Our Year 11 students are celebrating another successful year of GCSEs today, as students across the country receive their exam results.
The new system sees students graded from numbers 9-1, with a grade 4 equalling the bottom of the previous grade C. Most GCSEs now use this new system, which is said to be more rigorous than the previous A*-G grading.
The school has continued to build on the success of last year’s record results, reporting that combined for English and maths, 66% of students received grades 9-4, equivalent to the old A-C grades, with 37% of students achieving a strong pass of grades 9-5. This year’s results for English and maths are above the national average, with 77% of students achieving grades 9-4 in English, and 73% in Maths.
This was the first year in which the new GCSE grading system was rolled out to the majority of other subjects, and the figures have remained strong across the school. Results in the creative and performing arts were particularly strong with over 80% of students achieving grades of 9-5 in Dance, Art and Photography.
At the start of the school year, we appointed a new Head of Science and new Head of Languages, and both departments have been celebrating achievements across their subjects. In Science, 61% of students received grades 9-4 including 96% in Physics and 100% in Biology with 41% of students achieved strong passes (9-5). In French, 52% of students secured strong passes of 9-5.
Despite the more challenging grading system, 69 students received grades 9-7 – equivalent to the previous A/A* grades – with 13 of those achieving one or more grade 9s. As with last year, a national focus has been placed on students achieving grade 9s, used to identify the very brightest of students.
Sammy Crook, Headteacher, said: “The changes to GCSE grading continued to cause anxiety across schools, with this year seeing the new system rolled out to the vast majority of subjects in addition to English and Maths.
“Our staff have worked incredibly hard and together they have been encouraged to standardise the new specifications to support each other during this transition stage. This year’s fantastic results demonstrate the hard work put in by staff to provide the best opportunities for our young learners.
“Congratulations to our Year 11 students, you embraced the more demanding and rigorous GCSE’s. We are very proud of all of you and wish you the very best of luck in your futures.”
Top achieving students this year include Jasmine Partridge, who achieved four 9s and six 8s, Alex k Smith who achieved four 9s, two 8s, three 7s and one 6, Molly Guy, who achieved three 9s and seven 8s and Eli Holley who achieved, on average, 3 grades above what he was expected to.