After studying at St Edward’s School in Oxford for two years, looked after by Oxfordshire’s Area Manager Ceri Thomson, Elizabeth Yan achieved a fantastic ten A*s and one A in her GCSEs; and this set of impressive results was just the beginning of her success this summer.
Elizabeth has now to moved to King’s Canterbury and has been awarded an Honorary Academic King’s Scholarship in recognition of her excellent results. King’s Scholarships were originally established in 1541 by Henry VIII, under the Statutes of Canterbury Cathedral, and only twenty Academic Scholarships are awarded each year to those with outstanding GCSE and A Level results. All King’s Scholars become members of the Canterbury Cathedral Foundation, and so Elizabeth joins the ranks of the canons and choristers that make up the 1420 year-old World Heritage Site’s chapter, under current dean Robert Willis.
On Sunday 10th September, Elizabeth was accepted into the Foundation along with the other scholars at a service at Canterbury Cathedral, followed by a reception in Headmaster Peter Roberts’ garden, where they were joined by their parents and guardians. Elizabeth’s new guardian, Nicky Lee-Browne, was delighted to attend, and took photographs to send to Elizabeth’s parents.
Elizabeth had this to say about the service:
‘I was expecting myself to be very nervous but that wasn’t the case during the swearing-in service. But it was amazing to be to sworn in in the cathedral with the entire school: I had to be really careful to kneel down without falling over on the dean!’
And both her advice on achieving outstanding results, and her appreciation of both her Guardians, were equally enthusiastic;
‘Don’t stress and just do what you should do! That way you don’t have to cram before the exams! [Ceri Thomson and Nicky-Lee Browne] have been fantastic. I remember when I was really ill last year, Ceri arranged me to go to her house to spend the night until my mum flew in. She also visited me and chatted to me about how I’m getting on with school. It’s great to have someone like that, who’s outside of school and can act as an intermediary between me and the teachers. If I feel like I’ve been given too much work, she would reflect that to my HM or Tutor, which is super helpful.’
Huge congratulations to Elizabeth and Pippa’s Guardians looks forward to continuing to support you as you begin your next adventure at King’s Canterbury!