CIFE recognises exceptional success in A level and International Baccalaureate Examinations with the award of the Richard Smart Prize, sponsored by JWT Education.

Thursday 23 February 2006 was the date on which CIFE students, parents, principals and friends were once again hosted at the House of Lords by Baroness Perry of Southwark, the CIFE President. The event was a celebration of excellent academic performance by CIFE students, who had gathered to receive the Richard Smart Prize, which was established to commemorate a former CIFE Principal, and is sponsored by JWT Education a subsidiary of the international advertising agency J Walter Thompson Ltd. Also awarded at this gathering were the Andrew Osmond Mathematics Prizes and the JWT Bursary.

The minimum standard necessary for nomination for the Richard Smart Prize is for at least one third of all A2 units to be scored as 100%, for the student to have been placed in the top five in the country for a particular subject, or for any equivalent achievement, such as gaining a minimum of 43 points in the International Baccalaureate Examinations.

In total thirty-two students were nominated, with fifteen of these being awarded a Richard Smart Prize by the adjudicating panel of the CIFE Academic Affairs Committee, three being awarded the Andrew Osmond Mathematics Prize, and one student being awarded the Richard Smart Gold Medal for overall outstanding achievement.

A total of nine of the award winners achieved scores in their A2 examinations that placed them in the top ten in one of their A level subjects, and eight students gained distinctions in the Advanced Extension Awards, with one student being placed in the top five for AEA mathematics.

The Andrew Osmond Prize for Mathematics was awarded to two students who were placed in the top five for both Mathematics and Further Mathematics, and for a third student who gained a top ten place in Mathematics and a top ten place for AEA Mathematics. The prize is sponsored by CIFE colleges.

The overall Gold Medal winner, who is now reading Mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, was a young lady of formidable accomplishments, scoring 100% in eight A2 units, placing in the top ten Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Physics, achieving a top ten placing in the AEA Mathematics examination, a merit in AEA Physics, and distinction in AEA Chemistry. She additionally scored the top grade, S, in the STEP 2 and 3 papers.

Students studying for the International Baccalaureate also contributed to CIFE's reputation for excellence by having a student who achieved the full marks of 45 points in her diploma programme, a feat which is normally achieved each year by some 50 students worldwide from almost 30,000 who enter for the IB diploma. Four others gained 44 points which is normally achieved by fewer than 150 students worldwide.

This year's winner of the JWT Bursary was Clementine Hardie of Oxford Tutorial College. Her entry showed a very good understanding of issues surrounding modern advertising through a lucid and comprehensive analysis of the questions posed.

CIFE colleges aspire to bring about outstanding performances by every individual at whatever level, and though we as an organisation support and recognise those with exceptional ability, we are nonetheless proud of all of our students, performing as they did, to their maximum potential. Equally, the range of nationalities of the winners is seen as a tribute both to the multicultural nature of CIFE colleges and to the strong reputation that these colleges enjoy overseas, with England, Germany, Hong Kong, Mainland China, Myanmar, Serbia-Montenegro, Malaysia and Vietnam boasting representatives at the awards.

We wish to express our gratitude, on behalf of the students and CIFE colleges, to our sponsors. Their help and generosity adds significantly to the experiences of students at CIFE colleges.

1/7/06

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