A student’s girlhood dream of getting to Cambridge University has finally come true after she had to wait all day to find out if her A level grades had secured her place.
Determined Shannon Horner, 18, of Armthorpe, set her sights on Cambridge some years ago and since joining the sixth form at Trinity Academy, in Thorne, two years ago has been focused on getting to the elite university.
Last month she was crowned joint Outstanding Student of the Year at the academy for her academic achievement and "unfaltering commitment to her studies".
After being offered a place at the elite university in February, she said: "I love school and I've always had aspirations to go the best university. It was something I really wanted.
“With the grades I got at AS level I thought I might as well apply because if I got an interview I could really show them what I could do. Then, if I didn't get a place, at least I'd done my hardest to get in.”
After a lengthy wait for confirmation that her grades of two A*s in psychology and sociology, an A in history and a C in biology were sufficient, Magdalene College have accepted her to read psychology and behavioural sciences.
“The problem was they wanted one A*, two As and a B so I didn’t quite meet the requirements. We spent all day explaining that I was getting some papers re-marked and that I missed a B in biology by just four marks.
“The college deliberated all day and finally said I was accepted. It was a brilliant feeling. I didn’t want to cry again because I’d already been crying over my results, but I really felt like it. It was awful knowing I hadn’t got what they asked for and it was made worse by having to wait so long for final confirmation.
“I’ve been working towards this since my GCSEs and knew before that I wanted to go there so now I’m just very excited that it’s happening.”
Shannon’s success was closely followed by singer-song writer Rebecca Leng, who achieved an A* in maths, an A in further maths and a B in physics. Rebecca, who performed her own song at the academy’s prizegiving ceremony last month, will read maths at University College London (UCL). Continuing the high performance among girls at Trinity, head girl Abbie Tomlinson achieved an A* in biology, an A in chemistry and a B in physics.
Two Jacks were the top performing boys. Jack Elsom achieved an A* in geography and As in French and sociology, while Jack Green gained three As in physics, chemistry and maths.
Other individual success stories were:
Maddie Peacock with three As in English, history and law;
Bethany Fletcher with an A* in sociology, an A in religious studies and a B in English;
Megan Hopgood with an A in sociology and three Bs in history, German and French;
Megan Miller with an A* in health and two Bs in English and psychology.
Overall, results were up at the academy with 42 per cent of grades being A*-B, which was similar to last year, and 99 per cent of grades being A*-E grades, up four per cent on last year.