It is with great pride that LEH Foshan announces that our student Naomi achieved, in the June 2022 IGCSE exam series, the highest mark in China for IGCSE English Literature. As a result, she is the recipient of the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award, and is to be honoured by the Cambridge International exam board for her incredible achievement.
On receiving the Award, Naomi was excited and said, “It feels so surreal to me that I would be recognised by CAIE and I’m glad that my hard work has paid off.”
Mr Stuart Savill, Exams Officer and Head of Drama and Creative Arts Faculty explained; ‘the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards are a group of awards issued by Cambridge Assessment International Education to recognise exceptional learner achievement in Cambridge examinations around the world’. The awards are given in subjects that have an eligible number of entered candidates. Recipents are those who have achieved the highest mark within a region, a country, or the world.
It is a great testament to the high standard of teaching and learning that takes place at LEH Foshan to have a student receive an award in such a new school. The achievement recognises the efforts of everyone that makes LEHF a fantastic learning environment, and in particular the focus and hard work by Naomi herself.
Mrs Kathryn Chapman, Head of English and Language Faculty commented, “Naomi’s success brings English Literature into the spotlight at LEH Foshan: it is both a prestigious, aspirational subject in its own right, and a valuable complement to STEM A Levels. Our warmest congratulations go to Naomi as she continues her promising academic career.”
Importance of English Literature
Head of English & Language Faculty
Mrs Chapman further explained the importance of the subject English Literature and how it helps students succeed in university application.
“Historically, English Literature is one of the most time-honoured and revered A Level subjects. Many of the most prestigious universities in Britain, North America and beyond value the inclusion of English Literature in a candidate’s A Level choices, regardless of that candidate’s subject choice for university. Literature may appear to be a more natural complement to History, Geography, Economics, Law or other creative or linguistic subjects. However, a student who wishes to read one of the Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics or Computer Science at university stands out from their competitors if their A Levels include a strong English Literature grade.
Indeed, the University of Oxford has been known to select a Sciences candidate with a high grade in Literature over competitors who had limited their A Level choices to Sciences, due to the range of ability, flexibility and fortitude it demonstrated in the student.
University admissions teams appreciate the high level of challenge inherent in the English Literature A Level syllabus, not least in terms of English fluency, and recognise that a strong grade requires an astute, empathetic and perceptive mind, capable of great creativity.”
Interview with the Award Winner
Back from the UK, Naomi transferred to LEH Foshan and joined Year 11 in September 2021 as a founding student. After one year at LEH Foshan, Naomi achieved 6 A**-A in Science, Mathematics, Chinese (Foreign Language), English (First Language) and of course, English Literature.
In this article, we invited Naomi to share her learning experience and school life at LEH Foshan, as well as some helpful study tips for IGCSE students.
Q1/ Why did you choose LEH Foshan?
My mum had visited every single international school in Guangzhou, but she didn’t like any of them, and then she finally found LEH Foshan, and she had a visit, and knew this school was the one. When I was looking around the school, I was amazed at how modern and nice the facilities were, and I loved the idea of boarding so that’s what drew me to this school.
Q2/ How did the teachers support you in your study and during IGCSE exam preparation?
I was very thankful for having such amazing teachers, especially my English literature teacher. She offered extra lessons to us and made a lot of resources for us so we could reach our full potential. She also taught us a lot of examination techniques like managing our time during the exam and how a little bit of revision every day can help you loads.
Q3/ Do you have any study tips for our current Year 10-11 students?
One of my study tips is to do the homework because that’s half of your revision done, also don’t take subjects that you aren’t interested in as you won’t be motivated to learn. Also see revision as a good thing not something that is there to waste your time or something that you don’t have to do because you don’t have to hand it to your teacher. Most importantly, listen to lessons and if you are stuck ask the teachers, also do exam papers once you get closer to exam season.
Specifically for English Literature, I think that the extra English literature lessons helped me loads in terms of seeing how the ‘world’ of analysis worked. So, if it’s offered to you make sure to sign up. A lot of people seem to overthink analysis, so they decide to analyse every sentence they can or analyse the entire poem but that will lead to low-quality work as they tend to skim over things. Therefore, the best thing to do is take out 2-3 phrases/sentences from the poem or extract that you understand very well and analyse them in great detail. Another important thing to consider is the context. Context helps you understand the poet’s thought process and feelings behind each word. The best thing to do to understand the play you are learning is watching the play itself. It helps you visualise everything that is happening in the play. When it’s closer to exam time doing past papers is the best way to ameliorate as well as asking the teacher for feedback.
Q1/ What are your favourite ECAs?
I’ve taken part in many ECAs in our school, but my favourite has got to be badminton because it’s an amazing stress reliever and it’s a good way to spend time with friends.
Q2/ Do you enjoy boarding at LEH Foshan?
Yes, I really like boarding on the weekends because we can go outside and have fun. Furthermore, I feel that it also makes me more independent as a person and that’s essential for when I go to university. Also, we can easily access facilities such as the sports hall or the swimming pool. Alongside that I have also had many opportunities to help with the school on open mornings, a lot of leadership roles and being able to hang out with my best friends during the weekends. For example, going to a VR park or even going to the cinema. It’s probably one of the best years of my life.
When it comes to university preparation, Naomi says that it is still early days, but she is discussing her pathway to university with her Head of Sixth Form and her tutors who have introduced her to Unifrog; a platform where she can research her subject choices and where these lead to.
Please join us in congratulating Naomi on her outstanding achievement in English Literature, June 2022 IGCSE examination. LEH Foshan is proud to celebrate the achievement of our first IGCSE cohort and wishes them all success as they progress through their A Level studies.
