GCSE students celebrating despite fears of ‘volatile’ results

England’s results were expected to show the impact of a shift to final exams rather than modular units.

England’s results were expected to show the impact of a shift to final exams rather than modular units.

The exam regulator Ofqual had warned that schools could face “variability” in their results compared with last year.

Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School are celebrating their best set of GCSE results in the last five years with 80 per cent of results achieved at the very highest A*-A grades.

Headteacher Jackie Cahalin said: “I am delighted for the year group. They were a particularly hard working group of students and really deserve their successes.

“I would also like to thank the LGGS teachers for all their support and hard work.”

75 per cent of the year group gained at least eight of their GCSEs at A*-A, which represents outstanding achievement.

Five girls gained A* grades in all 11 GCSEs, Iona Branford, Rosie Dale, Jodie Fox, Rebecca Hilton and Ruhi Patel. Another eleven girls gained grade A* in ten of their GCSEs,

Antonia Craven, Kirsty Fairhurst, Charlotte Fletcher, Sophie Gibson, Catherine Hotchkiss, Rachel Johnston, Alsiha Kasam Sharples, Serena MacMillan, Ida Marwedel, Kezia Rice and Ruth Swallow.

Pupils of Lancaster Royal Grammar School gained outstanding GCSE results in their exams this summer.

144 students sat a total of 1,573 examinations. with 59 per cent of all GCSEs graded A or A*, and 30.1 per cent receiving A* grades.

Headmaster Dr Chris Pyle said: “This is an excellent set of results, and I am delighted with the work that our pupils have put in to achieving them.

“Well done to each one of our students on the results that they have gained. These examination results are also a tribute to the excellent teaching of our staff.”

Aongst the exceptional individual results, 34 students gained seven or more A* grades. Three students gained ten A* grades - Josh Hothersall, Diptarko Roy and Jonathan Wong – and three students gained 11 A* grades: Eugene Lin, Adhvik Shetty and Rowan Stennett.

Ripley St Thomas principal Liz Nicholls said: “I would like to congratulate our young people on an excellent set of results this year.

“Despite the many changes to the exam system results have gone up on all the key indicators thanks to the very hard work of staff and students.

“Particular congratulations this year go to Anna Marshall on achieving 11 A*s and one A and Elspeth Peatman on achieving nine A*s and two As.

“We wish all our pupils every success in the future.”

Brendan Conboy, headteacher of Our Lady’s Catholic College, said: “We are delighted that our GCSE results have once again been excellent with more than 60 per cent of our students achieving five A*-C including English and maths.

“Despite considerable changes to courses and exams this year our top grades have remained very similar to last year’s record breaking year.

“Whilst many of our students have done extremely well – particular congratulations go to Jamie Cross and Matthew De Guzman who both achieved 11 A*/A grades.

“There is so much good news to celebrate and we once again congratulate our students and our staff on these remarkable achievements.”

At Central Lancaster High School, more than a third of students achieved at least one A*/A grade and some achieved as many as 10 A*/A grades.

The majority of students achieved at least one C grade or higher and 60 per cent five or more good grades.

There were some impressive individual performances, not only considering the highest grades, but with many students achieving beyond expectation.

Two thirds of students achieved C or higher in GCSE English and GCSE Maths. 54 per cent of students achieved five or more C grades, including their English and maths.

This is marginally lower than last year’s overall school achievement, but is in line with expectations and the variation in individual school’s performance expected by Ofqual.

Head Jon Wright said: ‘I am delighted for the students – it’s always a highly charged day for everyone!

“The students and staff have worked so hard and there are some fantastic individual results.

“We are very proud of their achievements at every level and the value added to our young people in preparing them for sixth form study and employment.

“Given the context of Ofqual’s prior health warning for this year’s GCSE results, the students have done very well indeed.

“Congratulations to all concerned!”

Carnforth High head Victoria Michael said: “I am delighted with the GCSE results for 2014. The students and staff have worked extremely hard to deliver the best results the school has seen in three years.

“There is a 10 per cent improvement on the headline figures from last year with 59 per cent of students achieving five A*-C with English and maths.

“Particular congratulations must go to Emily Adam who achieved an impressive array of A and A*s and to Lauren West, who beat every one of her target grades to achieve six As and an A*s.

“Compared with their starting points, students are making very good progress at Carnforth High School and we look forward to welcoming many of Year 11 back into the Sixth Form in September.”

Morecambe Community High School head John McNaughton said: “Whilst it was pleasing to witness the students gaining strings of A* and A grades, it was satisfying that so many students achieved their very best possible results and will be joining our Sixth Form.

“In an unpredictable year, the school is delighted that the staff have worked so hard to achieve such a consistent platform for student success.”

Heysham High head John Shannon said: “I am pleased to see some very promising results in my first year at Heysham High, demonstrated by the dramatic increase in A and A* grades in both academic and vocational subjects.

“With our new Sixth Form centre and reception due to open in September, we anticipate that many students will remain with us for their post 16 learning.”

Despite widespread concerns about increased turbulence in the exam system, Garstang Community Academy students have achieved record-breaking GCSE results for the ninth successive year.

Overall, 64 per cent of students achieved five A*-C (including English and maths), with 80 per cent making at least 3 Levels progress in English, and 74 per cent making at least 3 Levels progress in maths.

The following students attained a remarkable eight A*/A grades: Louise Allott, George Briault, Mollie Cross, Hazel Dawson, Katie Dawson, Kestra Dawson, Lauren Hart, Sam Wareing, Alex Chamley and Alicia Price.

Headteacher Phil Birch is delighted with his students’ success.

He said: “These are simply the best GCSE results we’ve had in my time at Garstang.

“Not only am I proud of the achievements of each and every one of my students, but it is evident that these fabulous results are a reflection of the endeavour of our talented staff and supportive parents, who have enabled our young people to achieve individual excellence in spite of the countrywide exam turbulence.”

Giggleswick School is celebrating some excellent GCSE results with 42.4 per cent of entries graded A*/A.

English and Maths results are particularly pleasing with 96.4 per cent pass rate in English and 90 per cent in maths.

The 68 entries for chemistry, physics and biology as separate GCSEs achieved 100 per cent A*-C passes.

Head Mark Turnbull said: “There are some excellent scholars in this year group who will go on to achieve top results at A level.

“We are proud of all our Year 11 pupils who have worked hard with the support of their excellent teachers to achieve their best possible results.”

Some top performers achieving 9 or more A*/A grades are: Eliza Alton, George Corner, John Davidson, Charlotte Doble, Emimily Jaggar, Jacob Lister, Christopher Mills, Morag Nixon, Alice Roberts, Hannah Taylor, Bryony Weston, Justin Wong.

Dallam students have celebrated some excellent GCSE results.

Headteacher William Bancroft congratulated the students noting that “there have been some exceptional results this year.

“In English and maths the students have achieved great success with pass rates of 88 per cent in English language, 84 per cent in maths and 91 per cent in English literature.

“The overall pass rate of 71 per cent five A*-C including English and maths is an increase on 2013 and compares favourably with the national pass rate of 68 per cent.

“All the students have worked very hard and special congratulations should go to Hannah Lawson from Milnthorpe who achieved eight A* and one A grade and is now continuing her studies at Dallam on the International Baccalaureate programme.

“Other very strong performances came from Oliver Clark, Hannah Fern, Nina Duxberry, Shannon Horrocks, Bradley Kennon, Annika Rudolph, Ellie Taylor, Ben Thedham and Charlotte Gooch.”

Seven Year 10 students were also entered for GCSE Further Maths, five achieved A* and two gained the new A** grade. This was a fantastic achievement.

Year 10s also took GCSEs in English literature where they achieved a 93 per cent pass rate.

Year 10 results in modern languages saw 100 per cent pass rates in French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish and Italian where most students gained A and A*.

Students at Saint Aidan’s in Preesall were smiling as they collected their GCSE results.

Records were broken as they built on the school’s position as the second most improved in Lancashire.

72 per cent of students reached the benchmark of five A*-C grades including English and maths, with a new record of 35 per cent of students obtaining the demanding English Baccalaureate by getting high grades in a wide range of academic subjects.

Another record was broken in maths, where 85 per cent of students got a C grade or better.

An all time high of 19 students achieved success at the very highest level by achieving at least nine GCSEs at A* or A, with the star performance coming from Emma Walsh, who achieved 12 A* grades.

Headteacher Andy Smith was delighted for all of the students who worked so hard to get excellent GCSE and BTEC grades, with so many exceeding their own targets.

He said: “Changes in the exam system have made it harder than ever this year to get high grades, so these really are a reflection of hard work from students and staff alike, and demonstrate the success of the school’s philosophy of encouraging high academic achievement alongside developing all of the other skills and qualities young people need to succeed and to contribute to society.”

Settle College students celebrated an increase in the top grades of A* and A, with a five per cent increase on 2013 results and a 10 per cent increase in the top grades for mathematics.

An increasing number of students are achieving the English Baccalaureate – students are awarded this if they have achieved grades C or above in English, maths, two sciences, a modern foreign language and either history or geography.

More than half of Settle College students studied a language with 44 per cent achieving A* and A grades in GCSE French.

There was also very strong performance in triple sciences with students studying physics, biology and chemistry averaging 52 per cent A* and A grades.

Twins Aspen and Tala Pattinson achieved 23 A* and A grades between them as students celebrated their results today.

Tala said: “I never expected to do so well but I am incredibly happy with my results.”

Aspen said: “Despite all the changes nationally to the exam system this year the hard work has definitely been worth it!”

Principal Michele Costello said: “There has been a great deal of media coverage in recent weeks reporting ‘volatile’ GCSE results nationally. “We are very proud of the achievements of all of our students and we are particularly pleased that the proportion of students achieving the top grades has increased.

“The Year 11s have been a wonderful year group and a credit to the school. We are looking forward to welcoming many of them back into the Sixth Form, and for those students going onto apprenticeships and college courses we wish them every success for a wonderful future.”