One student who will continue to reap the benefits of a continuous education at King’s Ely is Holly Lancaster.
Sixteen-year-old Holly is one of many King’s Ely Senior students who achieved all A* and A grades in her GCSEs and who will be starting their A Level studies at King’s Ely Sixth Form in September 2017.
Holly joined King’s in the Reception class at King’s Ely Acremont when her family moved to the Ely area; and she has never looked back since.
In fact, this summer she and another King’s Ely rower, Rebecca Garrett, were crowned British Champions at the prestigious British Junior Rowing Championships 2017.
Holly’s mum, Debbie, said: “Holly has been involved in just about everything in her time at King’s – at King’s Ely Junior she played the cello up to grade 5. She also played for the first team in Netball and Hockey. She did, though, make the decision before starting Senior school to give up the team sports in favour of Rowing. She had never stepped foot in a boat at that point but was adamant that she wanted to do it.
“Holly has been committed to her studies throughout her time at King’s and has always achieved highly. Being part of the Rowing community at King’s has given her confidence a massive boost; she has just gone from strength to strength in both her Rowing and academically. In King’s Ely Senior, she also really threw herself into Ely Scheme taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh Award, completing the Three Peaks Challenge and the Level 2 Hill Walking programme but in Year 11 she prioritised Rowing and her GCSE studies.”
Like the majority of King’s Ely Senior students, Holly has decided to stay on for Sixth Form and will be studying Maths, History and Spanish at A Level.
Mum Debbie said: “The choice for Sixth Form was a difficult one but the final choice came down to the subjects Holly has chosen and the support she will receive to move on to the university that she would like to aim for.
“This coupled with the amazing support for her Rowing from Mr Beer and the collaboration with the GB Start Programme was the deciding factor in her decision to stay on.
“Holly’s future aspirations are high with the GB Rowing Team and an elite university for academic success, and with continued hard work, commitment and support from King’s she hopefully has all of the factors in place to keep moving towards them.”