be something you enjoy.

“One of my favourite memories was when we had a noise complaint from one of our neighbours. We were whooping and hollering when he was watching Coronation Street.”

When the Stray Ferret asked Mr Thomson if he would ever start the classes again, he said “never say never” but added that now was not the time.

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Mr Thomson also raised fears about Harrogate’s exercise industry after the news that one of his former colleagues was forced to put Gambaru fitness into liquidation.

He added that the exercise industry has been hit by coronavirus and there will be more closures to come but he believes that a resurgance will follow.

Harrogate district care homes report one more coronavirus death

Harrogate district care homes have reported one more coronavirus death in the latest weekly figures – meaning they have reported three deaths in four weeks.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures today, which cover up until July 31, show that care homes across the district have reported 107 deaths where coronavirus is the cause of death.

The figures also reveal that there have been five deaths at home, one death at a hospice, and two more deaths at “other communal establishments”, since the start of the outbreak.

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Meanwhile, Harrogate District NHS Foundation Trust remains at 82 coronavirus deaths. The coronavirus positive death happened there on July 15.

The hospital reported a couple of weeks ago that it did not have any coronavirus patients. For that reason, the Stray Ferret paused its daily reporting of the coronavirus statistics.

However, this week’s ONS data revealed that there have been seven extra deaths at the hospital where covid is mentioned on the death certificate. However, they are not part of the official statistics, which only include cases where the virus is the cause of death.

Hundreds of meteors will fall over Harrogate tonight

Hundreds of meteors will fall over Harrogate skies tonight.

Around 60 to 100 meteors will fall from the sky every hour, but stargazers may struggle with finding somewhere clear to view them because of predicted thunderstorms.

The event is called the Perseid meteor shower and happens every year.

It is expected to be most visible in the early hours of tomorrow morning between midnight and 5am.

Tristan Campbell, an astrophotographer from Harrogate said:

“The weather doesn’t currently look as though it’s going to be clear until at least 1am and unfortunately the moon rises around then which makes the meteors harder to see.”

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Meteors, more commonly known as shooting stars, are formed as debris falls from the tail of a comet. Since July 14, earth has been ploughing through particles left behind from the Swift-Tuttle comet, which turn into bright falling specks.

As Perseid meteors are so bright, Tristan said if the skies remain clear they will be visible from most gardens, although a better location would be somewhere dark with little light pollution. Tristan’s personal favourite spot to shoot is in Crimple Valley.

He said:

“If I’m feeling more adventurous I’ll head out to Nidderdale for much darker skies.”

The shower can be seen across the whole of the UK and is expected to continue until August 24. More information can be found on the Royal Museums Greenwich website.

Harrogate out-of-work benefits claims rise slightly

There has been a slight rise in the number of people claiming out-of-work benefits in the Harrogate district.

In July, there were 3,885 people claiming out-of-work benefits, up slightly from 3,740 in June. Of those, 2,235 were men and 1,650 were women.

The figures were published today by the Office for National Statistics and are accurate up to July 9. They reveal that 4.1% of the district’s population were claiming out-of-work benefits, a decrease from 3.9% in June.

Harrogate is below the UK figure of 6.4% for people claiming the benefits, which includes Job Seekers’ Allowance and Universal Credit.

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The figures have remained stable over the past couple of months but with the government’s furlough scheme winding down ahead of it closing completely in October, the long-term outlook for jobs in the Harrogate district remains uncertain.

According to Harrogate & Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones, 15,200 people have had their jobs protected in the district through the furlough scheme since it began.

Last week, a study undertaken by the County Councils Network suggested that more than 50% of all jobs in Harrogate are “at risk” due to the economic impact of coronavirus.

Harrogate A level students anxiously await results day

The Stray Ferret has been out speaking to A-level students ahead of their big day on Thursday.

With A-level exams cancelled, students’ futures are in the hands of predicted grades and a process of standardisation. This uncertainty has led to heightened nerves across the district.

On Thursday, August, 13 students will find out their grades and, for some, whether they have got into the university of their choice.

But even the process of finding out their results will be a different experience to usual.

India Shenton, a student at St Aidan’s sixth form, told the Stray Ferret:

“We are being emailed our results on the day… I would have preferred to have sat the exams and then gone in to find out the results with all my friends as it’s all part of it, isn’t it?… But there’s nothing we can do about it.

“I am quite nervous, I feel like If I had been able to sit the exams then at least then I would have an idea of how they had gone.”

Georgina Bygrave, a student at King James sixth form, said:

“We are getting an email in the morning with our grades. It’s sad but I get that it’s the safest way. I personally don’t think it’s very accurate as if we had been told ages ago that we weren’t going to sit the exams we would have tried harder in school…

“Everyone knows exams are important so you put all your effort in, whereas with homework you might just do it the night before and then you might get a rubbish grade for it, not thinking it’s going to impact your actual A level result.”

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Zac Hall, a student at Harrogate Grammar School, said:

“We will be getting an email at 8am to our school email with the results. I’m not feeling great about it as I didn’t do very well in my mocks, but I was just planning on revising harder closer to the time. I guess it wasn’t the best mindset to have, but it is what it is.

“I am having a year out anyway, so I could always resit the year and try a bit harder. It was the same with my GCSEs – I didn’t do well in the mocks but then when the actual GCSEs came I did pretty well… Hopefully it might be a reflection of that, but who knows?… I’ll find out on Thursday.”

Schools and colleges were asked to predict the grades pupils would have achieved in each subject if they had sat the exams. These predictions were sent to the exam boards along with the order of who they think will do best.

The exam boards put together the information, taking into account data for previous years, to make adjustments to the predictions. The aim was to make sure the results were fair and consistent and in line with results from previous years.

There have been concerns about the results already issued in Scotland, with many pupils receiving lower grades than they had expected. The Scottish government has apologised for the problems.