The results have now been announced for upper sixth form pupils at St Helen and St Katharine school taking Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) exams.

One hundred per cent of the grades awarded were A* or A, with 69 per cent of students receiving the highest grade.

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Students at the school gathered in Benedict Hall to celebrate their success.

The EPQ is equivalent to half an A Level, and provides an opportunity for pupils to research diverse areas of personal interest complementing their A Level studies.

Students covered a wide range of topics this year, including ‘to what extent has Buddhism practise engaged with social change’; and ‘when does art stop being considered to be ‘art’?’

According to the school, the EPQ helps students to develop research skills – good preparation for higher education.

And it provides Oxbridge applicants with a piece of research to discuss during the application process.

The EPQ also carries UCAS (the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) points, and is valued by a number of competitive universities who can use it as part of a more generous conditional offer to applicants.

Pupils at St Helen and St Katharine school celebrate exam success (Image: St Helen and St Katharine school)

Friederike Shannon, the school’s head of EPQ, said: “As a year group, upper sixth have exceeded my expectations and broken our record again.

“The project titles were incredibly varied and clearly reflected each student’s individual interests and passions.

“The EPQ continues to be just as educational for our supervisor team as it is for the students – in the best possible way – as every year we’re introduced to new topics and perspectives through their work. We are very proud of what this cohort has achieved.”

At the end of last year, the girls’ day school in Faringdon Road was ranked just outside the top 50 nationally as well as the ‘top school in Abingdon’ in The Times Parent Power 2026 guide, which assesses schools nationwide based on academic performance.

Oxon Travel, which is run by Oxfordshire County Council, released the alert earlier today (Monday, March 30) advising the public that the southbound section of the road will be closed between the Hinksey Hill and Marcham Road interchanges.

This is between 9pm this evening and 6am tomorrow (Tuesday, March 31) with National Highways clarifying it is for “horticultural work”.

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Nor is this the only section of the road to be closed tonight with the northbound slip road at the A34 Lodge Hill junction, between Abingdon and Oxford, also being closed.

This is for developer works.

Meanwhile the A34 southbound Chieveley carriageway will be shut between the exit and entry slip roads, just south of Oxfordshire.

County councils are being abolished throughout England as the Labour Government is pressing for reorganisation to end two-tier local government systems.

Two of the three proposals to reorganise Oxfordshire County Council would see the creation of ‘Ridgeway Council’, which would be made up of South Oxfordshire District Council, the Vale of White Horse and West Berkshire Council.

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But Digby Oldridge, who lives in the village of Longcot in the Vale of White Horse has raised alarm about the financial implications of the reorganisation.

Specifically, he has claimed West Berkshire Council has a pension deficit of around £600 million.

Mr Oldridge therefore questioned how such financial deficits would be managed if Ridgeway Council was created.

He contacted Charlie Maynard, the Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, about the debt.

Mr Maynard received a response in a letter from Alison McGovern, Minister of State for Local Government and Homelessness.

Witney MP Charlie Maynard (Image: supplied)

The letter states: “On liabilities, it is expected that assets and liabilities remain locally managed by councils.

“It is essential that councils continue to deliver their business-as-usual services and duties, which remain unchanged until reorganisation is complete.

“There is a suite of general continuity regulations for local government reorganisation made under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 which ensure smooth transfer to new unitary councils.”

Mr Oldridge argued that taxpayers in Oxfordshire would be left to shoulder West Berkshire’s debts.

He said: “The letter effectively confirms that if this merger goes ahead, West Berkshire’s debts will just be ‘locally managed’ by the new council.

“In plain English, that means South Oxfordshire and Vale taxpayers are being asked to take on a share of a pension deficit that is north of £600 million.

“It also means we would be merging with a council that is currently under emergency financial support from the government after their reserves dropped to just eight days’ worth of funding last year.”

West Berkshire Council received £16 million worth of Exceptional Financial Support from the government in February 2025.

In response, a West Berkshire Council spokesperson said: “The new Ridgeway Council would have the assets and liabilities from the previous councils, and in West Berkshire Council’s case, there are over £0.7 billion of assets and £0.4 billion of liabilities with net assets of £280.7 million, as of March 31, 2025.”

The government consultation into the reorganisation of Oxfordshire County Council into unitary authorities closed earlier this month.

Ridgeway could either be made up of the entirety of the three existing councils, or be reduced in size, losing  25 parishes from South Oxfordshire and nine parishes from Vale of White Horse Greater Oxford Council.

Alternatively, one option would be to effectively convert the existing county council into a unitary council, with no boundary changes whatsoever.