We are extremely proud to announce that Year 10 Senior School Leidschenveen (SSL) student Emma Vallance has achieved the highest mark globally for her IGCSE Dutch exam with an A* (100% pass). Emma was recently awarded a Certificate of Achievement from Cambridge International for her achievement.
“When I found out, I was shocked! I already knew that I had gotten 100% on my exam, so I knew I’d gotten a high mark, but recently my Mum told me that she’d had an email from Mr Oxlade (the Headteacher at SSL) to let her know I’d achieved the highest mark in the world. It took a while to sink in!”
Emma grew up with her family in the Netherlands and attended a Dutch Junior School before joining Junior School Leidschenveen (JSL) in Year 2, participating in Dutch-speaking sports clubs like football, swimming and athletics. Because of this, she already spoke basic Dutch but feels that the Dutch provision at the BSN was instrumental in further developing her Dutch skills and preparing her for the IGCSE Dutch exam:
The school definitely helped with retaining my Dutch when I wasn’t speaking it. They also provided us with practice exams and practised things like listening throughout the year, which was really helpful when revising for my exam.
Emma feels that there are numerous benefits of learning and speaking Dutch:
“Right now, I’m taking two other language GCSEs, German and Spanish. With German, for example, I feel like being able to speak Dutch gives me an advantage because the two languages are so similar. I think that growing up speaking two languages makes it easier to learn other languages as well.
It’s also opened up more opportunities in terms of university choices – I could choose to either study in England, or here in the Netherlands, because of being able to speak Dutch.”
James Oxlade, Headteacher at SSL, said of Emma's achievement:
Whilst we are delighted with all our Year 9 students’ results in CIE IGCSE Dutch in 2021, the achievement of Emma stands out. To gain the highest mark in the world is an amazing accomplishment and is a reflection of all her hard work and dedication.
"This is never a solo effort and recognition must also go to the staff and Emma’s family who supported her in this success. All of us at SSL are incredibly proud of Emma. Her result, along with the other students’ high achievements, has set an excellent benchmark as we move into our main set of GCSE examinations next year."
‘Gefeliciteerd’ (congratulations), Emma, on your incredible achievement!
